2013 Visitors Guide

Eric Engman/News-Miner

Free

VisitorsGuide

newsminer.com“The voice of Interior Alaska since 1903”

Your information source for visiting

Interior Alaska

Summer

2013

2 2013 Summer Visitors Guide

So Much to Offer… at REASONABLE RATES!

1316 Badger Rd, North Pole, AK 99705

10 minutes to Fairbanks or North Pole

[email protected] www.riverviewrvpark.net

R iver v iew River v iew River v iew RV Park & RV Park & RV Park & Quicks top Qu icks top Qu icks top

Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

1-888-488-6392 (907) 488-6392

16409114-5-11-13VG

• Big Rig Friendly & Most Welcome

• Many 70’ Pull Throughs

• Full hook-up with 30/50 Amp Electric

• Cable TV + WI-FI Internet On Site

• FREE Showers with Private Dressing Rooms

• Clean Restrooms • Laundry Facilities • Computer &

Telephone Room • Free Car Wash • Quiet Wooded Area • Bank Fishing • 3 Hole Golf Course • Assorted activities

• Tour Info Reservations & Tickets

• Gift Shop • Pets Welcome • Good Sam Park • Gas & Diesel • Groceries • Spirits/Beer/Wine/Ice • ATM • DVD Rental Kiosk

Index of stories

KEY EVENT DATESMidnight Sun Baseball Game:

June 21Midnight Sun Festival: June

23Fairbanks Shakespeare The-

atre: July 12-28

Golden Days: July 17-21World Eskimo-Indian Olym-

pics: July 17-20Fairbanks Summer Arts Festi-

val: July 14-28Tanana Valley fair: Aug. 2-11Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane

Festival: Aug. 23-25

KEY FAIRBANKS PHONE NUMBERSAlaska DOT highway condi-

tions: Dial 511Fairbanks Convention and

Visitors Bureau: 456-5774, visi-tor information

National Weather Service: (800) 472-0391, recorded info

Alaska State Troopers: 451-5100

Fairbanks Police Depart-ment: 450-6500

Emergency: Dial 911

WEBSITES OF NOTEAlaska Department of Fish

and Game: www.adfg.alaska.govAlaska State Parks: dnr.

alaska.gov/parksAlaska Department of

Transportation highway info: 511.alaska.gov

Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau: www.explore-fairbanks.com

National Weather Service, Fairbanks: pafg.arh.noaa.gov

U.S. Bureau of Land Man-agement: www.blm.gov/ak

Fairbanks Daily News-Min-er: newsminer.com

Download the News-Miner’s free mobile app, available at Apple’s app store and on Google play for Android devices.

Activity suggestions from residents ........ 4Alaska Railroad ..................................... 14Biking in the Interior ............................. 56Chena Hot Springs Resort ..................... 59Chena Lake Rec Area ............................ 62Creamer’s Field ..................................... 26Dalton/Elliott highways .......................... 71Denali Highway ..................................... 72Denali Music Fest ................................. 12Denali Park ............................................. 5Denali Park in half a day .......................... 9Denali Park navigation ......................... 10Denali Park on a budget ........................ 12Denali State Park .................................... 8Downtown Fairbanks map ...................... 38Downtown Fairbanks shopping ............... 37Downtown Fairbanks tour ...................... 33Downtown Market ................................. 36Fairbanks Community Museum ............. 23Fairbanks facts ..................................... 70Fairbanks history .................................... 3 Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre ............ 45Fishing in the Interior ............................ 34Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum ...... 22Georgeson Botanical Garden.................. 24Golden Days .......................................... 46Gold Dredge 8 ....................................... 49Golf in the Interior .................................. 52

Large Animal Research Station ............. 24Midnight Sun Festival ............................ 44Midnight Sun Game ............................... 54Museum of the North .............................. 18Mushing tours ....................................... 58North Pole ............................................. 61Northern lights ...................................... 63Parks Highway ...................................... 13Paxson/Cantwell .................................... 73Pioneer Park ......................................... 30Richardson/Alaska highways ................. 64Riverboat Discovery .............................. 40Running in Fairbanks ............................ 51Steese Highway .................................... 66Sternwheeler Tanana Chief ................... 48Summer Arts Festival ............................ 39Tanana Valley Farmers Market .............. 47Tanana Valley State Fair ......................... 21Taylor Highway ...................................... 76Top outdoor activities ............................ 42Trans-Alaska oil pipeline ....................... 68Valdez ................................................... 79Valdez harbor ........................................ 78Visitors center ...................................... 27World Eskimo-Indian Olympics .............. 29Worship in Fairbanks .............................. 16Wrangell-St. Elias .................................. 74Yukon Quest .......................................... 57

3Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

ALASKAN PROSPECTORS

Minerals From Around the World

FREE Rock, Gem &

Mineral Museum

Gold Information Center

Everything For The Prospector

Prospecting Equipment

504 COLLEGE RD. FAIRBANKS, AK 99701

907-452-7398

12411337-5-11-13VG

Tues.–Fri. • 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat. • 12:30–5 p.m.

One of 5 Must See Stores in Fairbanks! – Fodors

By DERMOT [email protected]

Fairbanks comes by its nickname “The Golden Heart City” naturally.

It was a combination of good luck, bad luck and gold that led to the establishment of the community in 1902.

A year earlier, E.T. Bar-nette was trying to get to a spot much farther to the east and establish a trading post when shallow water and a fear of getting stuck prompt-ed a steamboat captain to unload Barnette and his trad-ing goods where Fairbanks is today.

Barnette’s bad luck turned into good luck a year later when an Italian prospector named Felix Pedro discovered gold about 16 miles north of Barnette’s stockpile.

Pedro’s discovery and the location of Barnette’s trad-ing goods launched a rush to Fairbanks that brought pros-pectors and merchants from other gold fields such as the Klondike, across the Cana-dian border in the Yukon.

Between the 1902 gold discovery and 1910, the Fair-banks camp grew to more than 3,500 souls, according to the 1910 census. But about 11,000 other people lived in small towns scattered amid

the gold fields north of Fairbanks.

Fairbanks is named for Charles W. Fairbanks, who represented Indiana in the U.S. Senate and served as vice president under President Teddy Roosevelt.

The town was named in his honor as a tribute, proposed by Judge James Wickersham, who had told Barnette that he would locate his courthouse here if Barnette chose that name.

Gold production and the town’s fortunes began to decline after 1910. It wasn’t until after the federal govern-ment finished building the Alaska Railroad in 1923 that Fairbanks enjoyed a resur-gence.

It happened because the railroad improved trans-portation services, allowing access to coal, which replaced

The story behind the Golden Heart City

Library of Congress

The city is named for Charles W. Fairbanks, who repre-sented Indiana in the U.S. Senate and served as vice president under President Teddy Roosevelt.

Please see HISTORY, Page 5


For the 2013 edition of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Visi-tors Guide, we thought it would be good for you to hear from some of our readers about where they take their summertime visitors to in the Golden Heart City. So we went to our Facebook page in early April and asked them to tell us what they think are the must-see places around town and the places they take guests for an off-the-beaten path experience. And, yes, we asked them to tell you how to deal with our less-than-welcome mos-quitoes.

We’ve put a sampling of their comments below.

Welcome to Fairbanks, and we hope you enjoy your stay.

— Rod BoyceManaging editor

Fairbanks Daily [email protected]

Twitter: @FDNMeditor

• For mosquitoes, run a Bounce dryer sheet on your skin. They will leave you alone.

• River rafting!

• Angel Rocks!

• The hot springs for sure. And fishing for grayling on the Chena.

• Many people go to Angel Rocks, but Granite Tors isn’t hiked nearly as often. The Large Animal Research Station is a good spot to visit. The Fairbanks Community Museum is good, too. A map of historical buildings downtown for a self-guided walking tour would be cool. Creamer’s Field is another great spot to visit.

• Mosquitoes tend to avoid the people who regularly consume garlic. Oh, and I almost forgot. Goldpanner baseball games! A must-see during any Fairbanks summer visit!

• Pump House restaurant!

• We like to take folks out to Chatanika and walk across to the abandoned dredge.

• Hit the Farmers Market off College Road. Kayak the Chena, visit Creamer’s Field, hike Granite Tors and Angel Rocks. Tour the UA

museum and Morris Thompson center.

• When I have visitors, we have to make the trip out toward Fox and to the pipeline and on to Chatanika to visit and have lunch at the lodge and a walk over to the dredge. And back to the other side of Fairbanks to North Pole to the Santa Claus House and on out past Eielson to the Knotty Shop and just plainly enjoy the moun-tains and beauty.

• Summer isn’t complete without homemade blueberry ice cream from The Fudge Pot!

• UAF museum. View of the Alaska pipeline. Alaska Railroad.

• Salmon from Alaska Salmon Bake.

• A run at Birch Hill, a swim at Harding Lake, a hike around Gran-ite Tors.

• The beach at Chena Lakes. Hilltop Truck Stop pie.

• Moose Creek bluffs. My 11-year-old daughter insists.

• The Permethrin treatments for your clothes work great for mosquitoes. Just spray on or soak your clothes in the liquid and it repels mosquitoes for sev-eral weeks, even if you wash your clothes. (Permethrin in a natural insecticide obtained from flow-ers). ... They usually have the stuff at Beaver Sports or Sportsman’s Warehouse.

• Definitely the musk ox farm!

• Large Animal Research Sta-tion, hiking to Angel Rocks, the hot springs, Hot Licks Ice Cream and the UA Museum of the North. Pipeline and Silver Gulch brewery on Day 2.

• Park the RV and take two or three days to do some hiking (Stiles Creek/Colorado Creek) and enjoy Alaska’s solitude.

• White Mountains on the ATV and the botanical gardens, too.

• The reindeer at Santa Claus House, and the drive to the Arctic Circle!

• Segway guided tour through downtown Fairbanks!

• I’m from the Lower 48, and every time I go, a must for me is at least one visit to The Chowder House!

• The best thing to come to Fairbanks in probably 50 years: Fountainhead Antique Auto Muse-um. A must see!

• Romping through the boreal forest with reindeer at Running Reindeer Ranch. www.runningreindeer.com.

• Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum, UA museum, and take advantage of the midnight sun by being out and about late. Maybe a drive to the top of Murphy Dome to visit the stone couch!

• Paddle and Pedal owned by Bradley Hodges. Kayak from Graehl Landing to River’s Edge on the Chena River, stop for lunch, bike back to Graehl Landing with stops at Pioneer Park and Visitors Center.

• Pita Place! Oh, wait, that might mean more people in line ... shhhhhh.

• Turtle Club, visit the historic Catholic church downtown, see the first family, Creamer’s Field is wonderful any time of year. Angel Rocks, Chena Hot Springs Road campsites. Drive Goldstream Road. Alaska Coffee Roasters Co. has the best espresso in the land. Not to mention wonderful baked goods and friendly staff.

• Something Outsiders don’t get is the idea of hauling water. Take them to the spring at Fox and let them drink.

HERE’S WHAT YOU GOTTA DO ...

Sam Harrel/News-Miner file photo

Canoeists pass under the William R. Wood Memorial Footbridge in May 2012 on the Chena River downtown.

5Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 12408213-5-11-13V

G

Starting at $ 210 ea.

• $210 per person for one day trip, includes boat with motor.

• $220 for an overnight includes private cabin, boat with motor – each additional 24 hours, $50 per person.

• Trophy Northern Pike, Salmon, Rainbow Trout, Arctic Grayling.

• 10 Lakes and cabins to choose from. • Tackle Shop, Fishing gear & licenses available on site.

Marina Air, Inc. 479-5684 1145 Shypoke Dr., Fairbanks, AK

“Chena Marina Airport”

www.akpikefishing.com

with

Check our our photo gallery and Like us on Facebook/Marina Air, Inc.

wood as the primary fuel, and large-scale gold dredging entered the picture.

The floating dredges pro-cessed hundreds of thousands of tons of rock and kept the Fairbanks economy going until World War II.

In the late 1930s, the war clouds in Europe and the Pacific prompted Congress to create a cold-weather test site in Fairbanks for the U.S. Army, but after hostilities began, the post became a key part of the growing military infrastructure in the territory.

