Once a gold rush boomtown, Fairbanks, the “Golden Heart City”, is home to about 32,070 residents. With the midnight summer sun shining nearly 24 hours a day, there is endless opportunity for activity and adventure. Fairbanks, elevation 439 feet, is one of the best places on earth to view the aurora borealis during the fall and winter months.
The best place to start a visit to Fairbanks is the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in the downtown. The center has excellent cultural displays, regional information and is also home to the Public Lands information center. There are different cultural events such as dancing or craft and jewelry making on display throughout the day. Don’t miss the exterior vegetable and flower gardens or the antler arch made from moose and caribou antlers. Through the antler arch you can access the Riverwalk path. The city is home to a number of museums including University of Alaska Museum of the North, a dog mushing museum, ice museum, and an antique car museum.
The Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center
Antler arch of moose and caribou antlers
The downtown Riverwalk multi-use paved trail travels 7.0 miles along the Chena River as it flows through town. The trail runs from Pioneer Park to Fort Wainwright passing through Golden Heart Plaza and the World War II memorial on the way. The trail is a popular route for walkers, joggers, and bicyclists for both recreation and commuting. We enjoyed several strolls along this path.
The Riverwalk in Fairbanks, Alaska
Pedestrian bridge on the Riverwalk
Statue in the Golden Heart Plaza
Fairbanks has an extensive bike system. There is a mix of paved bike paths and sidewalks that are labelled for mixed use. Most trails have traffic intersections to cross. The bike paths typically run alongside the roads. Paths are not in the best repair with many cracks, frost heaves and breaks in the pavement. The paths would be most comfortable for a mountain bike. We rode sections near our campground, the University and Farmer’s Loop Road.
Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge is located on a prior dairy farm
Tucked into the north side of Fairbanks is the Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge and National Historic Site. They provide free guided Refuge walks daily during June-August and several times per week during the rest of the year. They have year round programs and events. Additionally, they provide a small system of easy urban trails. We walked the Farm Road Trail, the Chickadee Loop Nature Trail and part of the Boreal Forest Trail. Part of the Boreal Forest Trail was flooded due to the recent heavy rains. The trails go past wetlands, through meadows and into forests. Every August, there is a three day Sandhill Crane Festival. Each year, up to 200,000 Sandhill Cranes migrate through the Refuge. In the spring, large numbers of geese, ducks and swans migrate through the area. When we visited in early to mid August, we estimated that there were several hundred cranes present.
Creamer’s Field Visitor Center has a collection of bird taxidermy
Creamer’s Farm Road Trail
Boreal Forest of the Chickadee Loop
Up to 200,000 Sandhill Cranes migrate through Creamer’s each August
Migrating Sandhill Cranes
One of the best features of Fairbanks is its proximity to outdoor activities, offering a great jumping off point for adventures just a little further afield. Fairbanks is the gateway to the Interior and the Arctic. Denali National Park is about a two hour drive south of town.
Chena Lake State Recreation Area rents canoes, kayaks, and SUP’s
About 12 miles east of town off of the Richardson Highway is the Chena Lakes State Recreation Area near North Pole, Alaska. A popular weekend hangout for locals, we had it almost to ourselves for our two trips there. We hiked on the Summer Trails in the River Park section on our first outing and the mosquitoes were fierce. Bring your bug dope. We rented a canoe and road our bikes on the paved multi-use trails in the Lake Park section for our second trip. There is a small boat rental which rents canoes, single person kayaks, stand-up paddle boards, and paddleboats. In 2016, our canoe rental was $10/hour. Chena Lakes State Recreation Area also has campgrounds.
Birch trees on the Chena Lake Nature Trail
About 5 miles north of Fairbanks, the Chena Hot Springs Road heads east to its namesake hot springs. Enroute it passes through the Chena River State Recreation Area which provides access to the Chena River for paddling and fishing, hiking and camping. We hiked the Angel Rocks Trail which is about 3.5 miles in length and climbs 900 feet to the uniquely shaped granite and basalt formation rocks. Another popular day hike here is the Granite Tors Hike.
The trail to Angel Rocks
Several of the Angel Rocks from below
One of the Angel Rocks
About 11 miles north of Fairbanks, the Steese Highway provides access to the Lower and Upper Chatanika State Recreation Areas. Additionally White Mountains National Recreational Area and Steese National Conservation Area can be accessed from the Steese Highway, both public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). We camped in the Upper Chatanika State Recreation Area and hiked the Table Top Mountain Trail and part of the Pinnell Mountain Trail near Eagle Summit.
Fairbanks is the gateway to the Elliott Highway and the infamous Dalton Highway, also known as the “Haul Road”, which provides access to the Arctic Circle and the North Slope.
The Tanana Valley Farmers Market is open Mid-May through Mid September on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. There are a large number of vendors with a wide range of fresh produce, hand crafted items, honeys, jams, hot sauces and a good number of food vendors serving lunch. On a Saturday, there were stands serving Vietnamese, Chinese, Greek, Mexican, Crepes, Reindeer Sausages, Burgers and other foods. There were significantly far less vendors on a Sunday. The Farmer’s Market is located at 2600 College Road.
Every August, Fairbanks holds the Tanana Valley State Fair over a period of two weeks. The event includes exhibition and competition of agricultural products and crafts, a midway with rides and games, tons of food vendors as well as a rodeo. In June, Fairbanks celebrates the summer solstice. There are other festivals throughout the summer.
The Midway at the Fair
Fairbanks offers a wide range of services for almost any shopping need, vehicle dealers and shops, medical care, and lodging. We stayed at the River’s Edge RV Park, located on the banks of the Chena River. Within a mile from our campground was a Safeway and Fred Meyer. Most fast food chains are represented in Fairbanks. They have the “Northern most Denny’s in the world”. The restaurant reviews on Yelp were overall uninspiring. It is not a foodie town.
Fairbanks has the Northern Most Denny’s
We tried two restaurants during our time in Fairbanks. First up was The Cookie Jar which offers a small bakery area and a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It had appeared on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and was well rated on Yelp. We went there for a lunch. Mike ordered a calzone and I ordered a Monte Cristo sandwich. Both were disappointing. The Monte Cristo was like eating soggy french toast with meat in the middle. It was served with 2 jelly packets, like you would find stacked in a diner, one grape and one blackberry. Mike said that the cheese in his calzone tasted like fake cheese, like perhaps velveeta had been used. The calzone was also soggy. Mike ordered two chocolate chip cookies, one with nuts and one without, to go. The cookies were passable but nothing special.
One of the days we spent downtown we stopped in at the River City Cafe and Espresso for a lunch. They were busy and rated fairly well on Yelp. I ordered a Turkey Club Wrap and Mike ordered a Taco Salad. My wrap was fine and met my expectations. Mike was disappointed that his Taco Salad was not served in the usual edible taco shell bowl. It was literally a salad with a scoop of seasoned ground beef, a large amount of black olives, some guacamole, salsa and about 4 token tortilla chips. His dish did not have much flavor.
One last Fairbanks find: an unusual item we spotted was found in most parking lots. We noticed that there were many posts between rows of cars that only came up about waist high.
These waist high posts can be found in many parking lots
After looking at them more closely, we realized that the posts housed electrical outlets, some with two outlets and some with four. The outlets are provided for plugging in vehicle engine heaters. Almost every car in the region has a power cord hanging through the front grill. January temperatures can range from 18°F to -22°F. The lowest temperature ever recorded was -66°F in December 1961.
This outlet had two plug-ins per side
