Bill and Kevins Great Alaskan Adventure 2017: Fairbanks and the Northern Lights

Fairbanks and the Northern Lights

Leaving Denali we quickly left civilization and cell service behind. Hence the delay in posts. September 1rst is the first day of hunting season here and the hunters were piling into every pullout to prepare for moose and caribou season. They had every type of ATV we had ever seen and a few we had never seen, such as a tracked amphibious vehicle with a tracked tow behind. The owner of this unit was heading out for 10 days of hunting and had this thing packed to the windows.

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.

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.

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.