Ladd Field, now known as Fort Wainwright, was the transfer point for nearly 8,000 aircraft delivered to the Russians during World War II as part of the Lend-Lease program to bolster the Soviet Union in the war against Ger-many.

Fairbanks remained a key location for the military when the Cold War began, a legacy that continues today with the presence of thousands of troops at Fort Wainwright and at Eielson Air Force Base.

The economy today is sup-ported not only by military spending but also by gold

mining, by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and by the oil development activities on the North Slope.

Today the Golden Heart

City and its suburbs are home to about 100,000 residents.

Contact News-Miner columnist Dermot Cole at 459-7530. He is the author of several books about Fairbanks and Alaska.

HISTORYContinued from Page 3

By KRIS CAPPSFor the News-Miner

When an Alaskan says “the

mountain is out,” there is no doubt which mountain is fill-ing the horizon. It is Mount McKinley, or “Denali,” as most Alaskans call it.

The 20,320-foot Denali is the tallest mountain in North America. It often is covered by clouds, but when visible, is a magnificent sight.

The mountain is not the reason Denali National Park and Preserve was created, though. In 1917, the park was formed to protect the wildlife. Eventually expanded to 6 mil-lion acres, the park is home to moose, caribou, Dall sheep, wolves and grizzly bears.

More than 650 species of

flowering plants eke out a liv-ing in the park, along with a variety of mosses and lichens.

Only plants adapted to long,

Welcome to Denali Park

File photo

Mount McKinely stands partially visible in Denali National Park and Preserve.

Please see DENALI, Page 6


12411322-5

-11-1

3V

G

11.5 miles north of Denali Park

Mile 248.7 Parks Hwy Healy, AK 99743

(907) 683-6500 www.thetoteminn.com [email protected]

• Memory-Foam Mattresses • 24 TV Channels

• Free Wireless DSL • Coffee Pots • Microwaves • Refrigerators

• Fitness Center

Welcome to the Last Frontier! Denali Lodging

Motel • Lounge • Cafe

IF YOU GOWhat: Denali National

Park and PreserveWhen: Park bus service

begins May 20 each year and runs through the second Thursday after Labor Day.

Where: Entrance on Parks Highway, 120 miles south of Fairbanks

Cost: $10 per person entry, free for children 15 years and younger. Provides seven-day entrance permit. Two summer/fall fee-free days: Aug. 25, which is the National Park Service’s birth-day, and Sept. 28, National Public Lands Day

Phone: 683-9532Online: www.nps.gov/dena

cold winters and short grow-ing seasons can survive in Denali’s subarctic climate.

In addition, Denali is home to 39 species of mammals, 167 species of birds, 10 species of fish and one amphibian, the wood frog. There are no rep-tiles in Denali National Park.

Dinosaur tracks, discov-ered in 2005, revealed for the first time that prehistoric creatures lived there.

Get to the park by train, by car, by bus or by chartering a small airplane. A single, wind-ing, primarily gravel road winds through the mountains and across rivers for about 92 miles to the old mining com-munity of Kantishna, now a visitors’ haven.

Private vehicles are not permitted, though anyone can drive the first 15 miles of road

to Savage River. After that, traffic is limited — except for during the few days annually when winners in the Denali road lottery head into the park. The Park Service allows as many as 400 permit win-ners per day to drive vehicles the entire length of the park road at the end of the tourist season. This year’s road lot-tery drive is scheduled for Sept. 13-16. Entries will be accepted May 1 through June 30 this year.

Limiting traffic is deliber-ate. This park is managed for the wildlife, not people.

Enjoying and appreciat-ing the wilderness of Denali

National Park is easy. Visit the Denali Visitor Center or the Wilderness Access Center to pick up a trail map and check schedules of guided walks and other programs.

There are trails in the entrance area that are free for hiking anytime. They range in difficulty from easy to chal-lenging.

The park also offers hiking, bicycling and backcountry camping. Experienced park rangers lead special hikes, as well.

Photography is encouraged in the park, but take care when photographing wildlife. There are guidelines on how close you should approach bears, eagles, caribou and other animals.

There also are guidelines for hiking to help preserve the fragile tundra plants that cling to life during the short season on sunny slopes. Take special measures to enjoy wildlife from afar and to avoid chance encounters with bears.

For a closeup view of how the park operates, visit the Denali kennels, where a team of sled dogs lives year round. During the summer, these working dogs welcome visi-tors, and their handlers pro-vide an informative program. These hard-working dogs patrol Denali during winter months.

Murie Science and Learning Center

Be sure to visit this edu-cational/research center used year round by students of all ages, researchers and visitors. The center supports research in Alaska’s eight northern national parks by providing funding, logistical support, housing and access to data and park resources. It is made possible through partnership with the National Park Ser-vice, Alaska Geographic and others.

Explore all the exhibits, including the wolf skeleton, reconstructed by local stu-dents and the real-life dino-saur tracks, estimated to be more than 70 million years old.

Check out the website at www.murieslc.org. You might want to sign up for one of their field seminars.

DENALIContinued from Page 5


3480 College Rd. • 479-2494 • Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 www.beaversports.com

• MAUI JIM • MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR • NORTH FACE • PATAGONIA • MARMOT • PRANA • MSR • ARC’TERYX

• JETBOIL • DANSKO • THERMAREST • PEARL IZUMI • BRIDGEDALE • EAGLE CREEK • SMARTWOOL • BIRKENSTOCK • MER

REL

L • S

MIT

H •

LO

WA

• E

X O

FFIC

IO •

OA

KLE

Y •

CR

OC

S •

MER

REL

L • S

MIT

H •

LO

WA

• E

X O

FFIC

IO •

OA

KLE

Y •

CR

OC

S •

MER

REL

L • S

MIT

H •

LO

WA

• E

X O

FFIC

IO •

OA

KLE

Y

MAU

I JIM • M

OU

NTAIN

HARD

WEAR • N

ORTH

FACE • PATAG

ON

IA • MARM

OT • M

SR • ARC’TERYX

• MAU

I JIM • M

OU

NTA IN

HARD

WEAR • N

ORTH

FACE • PATAG

ON

IA • MARM

OT M

AUI JIM

• MO

UN

TAIN H

ARDW

EAR

Locally owned and operated for over 35 years

Convenient Central Location • Knowledgeable Experienced Staff

12411317-5-11-13VG

B e s t S p o r t i n g G o o d s S t o

r e



Most people driving through Denali State Park don’t even realize they are in a state park.

They are too busy looking out the car window.

Yes, that really is Mount McKinley peeking out from behind the mountain range. At points along the highway, the mountain can be seen in full glory, and that is worth stopping the car.

Sparsely developed, this park is best known for its

hiking and its views. Denali State Park is 325,240 acres of wild country.

So give in to the tempta-tion to stop and admire the grandeur of Mount McKin-ley and the Alaska Range, at turnouts along the Parks Highway. Telescopes provided at two viewpoints — 135 Mile and 163 Mile.

If you are an outdoors per-son, Denali State Park offers a fabulous playground. Enjoy camping, hiking, backpack-ing up Kesugi Ridge, berry

picking, floating the Chulitna River, paddling on Byers Lake, fishing and spotting wildlife.

A well-staffed visitor cen-ter can answer questions, adjacent to the Veterans Memorial nearby at 147.1 Mile Parks Highway.

There are three road-accessible campgrounds.

Lower Troublesome Creek has 20 sites. Byers Lake has 68 sites and a hike-in or pad-dle-in lakeshore campground with six sites, and Denali View North has 23 sites.

Camping is rustic but con-venient with picnic tables, fire pits, toilets and inter-pretive displays. Drinking water is available everywhere except the lakeshore camp-ground.

Black and grizzly bears

18409552-5-11-13VG

2fishon @ mtaonline.net www.denalifishing.com

(907) 768-1127

Expert Guided and Outfitted

Fly Fishing Excursions Near Denali National Park

Ridgetop Cabins Ridgetop Cabins Ridgetop Cabins • Denali Nat'l Park 18 mi. south

• Large & Small Cabins • Private baths • Fridge, Microwave & Coffee Pot

Toll Free: (866) 680-2448 Web: alaskaone.com/ridgetop

11409323-5

-11-1

3V

G

IF YOU GOWhat: Denali State ParkCost: Various. Info at dnr.

alaska.gov/parks/asp/fees.htmPhone: 745-3975Online: dnr.alaska.gov/

parks/units/denali1.htm

Associated Press file pho-to/Anchorage Daily News

Black and grizzly bears are com-mon in the Dena-li State Park area, so camp as if you are in bear country and store your food in the food lockers provided at Byers Lake Campground. Bear-resistant containers are recommended at other camp-grounds.

The other Denali park: Denali State Park

Please see STATE, Page 9


are common in this area, so camp as if you are in bear country and store your food in the food lockers provided at Byers Lake Campground. Bear-resistant containers are recommended at other camp-grounds.

Byers Lake has two pub-lic-use cabins that can be rented year-round through the Department of Natural Resources. Reserve ahead of time.

Hikers and backpack-ers can take advantage of a system of popular trails that connect to Kesugi Ridge.

You can start hiking at Upper Troublesome Creek, 137.6 Mile Parks Highway, Byers Lake at 147 Mile Parks Highway, Ermine Hill at 156.5 Mile Parks Highway, and Little Coal Creek, 163.9 Mile Parks Highway.

The primary Kesugi Ridge-

Troublesome Creek Trail is 36 miles and has an elevation gain of 3,500 feet.

Be sure you know how to read a map and have some route-finding skills.

If you’re just driving through, try hard to keep your eyes on the road.

Espresso Bar • Artisan Teas • Shakes • Smoothies Espresso Bar • Artisan Teas • Shakes • Smoothies Tex Mex Soup • Sandwiches • Beer • Wine Tex Mex Soup • Sandwiches • Beer • Wine In House Bakery with Gluten Free Options In House Bakery with Gluten Free Options

Vegan Friendly Vegan Friendly

11409793-5-11-13VG bl

ackb

ear.

dena

li.co

m bl

ackb

ear.

dena

li.co

m

Open Open 6:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. 6:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Mile 238.5 Mile 238.5 Parks Highway, Denali Parks Highway, Denali

(907) 683-1656 (907) 683-1656

STATEContinued from Page 8


Denali National Park and Preserve is a place that can take years to explore.

But if you only have half a day, there are a few things you should not miss.

The 14,000-square-foot Denali Visitor Center provides a world-class introduction to a world-class park, considered one of the crown jewels of the national park system. This should be your first stop.

Here, visitors can take in an overall summary of 6 mil-lion acres of wilderness, its history, and the many types of wildlife that call Denali home.

The carpet even simulates a flowing river of gray and brown, leading to an exhibit area with life-size models of a moose, a wolf and other crea-tures. Don’t forget to look up and see the eagle nest.

A diorama of Denali National Park gives a glimpse of the vastness of the park.

To get the full flavor of Denali, watch the 18-minute orientation film “Heart-beats of Denali.” Those few moments will make you want to get on a bus and see some of the wilderness for yourself.

A short walk away is the Murie Science and Learning

Center (www.murieslc.org). The lobby is filled with sci-ence-related exhibits, includ-ing a wolf display. Many years ago, the small school of Cantwell dissected a trapped wolf, boiled the bones, and then rebuilt the wolf skeleton under the auspices of a park expert. Along the way, they learned about wolves and their own environment. This is the premiere exhibit.

There also are real-life dinosaur tracks, found several years ago and the first proof that dinosaurs roamed Denali. Local students were among those who discovered some of these tracks.

The Murie Science and Learning Center offers family programs and field seminars throughout the summer. Check their website.

Three times per day, rang-ers and Denali’s sled dogs offer a demonstration at the only working sled dog kennel in the park system.

The dogs get hooked up to a sled on wheels and race around a looped trail.

This is often the highlight of a visit for youngsters.

There’s no parking at the kennel, so catch the free shut-tle at Denali Visitor Center, 40 minutes before each show. The shows begin at 10 a.m., 2 p.m.

and 4 p.m.If you want to get out and

hike and time is short, check out any of the trails in the front country. The 30-minute walk on the Morino Trail will lead you through the site of a former homestead. The McKinley Station Trail can take an hour and reveals more of Denali’s history. If you want to head toward the Nenana River and watch rafts go by, take the bike path. It leads to the pedestrian bridge over the river.

