Fairbanks and the Northern Lights
Glacier between Denali and Fairbanks |
We hit Fairbanks late and restocked at the Fred Meyers
store. If ever in Alaska stop by one of
these places. It is a cross between a
Walmart Super-Center and a shopping mall.
We would have enjoyed the shopping experience, but we were so
tired. The night before consisted of
very little sleep and that day we were up at the crack of dawn to hike out of Denali,
catch the bus for a 35 mile ride, pack up and drive 4 hours to Fairbanks.
A blog I have been visiting is called Travel with the Wynn’s
and has some very good tips on RV traveling almost anywhere. The have a blog about their trip to catch the
northern lights and mentioned a camp site at mile 47-48 on the Chena Hot
Springs Highway that was perfect in terms of openness and away from city lights
so to see the Aurora Borealis. It’s a
long dark road at night, but we finally found a lake side camp site at this
location with no one there. We sat up
camp and kept looking to the skies.
11:00 We really didn’t know what to look for, but the sky
was absolutely clear. We saw this
strange band of white color which stretched form horizon to horizon. You could see stars through it, but it did
not move. It was cold, so we went back
in.
11:30 We looked out
again, same band with no movement.
12:00 Kevin looked out.
“Bill, get out here”. The sky was
going kind of crazy. The band was still
there, but there were green lights on the horizon to the west that would make
circles, long stretches of light that would suddenly have pieces of light start
to drop towards earth. Light would form
figure 8s and stretch and twist. On the horizon were brighter green lights and what
appeared to be an intense display, but over us it was mainly kind of a wispy
green and white. The original band
pretty much stayed out the whole time without changing, except that at the end
of the show, it would move as a line east and west. I tried to photograph some of the lights, but
it was a difficult thing to do, especially with the weak colors we were seeing
Our best Aurora photo - Good Job Kevin |
For about an hour we watched quite a show. It finally faded out and we hit the bed hard
till about 7:00 am the next day.. This
was another bucket list item both Kevin and I wanted to see. I’m kind of glad the colors were weak, that
way when we take our wives on a winter Borealis trip, we can experience a vivid
light show together.
Back to Fairbanks to visit REI and wash laundry. We were down to the clothes on our backs and
ready for some fresh smells.
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When at the North Pole, you talk with Santa |
On our way out of town, heading toward the Wrangle St. Elias
Mountains, we stopped in the town of North Pole, Alaska. After a short visit with Santa, and a kiss
from Mrs. Santa, we headed out.
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I think I'm on the Naughty List |
About 8:00 we stopped at a pullout on Highway 4 between
Paxson and Glennallen, on our way to Wrangle St. Alias National Park. We were about 500 feet above a chain of lakes
facing west in one of the most gorgeous camping areas in Alaska. One of the coolest things about Alaska is
that you can pull over almost anywhere and camp. Our “free” campsites so far have consisted of
a park in Talkeetna, a lakeside site to see the northern lights, and now a view
extending 10 miles to the north, west, and south.
Prepare for a long post on McCarthy-Kennicott coming soon.
Northern lights campsite |
Mullis catching grayling on every cast |
Campsite on Highway 4 |
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