If you have time, take the free shuttle to Savage River, 15 miles into the park. If skies are clear, you will see Mount McKinley, about 80 miles away, about 9.5 Mile of the park road.

If you have a few hours, you can enjoy hiking the Sav-age Loop Trail. The deeper you go into the park, the bet-ter chance you have of seeing moose, caribou or even grizzly bears. Always stay alert and scan the countryside.

If you are more interested in activities outside the park, reserve a few hours for a raft ride down the Nenana River, or drive your own all-terrain vehicle through nearby wilder-ness, or hop on an airplane for the most memorable flightsee-ing trip you’ll ever experience.

A half-day in Denali



The 92-mile road into Denali National Park and Preserve runs from the Parks Highway to the former mining community of Kantishna.

The first 15 miles are paved and open to the public. Past that point, however, vehicle travel is restricted on the nar-

row, winding gravel surface.Buses shuttle tourists in

and out of the park and drop off hikers and campers. Bus trips range from two to 12 hours, and visitors can take either a tour bus or a shuttle bus.

Shuttle buses are less expensive and have fewer ame-nities but travel farther into the park. Visitors can get off

when they want to hike for a while, then get back on anoth-er bus if seats are available.

Visitors planning to hike, bike, camp, backpack or pic-nic in the park should take a shuttle bus. The shuttle is available for folks who just want to enjoy the scenery and wildlife viewing. Be sure and bring along food and water. There are no convenience stores along the way.

Those who prefer a more deluxe trip can opt for one of the tours. A variety of lengths, prices and options are avail-able. Fees vary and are in addition to the park entrance fee.

Reservations for shuttles and tour buses can be made by calling (800) 622-7275 or going online to www.reservedenali.com. You can reserve a spot in person at the Wilderness Access Center reservation desk up to two days in advance.

Check the website at www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit for schedules and details.

How to get around inside Denali National Park

Associated Press file photo/Alaska Journal of Commerce

Busloads of visitors from all over the world photograph the brilliant colors at Denali National Park and Preserve.

Please see EXPLORE, Page 11


Courtesy busesFree courtesy buses take

visitors around the entrance area of Denali National Park.

Catch these buses at the Denali Visitor Center, Wilder-ness Access Center, Murie Science and Learning Center, Riley Creek Campground, Denali Park Post Office, Riley Creek Mercantile, Railroad Depot and trailheads that include Mountain Vista Loop and Savage River Loop.

A free bus takes visitors to the Denali Dog Kennels for each 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. demonstration. Board the bus at the Denali Visitor Cen-ter bus stop only 40 minutes before the demonstration is due to begin. Return 90 min-utes later.

Options inside park• Shuttle bus: For trans-

portation and wildlife view-ing. Narration not included, but quite often, experienced drivers provide some informa-tion. Depart from Wilderness Access Center only. Passengers can get off anytime along the park road, except for wildlife restricted areas, and reboard whenever a seat is available by flagging down a bus.

• Tundra Wilderness Tour: This narrated tour goes to Toklat River, 53 Mile. Tours depart early morning and afternoon. Box lunch and hot beverage provided. Length: seven to eight hours.

• Natural History Tour: Nar-rated tour goes to Primrose Ridge at 17 Mile, just past the Savage Check Station. Morn-ing and afternoon departures. Snack and beverage provided. Length: four to five hours

• Kantishna Experience: One-day, 12-hour round-trip to Kantishna that includes full lunch. A National Park Ser-vice ranger provides narration along the way.

• New this year, Windows into the Wilderness: Narrated tour provides a blend of history, science, and the opportunity to view wildlife and sweep-ing landscapes. Goes to the Teklanika River at 30 Mile. At the Mountain Vista Trail (12

Mile), a cultural interpreter and science educator introduce visitors to the cultural and

science significance of Denali. Tour includes demonstrations, activities and a walk, making it an excellent tour choice for families. A snack and bever-ages are provided. Morning departures only. Length: Five to six hours.

BackpackingPermits are required to hike

into the backcountry and are available at the Backcountry Information Center, adjacent to the Wilderness Access Center.

Established campgrounds welcome visitors in the entrance area and at the end of the park road at Wonder Lake. To make camping reservations in advance, call (800) 622-7275.

Act now for 2014 VISITORS GUIDE ADVERTISING

If your business is interested in placing an ad in the 2014 Visitors Guide, fill out and return this coupon.

11409837-5-11-13VG P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks, AK 99707-0710

Mail to: Promotions Manager

Name ______________________________________________________________________________________

Business Name______________________________________________________________________________

Address____________________________________________________________________________________

City __________________________State ____________ Zip ___________Phone ______________________

1140

9314

-5-1

1-13

VG

( Box 7-VG) Mile 231.1 George Parks Highway Denali National Park, AK 99755

www.denaligrizzlybear.com

RESORT & CAMPGROUND RESORT & CAMPGROUND TOLL FREE 866-583-2696

Alaska Resident Special

Call for available dates

15 % OFF Hotel or Premium Cabin

WHAT TO WEARWeather at Denali can

change in an instant. Sum-mer temperatures range from 33 to 75 degrees, and it is not uncommon for snow to fall in July. Park rangers sug-gest visitors dress in layers and bring a raincoat that can serve as a windbreaker. Mit-tens and a warm hat are a good precaution.

Don’t forget mosquito repellent. Alaska mosquitoes are notorious, especially in certain areas of the park such as Wonder Lake.

EXPLOREContinued from Page 10

News-Miner file photo

A pair of Dall sheep crosses Denali Park Road.



It doesn’t have to cost a

fortune to visit Denali National Park.

Here’s a way to spend a day at Denali and leave with a few dollars still in your pocketbook.

Not much can be done to lessen the fuel prices to get you there, but once you arrive, the savings can begin.

• Go camping: Unless you must stay in a resort hotel or other fine accommodation, bring your tent and set it up in the great outdoors.

You have a couple options.Riley Creek Campground,

inside Denali National Park, offers walk-in tent sites for about $14. If you want to be a little farther inside the park, the Savage River campground is a little pricier, about $22, but the views are better and you can walk some or all of the park’s 6 million acres to your heart’s content.

One of the best kept secrets in the area is Denali Outdoor Center’s campground at Otto Lake. Camp for $8 per person per night ($4 per child younger than 13) on beautiful Otto Lake, located just off Otto Lake Road, 10 miles north of the park entrance. The distance from the park is well worth it for the seclusion and fantastic views of the Alaska Range. Showers are available for $5

with towel, $4 if you bring your own towel.

You also can rent a canoe for a small fee and enjoy the views from on the water.

• Go to a hostel: If you want a roof over your head at a reasonable price, go to Denali Mountain Morning Hostel, 224.1 Mile Parks Highway, 13 miles south of the park entrance.

There, you can rent a bunk in the hostel for $32 per night. Or rent your own wall tent for $32 per night ($55 per night for two people). Cabins are avail-able at a higher rate. See www.denalihostel.com.

• Go hiking: There are lots of trails in the entrance area of Denali National Park, from

casual strolls on flat ground to strenuous hikes uphill. Take your pick. The higher you go, the better views you will have. But weaving through the bore-al forest offers its own rewards. Hiking options are displayed on interpretive signs or ask a park ranger.

• Go farther into the park: If you have time, take a free shuttle bus to Savage River, 15 miles into the park, and hike some more.

You can follow the loop trail along both sides of the river or go straight up Savage Rock.

Bring along a picnic lunch on any of these daytime excur-sions, because you won’t pass any convenience stores along the way.


The historic Denali Music

Festival, which debuted in 2012 as part of Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, returns this sum-mer.

The festival orchestra, led by music director Robert Franz, will perform at 4 p.m. Saturday, July 20, at the Denali Visitor Center inside Denali National Park.

Admission is free.One of the pieces was cre-

ated by composer Erik DeLuca, who spent a bitterly cold week

in a cabin at Denali last winter.In addition to other offer-

ings, they will perform a short piece by a composer who visited last summer as part of Denali’s first-ever composer class.

This is the second year of the composer class, offered through Alaska Geographic in partnership with the festival and led by composer Stephan Lias. His work, “Denali,” was featured at the initial Denali Music Festival performance in 2012.

This year, composers will once again spend several days at the Teklanika field camp in

Denali National Park and then will travel to Coal Creek at Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. They will create com-positions from inspiration in those special places.

The work of those compos-ers will be heard in the Fair-banks area at a concert Tues-day, July 23, at the Blue Loon.

Lias, who leads the com-poser workshop again this year, has composed music for Denali, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, and Gates of the Arctic Nation-al Park and Preserve.

Denali on a shoestring

Associated Press file photo

The sun sets as Mount McKinley casts its reflection on Reflection Pond at the west end of Denali Park Road a few miles east of Camp Denali.

Denali Music Festival



It takes a little more than two hours to drive to Denali National Park and Preserve from Fairbanks. If you take your time, you might discover some treasures along the way.

Right outside Fairbanks is the little town of Ester. You know you are there when you see the big fire station at the intersection.

This former mining com-munity, sometimes referred to as “The Republic of Ester,” is a reminder of days gone by. Now it is home to artists, teachers and lots of folks who don’t want to be lumped in with Fairbanks.

The center of town? The Golden Eagle Saloon, popular with both visitors and locals.

The Ester Community Asso-ciation now sponsors the Ester Community Market every week. Here, artisans, craftspeo-ple, farmers, musicians and other vendors sell their wares.

Sometimes, owners of clas-sic cars stop by to show off their antique vehicles.

Beyond the Fairbanks area

Continuing south, the Tanana Hills can be treach-erous driving during winter months, but in the summer,

the road is a winding highway

through heaven. Vast views of the Tanana Valley and the Alaska Range are visible at every turn. On a clear day, you can see Mount McKinley, towering over the other moun-tains.

The entrance to the town of Nenana is grand. A tower-ing silver bridge ushers driv-ers over the confluence of the Tanana and Nenana rivers.

"Best Burger in Town" 3630 Main Street

Ester, Alaska 99709 goldeneaglesaloon.com

12411338-5-11-13VG

3040 Parks Highway • Ester, Alaska (907)479-2333 • www.goldhillalaska.com

12411348-5-11-13VG

Your one-stop shop for specialty Alaskan wines, beers,

meads & unique gifts.

The largest imported beer selection in Interior Alaska.

Visit us and see! We’re more than a country store, Gold Hill has so much more!

1241

1335

-5-1

1-13

VG

www.theblueloon.com

2999 PARKS HWY (MI. 325.5) 2999 PARKS HWY (MI. 325.5) FAIRBANKS, AK 99709 FAIRBANKS, AK 99709

457-LOON (5666) 457-LOON (5666)

2013 R EADER ’ S C HOICE

#1 D ANCE C LUB

Open Tues-Sun Open Tues-Sun Closed Monday Closed Monday

Outdoor Concerts

DANCING

NATIONAL BANDS

with great food, lots of beers on tap!

Films Nightly

2ND RUN MOVIE THEATER

PARKS HIGHWAYMiles: 323.7Surface: PavedEnd points: Fairbanks,

junction with Glenn Highway 35 miles north of Anchorage

Nenana

Anderson

Healy

Kantishna

Fairbanks

Cantwell

TrapperCreek

Talkeetna

Anchorage

Big LakePalmer

Parks Highway

ParksHighway

ParksHighway

Denali National Park

DeeDee Hammond/News-Miner

Parks Highway offers plenty of quirky stops on way to Denali

Please see PARKS, Page 15


Alaska’s only regularly scheduled public rail transportation service

Experience with the Alaska Railroad.

Ask about fl ightseeing, hiking, guided walking, or the popular Park Service sled dog kennel tour.

Starting at just $128 pp.

Travel in May or September & save even more!Call (907) 265-2494 or visit AlaskaRailroad.com

Denali in a dayDenali in a dayDenali in a day

By JEFF [email protected]

The Alaska Railroad is a workhorse in the 49th state, hauling more than 5 million tons of freight during 2012 alone. Beneath that heavy lifting is a unique passenger service, offering visitors a leisurely look at some of the state’s most scenic areas.

The railroad stretches from Seward on the Kenai Peninsula to the Fairbanks North Star Borough. With that territory to cover, it offers six separate passenger trains, carrying more than 415,000 passengers in 2012.

About 60 percent of the passengers arrive aboard cruise ships, taking the short runs from Whittier and Seward to Anchorage. Aside from those visitors, the most popular passenger train is the Denali Star, a daily summer service between Anchorage and Fairbanks, with stops in between at Talkeetna and Denali. The Aurora train runs from Octo-

ber through April, providing a winter weekend service between Anchorage and Fair-banks.

Other summer passenger trains include the Coastal Classic (between Anchor-age and Seward), the Glacier Discovery (Anchorage to Whittier, with whistle-stops at Spencer Glacier and Grandview) and Hurricane Turn (a first-Thursday ser-vice between Anchorage and Hurricane, and Thursday through Sunday between Talkeetna and Hurricane).

The railroad has a pas-senger service fleet of 44 rail-cars, including 11 passenger

coaches and six dining cars. It also features a variety of cars specifically for enjoying scenery along the route, with six bi-level “ultradomes” with a glass-domed compart-ment with a viewing platform and reclining seats, and six Vista Dome Coaches, with reclining seats beneath a dome in the middle offering 360-degree views. Six low-level dome coaches have seats arranged around tables, a small galley and service bars.

The railroad also offers 10 vacation packages, running from two days to 10 days. Offerings include glacier cruises, Alaska’s National Parks by rail, a “Rails and Trails” package featuring backcountry hikes, and a basic tour featuring stops in Anchorage, Talkeetna and Denali.

Information about the Alaska Railroad’s various passenger and vacation plans is available online at www.alaskarailroad.com.

Contact staff writer Jeff Rich-ardson at 459-7518.

ALASKA RAILROAD

What: Alaska RailroadWhere: Fairbanks depot,

1745 Johansen ExpresswayPhone: Reservations,

(800) 544-0552Online: www.alaska

railroad.com

All aboard: The Alaska Railroad


ALFRED STARR CULTURAL CENTER Preserving Local Athabascan History & Art

• Alaska Claims Settlement Act

• Historic Displays • Artist Workshops • Talk with Local

People & Artists

(907) 832-5527 • www.nenana.org Open 7 Days a Week

13

40

87

88

5-11

-13

VG

13

40

87

88

5-11

-13

VG

One of Alaska’s Foremost

GIFT SHOPS Featuring

Locally Made Athabascan

Hand-Crafted Gifts

NENANA VISITOR CENTER NENANA VISITOR CENTER NENANA VISITOR CENTER

13

40

87

87

5-11

-13

vg 1

34

08

78

7 5

-11-1

3 vg

13

40

87

87

5-11

-13

vg

(907) 832-5435 Open daily Memorial Day to Labor Day

[email protected] • [email protected]

Sponsored by Nenana Ice Classic Alaska’s biggest guessing Game since 1917

AVERAGE ANNUAL PAYOFF OVER $300,000

T ickets may be purchased at the V isitors I nformation C enter in N enana

This is a little river town with lots going on.

It’s the home of the Nenana Ice Classic, a lottery that lets people guess the exact moment a black-and-white tripod will fall when the ice goes out on the Tanana River at the end of winter. It began in 1917 when bored railroad workers tried to guess when the ice would break.

Many an Alaska resident has spent hours poring over statistics of ice thickness and hoping to get lucky with every $2.50 ticket.

This also is an important staging area for the Yutana Barge Lines. Supplies begin their journey here, down the Tanana River and on to the Yukon River villages. The barges deliver fuel and other important supplies to these remote communities.

Here, President Warren Harding drove the golden spike on the Alaska Railroad in 1923. A monument depicting that spike is on display at the depot museum. His rail car is part of Pioneer Park in Fairbanks.

The Alfred Starr Nenana Cultural Center includes a small museum and Native crafts shop. Some local artisans sell their wares here.

The oldest building in town is a charming 1905 log cabin church on Front Street.

As you continue driving south, you’ll eventually have the opportunity to turn right, to go to the small community of Anderson. It is six miles off the highway, so it doesn’t get a lot of visitors.

Make sure you turn right again after a short distance. If you continue straight, you’ll end up at Clear Air Force Sta-tion and likely will be stopped there. Anderson is adjacent to Clear.

It has a large and lovely riv-erfront park that offers great camping.

Three homesteaders settled

here in the late 1950s. In 1959, the town’s namesake, Art Anderson, divided his 80-acre homestead into quarter-acre lots and sold most of them to civilian workers at the Air Force site. An elementary school was built, and the city was incorporated in 1962.

After leaving Anderson, be sure to stop at Clear Sky Lodge on the Parks Highway. Here, you can have the best prime rib sandwich in the area.

Drive on. The moun-tains loom closer and Denali National Park is just a short distance away.


Rachel Davenport grabs her second potato during the potato race at a Nenana Fourth of July celebration.

PARKSContinued from Page 13


Sunday worship at 10 a.m. Regal Cinemas on Airport Way

455-4433 www.journeyalaska.org

11409825 5-11-13VG

Journey Christian Church

Come & Join Us!

907-457-5522 • 907-457-2167

18409478-5-11-13VG 101 City Lights Blvd., Fairbanks, AK 99712

Worship Services Saturday at 7 p.m. • Sunday at 11 a.m. Affiliated with Church of God from Anderson, IN

www.fairhillchurch.com

12411360-5-11-13VG

University Community

Presbyterian Church Summer Worship 10:30 a.m.

3510 College Rd., Fairbanks 907-479-6728

ucpcfairbanks.org [email protected]

By MARY BETH [email protected]

In the midst of the early gold stampeders streaming into the Fairbanks gold camp in 1903 were preachers and priests who quickly drew up plans to fulfill the spiritual and physical needs of traders, prospectors and camp followers.

According to church records and an account by Judge James Wickersham, the first service in the newly forming town was held in the Fairbanks Saloon, at the corner of First Avenue and Cushman Street, and was led by the Rev. Charles E. Rice, an Episcopal priest, and assisted by Presbyterian min-ister the Rev. C.F. Ensign on March 29, 1903.

By the next year, 1904, churches were built by Catholic, Episcopalian and Presbyterian congregations and opened to the growing populace.

Both the Catholic and Episcopalian missionaries also built hospitals from local timber in tandem with their churches to care for the sick and injured.

All three historic churches — Immaculate Conception, St. Matthew’s Episcopal and First Presbyterian — con-tinue to serve the community, though the original First Presbyterian building has been relocated to Pioneer Park and now is rented for

weddings and interdenomina-tional services.

Both Immaculate Concep-tion, referred to locally as “The Little White Church,” and St. Matthew’s are located on the banks of the Chena River and retain their his-toric flavor.

The walls of Immaculate Conception are covered in the original decorative tin pressed in a fleur-de-lis pat-tern, which serves as a back-drop for exquisite, German made, stained glass windows, installed in 1926.

In 2012, two large stained glass panels by Healy artist

Judy Killion were installed in the church foyer. One depicts St. Joseph, St. Anne and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the other is focused on early Alaska women, nuns, pioneer women and Alaska Native women who worked and worshiped at the parish.

Across the river, on First Avenue, the log-hewn St. Matthew’s Church also reflects its early pioneer history in traditional early stained glass windows to oth-ers more recently added that detail historic church events. During daylight hours, all fill the church with rich hues.

The church altar also glows with richly carved pan-els etched into native Alaska birch by nurses, clergy and congregation members in 1906.

The carved symbols and words are either Latin or Greek, and the vine detail carving is picked up in the altar rail and lectern.

Today, Fairbanks is home to followers of a wide variety of religions, including follow-ers of Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and more, and boasts more than 100 houses of worship.

A church directory listing of Fairbanks area churches is published weekly in the Fri-day edition of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, adjacent to the weekly Faith page. Church addresses and main service times are included.

Contact staff writer Mary Beth Smetzer at 459-7546.

SERVICE LISTINGFind a weekly listing of

religious services in the Daily News-Miner every Friday.

Worship in Fairbanks


Judy Wise, Mary Plutt, and Agnes Govednik of Immac-ulate Conception Church remove what is left of a summer’s bloom from the flower beds.


Worship Directory – Visitors are always welcome! Each Friday, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner publishes additional local faith news.

St. Mark’s University Catholic Church UAF Campus 474-6776 email: [email protected]

Sunday Mass: 10:30 a.m. (May 19 - Sept. 2) Due to construction Mass held above Lola Tilly Commons

First Baptist Church of Fairbank s 805 Sixth Avenue - Downtown 456-4923

Sunday Morning: 11:00 a.m. www.firstbaptistfairbanks.com

Zion Lutheran Churc h (LCMS) 2982 Davis Road 456-7660 Worship with us Saturday 5:00 p.m. or Sunday 8:30 a.m. & 11:00 a.m.

www.zionfairbanks.org

Bible Baptist Churc h 452-1407 32 Adak Ave. 328-1423 Off the Steese Highway at College Road E.

Sun 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 6 p.m. & Wed 7 p.m . Bible believing — Old fashioned singing

Plenty of parking for RVʼs Free transportation from motels & campgrounds

www.BibleBaptistFairbanks.com Doug Duffett, Pastor (907) 388-9815

Bethel Churc h www.bethelchurchak.org

(Conservative Baptist) 479-4380 1310 Farmers Loop Rd. (2 mi east of Golf Course)

Worship: Sunday 9:30 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. Sunday School: 11:00 a.m.

F AIRBANKS A REA

Church of Christ 645 11th Avenue 456-4921

Sunday 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m. Wednesday 7:00 p.m.

Jewish Congregation of Fairbanks 1744 Aurora Drive 456-1002

Fridays 7:30pm • www.mosquitonet.com/~orhatzafon/

Fairbanks Lutheran Churc h 1012 Cowles Street (ELCA) 452-3425

Summer Sunday Worship: 8:30 a.m. Heritage 10:00 a.m. Celebration I I

www.fairbankslutheranchurch.org / [email protected]

Farewell Avenue Christian Church 100 Farewell Ave. [email protected] 456-6123

Sunday: Worship / Communion & Sunday School www.farewellave.com

Journey Christian Church Regal Cinemas Movie Theater

455-4433 • www.journeyalaska.org Services at 10:00 a.m.

Fairbanks Seventh-day Adventis t Church

1811 Farmerʼs Loop Road 479-6070 9:30 am Saturday, www.fairbanksadventistchurch.org

Denali Bible Chapel 1201 Lathrop Street 456-5157

Service: 10:30 a.m. www.DenaliBibleChapel.org

Hamilton Acres Baptist Churc h 138 Farewell Avenue Independent

Sunday 9:45 a.m., 11:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m. Pastor Bruce Hamilton

Sacred Heart Cathedra l 2501 Airport Way Ph: 474-9032 Fx: 479-3327

Weekend Masses: May 26 - September 1 Sat. 5:00 p.m., Sun. 10:00 a.m. & 6:30 p.m.

Weekday Masses: Tue. – Fri. 5:30 p.m. email: [email protected]

173952

16 5-5

-12VG

St. Matthew’s Episcopal Churc h 1029 First Avenue 456-5235

Eucharists: Sunday 8 a.m., 9:15 a.m. & 11:15 a.m. Wed. 9:30 am & 7 pm, Compline at 12 am Sun. - Fri.

www.stmatthewschurch.org

St. Paul Church Independent Traditional Methodist Worship

Pastor Ben Bohart – 474-9206 Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Worship 11 a.m.

907 Union Dr., by Dog Mushers 479-7998 A Friendly Little Country Church

St. Raphael Catholic Churc h 1125 Old Steese Hwy. North 457-6603

Mass: Saturday 5:30 p.m. & Sunday 9:30 a.m.

N ORTH P OLE A REA

St. Nicholas Catholic Churc h 707 St. Nicholas Drive, North Pole 488-2595

Mass: Daily 9am, Sat. 5pm, Sun. 9am, Noon & 2pm (Latin) Reconciliation: Saturday 4 p.m. or by appointment

Northern Lights Free Will Baptis t 2365 Richardson Hwy. (11 Mile) 490-0022

Services: 10:00 a.m. & 11:00 a.m.

H EALY / D ENALI A REA

Holy Mary of Guadalupe Catholic Churc h

Sunday 7:00 p.m. Healy Church 683-2535 Saturday Night Mass 6:00 p.m. at the

Wilderness Access Center Theatre (1mi. on Park Rd)

Valley Chapel - Assembly of Go d Mile 249, Parks Hwy. Healy 683-2303 Sun. Sch. 10 a.m., Church 11a.m., Wed. 7 p.m.

Christ Lutheran Church (ELCA) Farmerʼs Loop & Iniakuk Ave. near UAF 479-4947 Sunday Worship: 9:30 a.m. (Memorial Day - Labor Day)

www.clcfairbanks.org • [email protected] “All Are Welcome. No Exceptions”

Immaculate Conception Churc h 115 N. Cushman Street 452-3533

Mass: Sat. 5:30 p.m., Sun. 7:30, 9:30, 11:00 a.m . Weekday Masses (Mon. through Fri.) 12:10 p.m. Church is open weekdays 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Fairhill Community Church of God fairhillchurch.com (See ad on facing page)


By GARY [email protected]

The University of Alaska Museum of the North is the premiere scientific and historic museum for the state’s col-legiate system, and it’s housed

right here in Fairbanks.The museum is home to 1.4

million artifacts and specimens, which then are divided into 10 collections, or disciplines: archaeology, birds, documen-tary film, earth sciences, eth-nology/history, fine arts, fishes/

marine invertebrates, insects, mammals and plants.

The collections form the foundation for the museum’s research and exhibits, from art and sculpture to displays of

13409137-5-11-13VG College Corner Area

When visiting UA Museum of the North and Georgeson Botanical Gardens,

907-474-9574 3525 College Rd, Fairbanks AK

(Near the corner of College & University)

www.ShopGulliversBooks.com

What Will You Discover at

Gulliver’s Books?Huge Selection of Alaskana Titles

Made in Alaska Gift Items

Second Story Cafe

Locally Roasted Coffee

We’ll Ship Your Purchase Home!

FREE

WI-FI!

12411327-5-11-13VG

2600 College Road

Wednesday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Produce • Crafts • Food

www.tvfmarket.com

Tuesday–Saturday 11–6

374-5991 In the 3535 College Road Mall

Next to Gulliver’s Books

www.enchantedforesttoysak.com

13409100-5-11-13VG

UA Museum of the North

Please see MUSEUM, Page 19

13409133-5-11-13VG 457-2200 • 3535 College Rd.

college town

pizzeria

#1

Piz

za


G

• Fairbanks •

3453 College Rd. near UAF

• 372 Chena Pump Plaza

Super Premium

small batch ice cream

made in Alaska since 1986

907.479.7813 www.hotlicks.net

I C E C R E A M

12411329-5-11-13VG

INUA WOOL SHOPPE available at

T H E L U X U R Y YA R N O F T H E A R C T I C AND OTHER FINE YARN

A specialty shop for knitters

3677 College Road #3 • Campus Corner Mall www.inuawool.com • 479-5830

12411256-5-11-13VG

� A LASKAN G OLD N UGGET J EWELRY

� S PECTACULAR C ANADIAN D IAMONDS

� S TERLING

S ILVER J EWELRY

� A LASKA T HEME J EWELRY & M ORE ...

Come visit us at Campus Corner Mall 3677 College Rd., Fairbanks, AK 99709

www.alaskasgold.com (907) 455-6055

A DAMAS J EWELRY C . Fine Jewelers & Designers

10% MILITARY DISCOUNT

13409138-5-11-13VG College Rd & University Ave

Don’t miss the unique shops at

IF YOU GOWhat: University of Alaska

Museum of the NorthWhen: May 15 to Sept. 15,

open daily, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.Where: 907 Yukon Drive, UAF

campusCost: $12 general admission

(15+); $7 youth (1-14); $8 Alas-ka resident adult with ID (15+); $5 Alaska resident youth (1-14)

Phone: 474-7505Online: www.uaf.edu/museum

gold and minerals to animals and insects found all over the state.

One of the most stunning attractions is Blue Babe, a 36,000-year-old mummified steppe bison which is perma-nently on display. Also look for Otto — you can’t miss the giant grizzly, who greets visi-

tors near the entrance.This summer, the museum

is celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the first suc-cessful ascent of Denali with the exhibit “Denali Legacy: 100 Years on the Mountain.” The exhibit showcases arti-facts from the 1913 voyage, such as the camp stove, a Eucharist set and the climb-ers’ diaries. Visitors learn how mountain climbing

MUSEUMContinued from Page 18

Please see MUSEUM, Page 20


has changed from years past. A scale model of the mountain offers insight into the difficulty of the climb.

The museum build-ing itself is famed for its modern design, invoking images of glaciers, spring breakup, alpine ridges and the northern lights.

museum.uaf.edu907.474.7505

University of Alaska Museum of the North907 Yukon Drive Fairbanks, AK 99775

UAF is an AA/EO employer and educational institution.

UA68-007-0002

UAMES4588

UA1970-306-7

UAM5063

UA67-011-0005

0497-0001

Explore

Museumthe North

Tour the

Summer Hours:

9 AM – 7 PM Daily

MUSEUMContinued from Page 19

Associated Press file photo/Univer-sity of Alaska

Visitors look at exhibits at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fair-banks.

21Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 12411358-5-11-13VG

Special Fair Entertainment for 2013

Learn about our headliner comedy hypnotist, the Incredible Boris at http://www.comedywood.com/

Hear the beautiful Mexican Harp of Francisco Gonzalez, a traditional music virtuoso.

The hilarious Scotty & Trink comedy juggling duo will be returning to the fair this year, as well as the stupefying

magic of Antwan Towner!

Staff Report

Alaska is so big it has three state fairs, one in Fairbanks, one in Haines and one in Palmer.

Founded in 1924, the Tanana Valley State Fair in Fairbanks is the oldest of the three and continues to be a major attraction for local resi-dents and out-of-towners alike.

Whether it’s big cab-bages and other super-sized vegetables, an array of food vendors who sell everything from deep-fried Snickers bars to smoked turkey legs, gut-wrenching rides or local talent and acts from the Lower 48, the Tanana Valley State Fair has something for everyone.

Traditionally held during the first two weeks of August, the dates for this year’s fair are Aug. 2-11. The fair is held at the Tanana Valley State Fairgrounds on College Road.

In addition to food and fun, the Fairbanks fair is famous for two other things — a corny theme and rain. Organizers pick a new theme for the fair each year, which usually is related to livestock or agri-culture. This year’s theme is “Salmonchanted Evening” and promises to be a little fishy.

While rain is almost a certainty each year dur-ing the fair — August is the rainiest month of the year in Fairbanks — it doesn’t put a damper on the 10-day event. The fair traditionally attracts about 100,000 visitors each year. Last year’s attendance total was just more than 111,000.

IF YOU GOWhat: Tanana Valley State

FairWhen: Aug. 2-11Where: College RoadCost: Daily: Adults (ages

13-59) $10; youths (ages 6-12) $5; seniors (ages 60 and older) $5; children 5 and younger free. Season passes also available.

Phone: 452-3750Online: www.tananavalley

statefair.com

Tanana Valley State FairEric Engman/News-Miner file photo

The Apollo ride spins in the sun-shine as fairgoers enjoy the Mid-way at the 2012 Tanana Valley State Fair.

Please see FAIR, Page 23



It’s not Daytona or India-napolis, but when it comes to the history of the automo-bile, Fairbanks offers a great glimpse at the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum.

The museum’s collection features more than 80 Ameri-can-made antique automobiles and showcases the interesting heritage of the automobile during Alaska’s post-gold rush era. The collection includes rare models such as an 1899 Hertel, 1904 Stevens-Duryea, 1917 Owen-Magnetic, 1921 Heine-Velox, 1933 Auburn V-12 dual ratio custom speedster and 1938 Elto Midget. Sev-eral autos are the only models of their marques known to remain, including an 1898 Hay Motor Vehicle, 1906 Compound

and 1920 Argonne.On weekends, museum staff

often give guided tours with detailed explanations of the autos, their histories and use in Alaska, and how they arrived in the state. Some autos have

not been restored, while others are gleaming restorations of their original state.

During summer, especially during the historic Golden Days celebration, many of the cars make appearances around town and in a parade through the streets of downtown.

If cars aren’t your thing, no worries. Recently, the museum has started displaying vintage and Victorian fashions of the era from which they were popular in Alaska. With more than 100 outfits on display, the exhibit offers a look at fashion from the 18th to mid-20th cen-turies. Both men’s and wom-en’s fashions are on display, from silk bustle dresses and motoring dusters to shimmer-ing flapper shifts and tuxedos.

Self-guided tours are avail-able or you can make a reserva-tion to tour as a group.

IF YOU GOWhat: Fountainhead

Antique Auto Museum, 230 Wedgewood Drive

When: Summer hours start May 26; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday-Satur-day

Cost: Ages 13 and older, $8; ages 3 to 12, $5; chil-dren younger than 2 admitted free.

Phone: 450-2100Online: www.fountainhead

museum.com. The museum is also on Facebook.

Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum

Eric Engman/News-Miner file photo

An 1898 Hay-Hotchkiss automobile sits on display at Fountain-head Devel-opment’s Antique Auto Museum.


ExhibitsWinter in FairbanksThe Great FloodKlondike Gold RushEarly FairbanksThe Driving Spirit (Dog Mushing)Monthly Art Show

5th Avenue & Cushman Streetin Historic City Hall

Monday thru Friday 11am – 7pm

Most Sundays 11am – 3pm

(907) 457-3669FairbanksHistoryMuseum.com


Tucked into a nondescript building along Cushman Street you will find one of the best historical collections of information and arti-facts cataloging life in Interior Alaska.

The Fairbanks Community Museum, 410 Cushman St., is a trove of photos, docu-ments, exhibits and displays all about life in the Far North, from the first indigenous peo-ples in the region to the Klondike Gold Rush to detailed information on Alaska’s official sport, dog mushing. If you’re not Alaskan, you will think you are after visiting.

The museum is housed in an older build-ing, with each room dedicated to Alaska history. Dog mushing and its history from past to present is a prominent theme at the museum, with displays relaying information on the importance of a dog team for the first peoples of Alaska to modern uses in Bush villages. Several displays show historic dog sleds and how they have transitioned into the sleds in use today.

A large portion of the museum is devoted to the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race — the 1,000 mile epic adventure between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon — with details on its creation, its hazards and profiles of early mushers. The Open North American Championship sled dog race, a sprint race of mushing teams through the streets of downtown Fairbanks each March,

also occupies lots of space in the museum. The latest addition arrived in April when the museum received a large collection of photographs taken at the inaugural ONAC sled dog race in 1946. They were donated by Sharon Henneke of Yorktown, Ind., and were taken by her father, Tech Sgt. Marion B. Hare, who died in 2004 at age 96.

If mushing and mushing history isn’t your thing, the Fairbanks Community Museum boasts many exhibits dedicated to the gold rush era that brought thousands of pioneers to the territory.

If you happen to be in Fairbanks on a Friday night, the museum is a regular par-ticipant in First Friday art showings in which artists from Fairbanks and Alaska dis-play their works on the first Friday of each month.

Like most fairs, the Tanana Valley State Fair includes live-stock and poultry displays, a robust midway with a variety of rides and games and dozens of vendors selling food and crafts, but it also has a few Alaska twists, such as a contest for the biggest locally grown cabbage (and other vegetables), as well as an antique tractor pull. The fair ends with a fire-

works display each year.Fair entrance is $10 per

adult and $5 per senior and child. Children younger than 5 are free. Season passes are $35 and $20 for seniors and children. Military discounts are offered, and each day the fair features a different special.

There is plenty of free park-ing at the College Road site, but the lot can fill up on popu-lar nights.

For more information on the Tanana Valley State Fair, go to www.tananavalleystatefair.com or call 452-3750.

Contact the newsroom at 459-7572.

FAIRContinued from Page 21

IF YOU GOWhat: Fairbanks Community Museum, 410

Cushman St.When: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to

3 p.m., and by appointment. Where: 410 Cushman St.Cost: Free, but donations are warmly

accepted.Phone: 457-3669Online: www.fairbankshistorymuseum.com;

on Facebook, search for “Fairbanks Community/Dog Mushing Museum”

Fairbanks Community Museum


Karen Gibson-Mount, of McKinleyville, Calif., enjoys an ear of corn at the 2012 Tanana Valley State Fair.

24 2013 Summer Visitors Guide 11409770-5-11-13V

G

4x4 SUV & Truck Rental

(907) 479-7272

By SAM [email protected]

Stay in the Fairbanks area for a few days, and there’s a good chance you’ll come across a moose. Your chances of seeing a caribou and Dall sheep aren’t bad, either, if you explore the surrounding territory.

But if you want to see musk oxen, a fourth spe-cies of large herbivore that Alaska is famous for, you’ll either have to venture far north of the Arctic Circle or take a short drive to the Robert E. White Large Ani-mal Research Station (LARS) of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. LARS is located on an old homestead site next to the university campus.

By JEFF [email protected]

Alaska is known for the enormous vegetables that thrive during the long sum-mer days, but there are plen-ty of less-publicized plants that make their home in the North.

Many of them can be found in the Georgeson Botanical Garden at the Uni-versity of Alaska Fairbanks

campus. The northernmost public garden in North Amer-ica is a scenic spot to view flowers, perennials and even some of the state’s famed veggies.

Visitors can check it out during a self-guided tour, using brochures and signs for interpretation. The area also includes a gorgeous view of the Tanana Valley and Alaska Range, with Mount McKin-ley visible on a clear day. A children’s garden includes a

maze, a miniature log cabin and a water garden. Benches, bird baths and sculptures accentuate the scenery.

The century-old garden, named after former Alaska Agriculture Experiment Stations director Charles Georgeson, is more than just a spot for a scenic summer walk. It’s a hub for high-lati-tude plant science, serving

Large Animal Research Station


A musk ox grazes at the Robert E. White Large Animal Research Station at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.Please see LARS, Page 25

IF YOU GOWhat: Georgeson Botani-

cal GardenWhen: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.,

May through SeptemberWhere: 117 West Tanana

Drive, UAFCost: $5 per person, free

for children 6 and youngerPhone: 474-7222Online: georgesonbg.org

Georgeson Botanical Garden

Please see GARDEN, Page 25


Musk oxen are large and shaggy animals of the north that were hunted out of existence in Alaska in the 19th century. A population was transported to Alaska from Greenland in 1960, and there are now some 4,000 in Alas-ka, according to LARS.

LARS has a herd of about 30 musk oxen and also is home to a herd of 40 caribou and their domesticated cousins, reindeer. Between June 1 and Aug. 31, a picnic area and gift shop at LARS is open 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. The gift shop sells qivi-ut, a fiber made from an inner layer of musk ox hair that’s touted for being softer than cashmere.

A naturalist leads guests on an hour-long

tour of the research station three times per day. A shuttle before and after tours runs from the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

Even when the research station is closed, it’s sometimes possible to glimpse the musk oxen from a parking lot outside the main gate.

Contact staff writer Sam Friedman at 459-7545.

IF YOU GOWhat: Large Animal Research StationWhen: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Satur-

day from June 1 through Aug. 31; tours offered 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.

Where: 2220 Yankovich Road, next to UAFCost: Tours, $10/person, $9/senior, $6 stu-

dent. Children 5 and under.Phone: 474-5724Online: www.lars.uaf.edu

as a three-acre laboratory for growing under the midnight sun in Interior Alaska’s short summers.

This year’s new beds include two experimental perennial beds in the front garden. A rose mulching trial is being sponsored by the Georgeson Botanical Garden Society in honor of Mike Sal-zman, a longtime rose aficio-nado and original member of the society.

At 7 p.m. Thursdays, from June 6 through Aug. 15, the garden will host “Music in the Garden,” a free evening concert sponsored by Uni-versity of Alaska Fairbanks Summer Sessions.

Several changes this sum-mer are dedicated to support-ers who passed away in the previous year.

The Earl and Dorothy Beistline Garden, named in honor of the late Dorothy and Earl Beistline, will be planted

with delphiniums this sum-

mer in honor of the couple. Earl, an influential Alaska miner, died in December 2012 at age 96. A rock garden and dredge buckets are at the site in his recognition.

A “weather garden” honors longtime National Weather Service meteorolo-gist Ted Fathauer, who died in January. The garden in his honor will feature a sundial and rain gauge, among other weather-related items.

The garden is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. May through September. Admission is $5 per person, with free entrance for children ages 6 and younger.

Pets aren’t allowed in the garden.

For more information about the botanical garden, go to georgesonbg.org.

Contact staff writer Jeff Rich-ardson at 459-7518.

LARSContinued from Page 24

GARDENContinued from Page 24


Flowers bloom brightly at the Georgeson Botanical Garden on the University of Alaska Fairbanks Experiment Farm.


WedgewoodResort

FountainheadHotels.com

FountainheadAntique Auto

MuseumFountainheadMuseum.com

Wedgewood Resort

Quietly nestled on 105-acresbordering its own Wildlife Sanctuary

adjoining Creamers Field Refuge.

• Expansive residential-style suites

• 1 & 2 bedroom family convenience

• Separate fully equipped kitchens

• Air conditioning & laundry facilities

• Large flat screen cable TVs

• Wireless internet & data ports

While here you’ll enjoy comfortable,clean lodging, exceptional service, &

preferred access to the Auto Museum.

• Collection features over 80 vehicles

• Victorian Age to Art Deco clothing

• Alaska historic photos & videos

• Replica roadhouse photo display

• Gift shop, restaurant, internet cafe

• 450.2100 museum - 452.1442 resort

• 212 Wedgewood Drive - Fairbanks

12411331-5

-11-1

3V

G

Full schedule and events listing at

www.creamersfield.org

Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane Festival

Fri., Aug. 23 – Sun., Aug. 25

Guided Nature Walks leave from

the Farmhouse Mon - Sat, 10am

& Wed. evenings - 7pm Additional walks can be arranged for groups of six or

more with a minimum of one week advance notice.

Farmhouse Visitor

Center & Giftshop

Summer Hours:

Daily

9:30am - 5pm

By TIM [email protected]

Whether you want to go bird watching, take a relax-ing walk in the woods or get a feel for some of Fairbanks’ history, Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge is the place to go.

Once the biggest dairy farm in Alaska, Creamer’s Field is now part of a 2,000-acre migratory waterfowl ref-uge that attracts thousands

of Canada geese, sandhilll cranes, trumpeter swans and assorted other waterfowl in the spring, summer, and fall.

Within walking distance — about two miles — of down-town Fairbanks, the refuge is at 1300 College Road and also serves as headquarters for Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Fairbanks office.

The barn and farmhouse from the 1950s era dairy remain and the farmhouse has been transformed into an interpretive visitors center where visitors can learn about the history of Creamer’s Field and the purpose it serves as a waterfowl refuge.

The refuge has about five miles of trails that wind in and out of the woods and around the fields, with view-ing platforms situated in dif-ferent spots to look for birds, moose and other wildlife. The trails are flat and parts of them are accessible for people with disabilities.

Naturalist Mark Ross, an education specialist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said Creamer’s Field is a “microcosm of Interior fields, forest and wet-

lands.”There are sandhill cranes

that frequent the refuge throughout the summer, and the woods around the refuge are filled with an orchestra of songbirds. The refuge hosts the Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane Festival during the third week in August. This year’s festival is scheduled for Aug. 23-25.

Friends of Creamer’s Field offers daily guided nature walks Monday through Sat-urday at 10 a.m. and on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Partici-pants learn about the plants and animals on the refuge, as well as some of the history behind Creamer’s Field.

“It’s a great way to see a wide variety of plants, ani-mals and habitats in a small, concentrated area,” Friends of Creamer’s executive direc-tor Christine Huff said.

There are guide books available in the farmhouse visitor center, as well as at the trailhead kiosk, for those who want to tour the refuge on their own. Interpretive signs along some of the trails inform visitors about different aspects of the refuge.

The Farmhouse Visitors Center is open seven days per week from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting June 1.

IF YOU GOWhat: Creamer’s Field

Migratory Waterfowl RefugeWhere: 1300 College

RoadOnline: www.creamers

field.org

Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge


A sand-hill crane stretches its wings at Cream-er’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge.



The Morris Thompson Cul-tural and Visitors Center pro-vides visitors with everything they need to know to navigate Fairbanks and explore Alaska’s Interior.

The Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau, Alaska Public Lands Information Cen-ter, Tanana Chiefs Conference Cultural Programs, the Alaska Geographic bookstore and Denakkanaaga Native Elders organization all share space in the building at 101 Dunkel St., on the banks of the Chena River, providing a variety of cultural programs, exhibits and events.

A bonus feature is “The People and the Land,” an in-depth display of the Interior’s history and people.

The walk-through exhibit hall greets visitors with every-day sounds of the Interior, beginning with a raven’s call, Athabascan fiddle music, the deep roar of a float plane tak-ing off and the musical honk-ing of migrating geese.

The exhibit trail winds

through life-sized dioramas depicting the seasons, flora and fauna of the Interior. A replica fish camp, hunting camp and public use cabin add to the realism.

The area’s rich cultural his-tory and highlights of the mod-ern community are included, such as the University of Alas-ka Fairbanks, artwork, World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, Fair-banks Symphony, the interna-tional ice sculpture competition and much more.

Alaska lifestyles past and present and the history of the area from its first people, early exploration, gold stampede and oil pipeline are detailed through a wide range of locally donated art and artifacts.

The center is adjacent to Griffin Park and is near bike and walk paths. It offers park-ing, wireless Internet and restrooms. Visitors can stow their gear in lockers while they explore Fairbanks or can watch daily free films about Alaska in the center’s 100-seat theater.

A 1905 pioneer cabin on the center’s grounds is in the process of being restored, and glass tile mosaics depicting tra-

ditional Athabascan beadwork designs adorn the sidewalks.

The services offered by the center’s organizations are many.

Convention and Visitors Bureau

There is much to do and see in the Interior, and the friendly folks at the Fairbanks Conven-tion and Visitors Bureau will help you plan an itinerary of local attractions that fits your schedule. The staff is all local and can answer questions and share personal stories of year-round life in Fairbanks.

Staff fluent in German and Japanese are available to assist international travelers.

The bureau offers more than 400 brochures for attrac-tions, dining, shopping, camp-ing and outdoor adventures in the Interior and across Alaska.

Also available:• Free courtesy phones for

local and credit card calls• Public computers for visi-

tors to make travel arrange-ments and check email

• Maps of Alaska and the

Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center

Please see CENTER, Page 28


American Legion Post # 11

452-2228 1 29 1 st Ave.

Fairbanks, Alaska 997 0 1

18409557-5-11-13VG

A CFC Participant. Provided as a public service.

Make Wishes Come True

visit wish.org

18409555 5-11-13VG

Lady Lee's

519 1st Avenue • 452-2013

SUMMER HOURS: Monday - Saturday 11 a.m. 7 p.m.

Sunday 12-4 p.m.

Antiques Emporium

11409831-5-11-13VG

Antiques, Collectibles

& Gifts

New Location! WhyDoMyFeetHurt .info

I nsole/Shoe Store

Office Hours: M, T, Th, F 12–6 pm Sat. 12–4 pm • Closed Wed. & Sun.

18409471-5-11-13VG

347-0731 • 530 7th Ave.

“Shoes for today’s feet” Plantar Fasciitis, Heel Spurs

and Shin Splint relief.

1922 Peger Rd 474-3923

Expressions Expressions in Glass in Glass Unique glass

gallery & gift shop Must see shop for all!

www.Expressionsinglass.net 11409826-5-11-13VG

Alaskan Made Gifts Ask about Mini Classes

Daily Performances & WorkshopsJuly 14 – July 28

www.fsaf.org · 474-8869

Lunch Bites, 12:15 pm @ Co-Op Plaza & around Fairbanks

Evening concerts & classes

(complete list online)

Fairbanks area• Daily listings of available

accommodations• For more information, call

456-5774 or visit explorefairbanks.com.

Alaska Public Lands Information Center

For more adventuresome visitors, the Public Lands Information Center is dedi-cated to promoting knowledge and use of “natural, cultural and historic resources on Alaska’s public lands.”

The information center has resources for hiking, camping and fishing and can help with backcountry trip planning

The information center’s services include resource edu-cation programs, interpretive services and fee collection. The center also has a refer-ence library and sponsors daily films in the theater.

The public lands office is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily Memorial Day through Labor Day. For more information, call 459-3730 or visit alaskacenters.gov.

Alaska Geographic bookstore

Alaska Geographic is a

nonprofit bookstore dedi-cated to “connecting people to Alaska’s parks, forests and refuges.” Browse Alaska reading material — children’s books, wilderness adventure, Alaska history and collections from some of the state’s finest photographers.

You’ll also find detailed maps of Alaska’s wild areas, DVDs covering a wide range of Alaska history and culture, and Native arts and crafts. The bookstore will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily during the summer months.

For more information, call 459-3710 or visit alaskageographic.org.

TCC Cultural Programs

The Tanana Chiefs Con-ference, a consortium of 42 villages of Interior Alaska, promotes Alaska Native unity

and self-determination. TCC Cultural Programs hosts cul-tural programs and events Monday through Friday dur-ing the summer at the center.

For more information, call 459-3741, visit tananachiefs.org or stop by the center.

DenakkanaagaThe Morris Thompson

Cultural and Visitors Cen-ter also houses the offices of Denakkanaaga Native Elders organization.

IF YOU GOWhat: Morris Thompson

Cultural and Visitors CenterWhen: Daily, year-round.

Summer hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Where: 101 Dunkel St.Phone: 459-3700Online: www.morristhomp

soncenter.org

CENTERContinued from Page 27


The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center is locat-ed at 101 Dunkel St., on the banks of the Chena River.


Yencid I. Hiller Licensed Esthetician &

Massage Therapis t

Call for appointment 457-PURE (7873 )

www.mysalononline.com/pure www.mysalononline.com/pure

TDL Professional Building 1716 University Ave., Suite #103

Military & Senior

Discount

• Massage & Reflexology • Pedicures • Full Body Wax • Micro Dermabrasion • Facials (male & female) • Inch Loss Body Wrap

We offer . . .

18409502-5-11-13VG

Come Celebrate Tradition at the

World Eskimo-Indian Olympic s

18409500-5

-11-1

13VG

WEIO Office/Store 400 Cushman St., Suite A

452-6646 www.weio.org

J uly 1 7– 2 0 Carlson Center, Fairbanks

By DANNY [email protected]

The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics is one of the most anticipated and unforgettable summer events in Alaska, and it celebrates its 52nd anniver-sary this year.

The celebration of Native games and culture takes place July 17-20 at the Carlson Center.

WEIO includes dance groups that are mesmerizing, a best-dressed baby contest that steals your heart and the Miss WEIO pageant that’s charming and culturally uplifting. However, it’s the games that stir WEIO’s popu-larity, giving it a distinction that extends beyond the 49th state.

The games are based on skills used to survive in the arctic.

One of WEIO’s most popu-lar games is the ear pull. It’s a tug of war of ears as two people sit facing each other with twine looped from one ear of one opponent to one ear of the other opponent — right ear to right ear or left ear to left ear.

The game tests a person’s ability to withstand pain, a trait that is sometimes needed to survive the harsh realities of the North.

Another popular event is the four-man carry, which is based on a hunter, after a suc-cessful hunt, having to carry his game for a long distance. The event itself involves a participant walking as far as he can while volunteers are draped on his body.

The bench reach event has gained popularity since it was reintroduced two years ago during WEIO’s 50th anniver-

sary. The 2011 event included 35 men and 22 women; last year, the event atracted 45

men and 24 women.

World Eskimo-Indian Olympics

IF YOU GOWhat: World Eskimo-Indi-

an OlympicsWhen: July 17-20Where: Carlson CenterCost: Free for day events;

$10 for adults and $8 for elders and students for eve-ning events.

Phone: 452-6646Online: www.weio.org


Leroy Shangin, of Perryville, grimaces while competing in the men’s ear pull event during the 2009 World Eskimo-Indian Olympics at the Carlson Center.

Please see WEIO, Page 32


Airport Way & Peger Rd. • Fairbanks, Alaska • 459-1095 Visitor Information

Park Office: (907)459-1087 • 2300 Airport Way, Fairbanks, AK 99701 www.fnsb.us/PioneerPark • email: [email protected]

17410000 5-11-13

Relive the past and explore the treasures of the Golden Heart.

PIONEER PARK PIONEER PARK PIONEER PARK

All Activities are in the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts-Bear Gallery, Theater or outside at the Gazebo. For info call Fairbanks Arts Association 456-6485

June 1 – August 31

• Gold Rush Town (Shops) • Pioneer Aviation Museum • Mini Golf & Carousel • Native Culture Exhibits • Kayak & Bicycle Rentals • Crooked Creek & Whiskey

Island Railroad • Square & Round Dance Hall

• Palace Theater Show • Alaska Salmon Bake • Pioneer Museum & Big

Stampede Show • Railroad Museum • National Historic Landmarks • Picnic Shelters & Playground • Free WiFi parkwide

Alaska’s Only Historical Theme Park

• G AZEBO N IGHTS - Live entertainment nightly at 7p.m. - FREE

• F INE A RTS G ALLERY & G IFT S HOP

open Noon. - 8p.m. daily - FREE

• M ONTHLY L ITERARY R EADINGS

1st Saturdays at 7p.m. - FREE • TIPS –

Totally Impromptu Performance Series


Museums, mini golf, gift shops and a cabin that will chill you at 40 degrees below zero combine to give visitors a taste of Fairbanks at Pioneer Park, a historic theme park.

Built for the 1967 centen-nial of Alaska’s purchase from Russia, Pioneer Park is man-aged by the Fairbanks North Star Borough and is used by locals and tourists.

Visitors will sometimes hear Fairbanks residents refer to the local landmark

by another name. The park’s name was officially changed from Alaskaland in 2002 “in order to remove the persona of a ‘Disneyland’ theme park experience” according to the park’s website.

Pioneer Park

Please see PARK, Page 32


V is i t Rea l A laskans V is i t Rea l A laskans V is i t Rea l A laskans P I O N E R P A R E K

11409821 5-11-13 11409821 5-11-13

The Bag Ladies of Fairbanks Cabin 2 in Pioneer Park Memorial Day to Labor Day

O PEN DAILY 11 A . M . – 8 P . M . • 455-1269

11409771-5-11-13VG

We have many locally handcrafted Alaskan gifts, soaps, books, jewelry, candles, fabric and espresso coffee shop.

Why not stop by for our great home made soup & sandwiches while enjoying it in our over 110 year old log cabin?

Native American Folk Art Inc. Presents

“Unique Gifts from the Alaskan Bush”

• Gold & Ivory Jewelry • Native Masks • Totem Poles

• Slippers • Native Artifacts

• Eskimo Dolls

B USH B ABIES & C OMPANY

In Pioneer Park (907) 388-6402

P ROPRIETOR S K E N A N D C ARO L D ELOVITCH

11408854 5-11-13 VG

11408854 5-11-13 VG

11409315-5-11-13VG

FREE SOFT DRINK

Bring in this coupon & receive a

with any food purchase

Souvlaki • Spinach Pies Stuffed Grape Leaves

Greek Salads Baklava

& much more

456-3672

Open Daily 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. PIONEER PARK CABIN #25

In Business Since 1972

O N THE BOARDWALK

11394536-5-5-12VG

PIONEER MUSEUM GOLD RUSH TOWN • PIONEER PARK

PIONEER MUSEUM Take a trip through

HISTORY Artifacts, photos, and other

displays of Fairbanks’ golden past. OPEN DAILY 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

456-8579

BIG STAMPEDE SHOW Gold Rush Saga

Featuring: Chilkoot Pass, Shooting the Rapids, Dawson and on to

Fairbanks . . . Gold Rush paintings by C. Rusty Heurlin. Narrated by

poet laureate, Ruben Gaines.

www.fnsb.us/pioneerpark/attractions • [email protected]

Adults $4 • Ages 6-16 $2 • Under 6 FREE

Step into the Gold Dome & You’re In A Special Place!

Interior & Arctic Alaska’s Aeronautical History.

16 Aircraft, 31 Engines, Memorabilia, Artifacts, Photos, Stories & More.

Noon–8 p.m. • 7 Days A Week May 15 thru September 15

Call (907) 451-0037 for information. www.pioneerairmuseum.org

$3.00 Single, $7.00 Family Children Under 12 FREE

but must be accompanied by an adult

Admission

11409807-5-11-13VG

Visit one of Fairbanks’ oldest homes

11409816- 5-11-13VG

Located in Pioneer Park

Operated by the Tanana- Yukon Historical Society

Listed on the National Register of Historical Places

TOURS WELCOME Get a taste of real Fairbanks history. This is a must see!

Open Daily 12 n – 8 pm

Memorial Day to Labor Day

Admission FREE, but donations are welcome.

For additional information, please call

455-8947 Email: [email protected]

www.fairbanks-tyhs.org


But the park’s old name has plenty of holdouts in Fair-banks.

Pioneer Park has a carou-sel and miniature train that runs on a track encircling the park, and its layout has a Main Street Disneyland feel with pedestrian paths surrounded by small buildings housing shops and museums. Some of

the buildings are reconstruc-tions, while others are historic homes that were moved to the park from downtown. The park has seven small museums, which include two historic homes and a sternwheeler riv-erboat. Most are free or charge admission fees of $4 or less.

Other main attractions at Pioneer Park include a canoe and kayak rental and shuttle service that lets customers pad-

dle down the Chena River, and the Palace Theater, which hosts “The Golden Heart Revue,” a light-hearted musical look at Fairbanks history.

Of special importance to those traveling with young children, two playground areas are stocked with plenty of equipment on which kids can burn off some energy.

Contact staff writer Sam Fried-man at 459-7545.

18409563 5-11-13VG

Want to take the adventure with you?

We have an APP for that!

JUST HAIRCUTS

452-4487 Mon.-Sat. 9am-7pm

REGULAR PRICE

THESE PRICES GOOD WITH THIS COUPON

1 COUPON PER PERSON

Men’s . . . . . . . . . $10.95

Boy’s . . . . . . . . . . . . $9.95

Sr. Citizens . . . $8.95

Military . . . . . . . . . $7.95

23rd & S. Cushman Across from Holiday

OFF $ 2 0 0

11408853-5-11-13VG

The bench reach tests a person’s balance, strength, patience and precise touch.

The game involves a contes-

tant kneeling on a bench while another person sits on his or her calves as support. The contestant then bends forward to lift a wooden dowl with one hand and place it on the floor as far as possible. The contes-tant then raises his body to return to the kneeling position

on the bench.WEIO attracts visitors from

around the nation. It has been featured in publications such as People and Cosmopolitan magazines and USA Today, and it’s enjoyed exposure on national television programs such as ABC’s “Good Morning America,” ESPN’s “SportsCen-ter” and NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

In 2009, WEIO was induct-ed into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame in Anchorage for the events category.

A contingent from Green-land is scheduled to return to WEIO for the third straight year, according to Nicole Johnston, the chairman of the WEIO Board of Governors.

“They bring a little interna-tional flair,’’ she said during a recent telephone interview.

More information about WEIO is available on its web-site (www.weio.org).

Contact staff writer Danny Martin at 459-7586.

WEIOContinued from Page 29

IF YOU GOWhat: Pioneer ParkWhere: Main entrance on

Airport Way, between Peger Road and Wilbur Street

When: Concessions open noon to 8 p.m. Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day week-end

Cost: Admission is free, prices for attractions vary

Phone: 459-1087Online: www.co.fairbanks.

ak.us/pioneerparkNews-Miner file photo

Mary Jane Schuster, of Cheboygan, Mich., peers into the Harding Railroad Car at Pioneer Park. PARK

Continued from Page 30


THE

Look for the Red Moose on the Roof!

�

• VINTAGE JEWLERY & OLD ALASKANA • ICE AGE FOSSILS • ONE-OF-A-KIND ESKIMO CARVINGS • ULU KNIVES

Visit this 100 year old frame building in Fairbanks, built in 1910 by E.R. Peoples, an early Fairbanks pioneer. ENJOY SHOPPING IN THE UNIQUE ATMOSPHERE OF THE CRAFT MARKET STOCKED WITH AUTHENTIC ALASKA GIFT ITEMS, MANY CRAFTED HERE BY LOCAL ARTISTS. Made in Alaska.

401 5th Avenue, Fairbanks, Alaska (907) 452-5495, Open Daily

GIGANTIC

CLOSEOUT SALE

Up to

entire stock 50 % Off

CRAFT MARKET Alaska Gift Shop

FREE Piece of FOSSILIZED IVORY With this coupon

In Business Over 30 years

409550-5-11-13VT

Sweat Shirts

Buy 1, Get 1

FREE

“This Place is incredible” “This Place is incredible”

This is one of the Best shops This is one of the Best shops I’ve been in, in Alaska.” I’ve been in, in Alaska.”

5th Ave. 5th Ave. 4th Ave. 4th Ave.

Lace

y St

. La

cey

St.

Nobe

l St.

Nobe

l St.

3rd Ave 3rd Ave

Cushm

an St

Cushm

an St

6th Ave. 6th Ave.

X X City City Hall Hall

We Are

Here!

�

By SAM FRIEDMAN [email protected]

The architecture of the build-ings in downtown Fairbanks tells the young city’s history.

As a guide to these buildings, the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau created a self-guided audio tour, which is available at the Mor-ris Thompson Cultural and Visi-tors Center. It’s also available as a mobile device app on the Downtown Association of Fairbanks website.

Be advised that many stops on the tour are private homes, including several early 20th cen-tury cabins. Admire them from the outside, but please don’t both-er the residents.

Tour of downtown Fairbanks


Gillian, left, and Kim Noske, of Mandurah, West Austra-lia, enjoy a stroll through Golden Heart Plaza in down-town Fairbanks in September 2011. Golden Heart Plaza is one of the highlights of a downtown tour created by the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau.Please see TOUR, Page 35



You won’t hook into the bright, shiny salmon in the Interior that anglers brag about in Southcentral or Southeast Alaska.

Neither will you find your-self posing next to one of those barn-door-sized halibut that are famous in the fishing ports of Homer and Valdez.

What you will find in the Interior is arctic grayling.

“We’ve got a lot of grayling. They’re a great fish to catch: They’re easy to catch and we’ve got road accessible rivers with grayling in them,” said Audra Brase, area management sport fish biologist for the Alaska

Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks.

And they are uniquely Alas-kan.

An elegant cousin of the trout, arctic grayling are dis-tinguished by their iridescent, sail-like dorsal fin, which is dotted with green and purple spots. The slate gray fish are

famous for their voracious appetites and willingness to attack dry flies, making them a favorite of fly fishermen using lightweight tackle.

Grayling range in size from 8 to 18 inches and can be found in most freshwater streams along the Interior road system.

The Chena River, which flows through downtown Fairbanks, is a blue-ribbon grayling fishery. The upper Chena River east of Fairbanks parallels Chena Hot Springs Road for several miles in the Chena River State Recreation Area and offers multiple access points to the river, as well as campgrounds to pitch a tent or park an RV.

The Delta Clearwater River, located about 100 miles south of Fairbanks and accessible from the Richardson Highway, is another popular place to find big grayling. Fish up to 20 inches are common in the Delta Clearwater, which serves as a summer feeding ground for grayling before they migrate to other rivers in for the winter. 11409772-5-11-13V

G

www.santassmokehouse.com

Pioneer Park

Wild Game and Fish

Processing

Interior Alaska Fish Processors, Inc. Gourmet Smoked Salmon • Lox

Caviar • Sausage & More 2400 Davis Road

(just off Peger Road) Fairbanks, AK 99701

Call (907) 456-3885 SHIPPING AVAILABLE

Open M–F 10–6 Sat. 10–5

Friendly Atmosphere • Complete Snack Bar • Pull Tabs Non-Smoking Area & Child Care Available

Mon.–Thu. 6 p.m.–11 p.m. • Fri. 6–1:30 a.m. • Sat.–Sun. Noon–11 p.m. 626 5th Avenue • 452-4834

TO GO EVERY

SESSION ! $5,000 $5,000

13409108-5-11-13VG

IN

GO

IN

GO

Cash Cash Drawings or Drawings or Door Prizes Door Prizes

NIghtly! NIghtly!

DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME

Where: In Fairbanks, 1300 College Road

Phone: Sport fishing info, 459-7207; recorded fishing info, 459-7385

Online: www.adfg.alaska.gov

Fishing in the Interior

File photo

Arctic grayling are a unique-ly Alaskan fish.

Please see GRAYLING, Page 35

12411341-5-11-13VG

FISH ALASKA!

Enterprises

488-7517 488-7517

Scenic Floats

Guided Fishing (Salmon or Grayling)

P.O. Box 16075 Two Rivers, AK 99716

www.wildernessenterprises.com

Alaska Wild erness with

Like Us


C o n c e r t s i n t h e P l a z a C o n c e r t s i n t h e P l a z a First Avenue between Cushman & Lacey streets

See our Concert

Schedule in Friday's

Latitude

All Shows are FREE

Bring Bring The The

Family! Family! 18409558-5-11-13VG

21th Annual

Presented by

Festival Fairbanks

June & July Wednesdays

7 – 8 p.m .

Tuesdays & Fridays

12:30 –1:30 p.m.

festivalfairbanks.org/upcoming

For event info, call

456-1984.

Direct from Alaska’s Gold Miners

• Gold Nuggets & Jewelry • We Buy • Sell • Gold & Silver Bullion • Alaska Medallions • Coin Jewelry

Alaska’s Largest Precious Metal Source!

456-3967 29 College Road • Suite 10

Fairbanks, AK 99701 (in the River Mall) www.oxfordmetals.com

FREE Alaska Coin

with this coupon

Limit 1 per customer

Exp. 9/1/13

114

08

85

5-5

-11-1

3V

G

Fly and spin fishing for arc-tic grayling is similar to fishing for trout. A four- or five-weight fly rod or light spinning rod is all you need. Favorite flies include elk hair caddis, Adams, mosquitoes and black ants.

For spin fishermen, any number of small Mepps or Blue Fox spinners will attract the attention of grayling. If bait is allowed where you’re fish-ing, grayling will readily take salmon eggs.

Grayling have flaky white meat that is best if cooked and eaten as soon as possible. They do not keep well frozen.

The best thing to do is to bring a frying pan on your trip.

Be careful, though, some grayling fisheries, including the Chena River and Delta Clear-water River, are restricted to catch-and-release fishing only.

There are also restrictions on using bait and treble hooks in some rivers.

Check the fishing regula-tions before you wet a line.

Here are some highlights of the tour:

• Golden Heart Plaza: Walk across the foot bridge behind Immaculate Conception Church to the south side of the Chena River, and you’re at Golden Heart Plaza, a central plaza decorated with flowers in the summertime. It’s also the sum-mer home of the Downtown Market every Monday night. In the winter, the frozen Chena River is used for cross country skiing, sled dog races and snow-machining.

• One block south of the river is Second Avenue, the former entertainment hub of Fairbanks. The Mecca bar is one holdover from the string of bars that once lined this street. The Co-Op Plaza, a for-mer movie theater, now holds a diner, coffee shop and several craft shops. Fourth Avenue, two blocks further south, was Fair-banks’ red light district into the 1950s.

• Several of Fairbanks’ grandest structures are civic buildings along Cushman

Street. Several have been repur-posed throughout the years. City Hall (at Ninth Avenue and Cushman Street) is the former Main School, while the old City

Hall (Fifth and Cushman) now houses the Fairbanks Commu-nity Museum. The old court-house (Second and Cushman) is a commercial building.

• Clay Street Cemetery: Fair-banks’ first cemetery is located just outside downtown on the eastern edge of Fifth Avenue. More than 2,000 Alaskans were buried there between 1903 and 1978.

• The Daily-News Miner (on north side of the Cushman Street bridge), first founded as the Daily Miner in 1903, pub-lishes a daily newspaper as well as this guide. Be sure to smile for the Arctic Cam, a popular webcam that looks over the parking lot toward the Big I bar and the Chena River.

• Across Cushman Street is Immaculate Conception Church, Fairbanks’ first Catho-lic Church. Originally built in 1904, it was moved from the south side of the river in 1911.


DOWNTOWN TOUR

Audio tour: Pick up a headset at the Morris Thomp-son Cultural and Visitors Center

Mobile app: The Down-town Association of Fairbanks has a self-guided downtown history tour on its website. The tour features major points of interest as well as examples of prominentarchitectural styles in the Fairbanks area. Go to downtownfairbanks.com and select “Downtown Guide.”

Not feeling especially historical? Another tour high-lights the 2012 Paint the Pipes project done to beautify the pipes that vent heat from the downtown power plant.

TOURContinued from Page 33

GRAYLINGContinued from Page 34


www.woodbowl.com 1-907-474-9663 • 4630 Old Airport Road

America's northern most bowl mill invites you to come watch our manufacturing process!

Finest selection of Made in Alaska gifts

anywhere, from gourmet food to woodenware and ulus!

Receive $5.00 in Bowl Bucks

with this ad

114097 45-5-11-13VG

Fred's Fred's

Hot

el H

otel

Bowl Co. Bowl Co. X

Airport Way Airport Way

University A

ve. U

niversity Ave.

Old A

irport Way

Old A

irport Way

Visit us on Visit us on

the Denali the Denali

Boardwalk Boardwalk

13408786-5-11-13VG

1990 Phillips Field Rd. • 907- 452-3110 1-800-478-1085

FAX 907-451-8036 [email protected]

www.samsonhardware.com

C OME ON IN…

Since 1904

SAMSON SAMSON SAMSON

HARDWARE HARDWARE HARDWARE

We ship anywhere...COD’s Welcome

Historical Hardware Store

Gold Pans • Berry Pickers Wash Boards • Kerosene Lanterns

Cast Iron • Camping Supplies Housewares • Coffee & Grain Mills

START RIGHT. START HERE. ®


You can find the best in arts and crafts as well as an ample supply of food and fresh pro-duce from Fairbanks farmers every summer Monday at the Downtown Market.

Vendors set up stands from 4-8 p.m. each Monday from June to September in Golden Heart Plaza on First Avenue. Crafts and handmade items often include woodworking, jewelry, art, pottery, cloth-ing and locally made soaps, lotions and beauty products. When harvesting kicks in dur-ing the full swing of summer, Fairbanks’ farming communi-ties converge in the plaza with booths of onions, potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, leeks, zucchini, and every other vegetable or flowering plant that grows well in Alaska’s cool summer climate. At the begin-ning of summer, expect to see lots of seedlings and starters until harvest starts, usually mid- to late June.

In addition to produce and locally grown food, the market has expanded in recent years as a hub of Monday night enter-tainment with musicians and bands strolling the area per-forming free concerts. Often,

especially during campaign season, politicians will take advantage of the crowds to give soap box speeches or to reach out to constituents.

One of the more popu-lar events at the Downtown Market started last summer with a program called Chef at the Market, in which chefs from Fairbanks restaurants use locally grown produce to prepare a meal right at the market. You even get to sample some of the delights that are whipped up on the spot.

The market is sponsored by the Downtown Association of Fairbanks and has grown in size since its inception in 2011. For more information about the market, visit www.

downtownfairbanks.com. The market opens the first Monday in June and runs each Monday through mid-September.

IF YOU GOWhat: Downtown MarketWhen: 4-8 p.m. Mondays

from June to SeptemberWhere: Golden Heart

Plaza, on First Avenue in downtown

Cost: The market is free to browse through but bring cash to purchase wares.

Online: www.downtownfairbanks.com

Downtown Market


Clarence and Friends play at the Downtown Market on a Monday evening in June 2011 in Golden Heart Plaza.



Downtown Fairbanks offers more than just a glimpse into the rich gold mining history of Alaska — it also offers ample shopping opportunities.

The streets that make up downtown are lined with specialty clothing stores, art galleries, small cafes offering desserts and coffees, and gift shops selling uniquely Alaska products. There really is some-thing for everyone.

A cluster of art galleries inhabits the area, including The Alaska House, Gallery 49 and 2 Street Gallery. The Alaska House focuses primarily on Alaska artists. The gallery, located in a small, distinct split-log cabin that looks like it came out of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, opened in 2000 and is managed by Ron Veliz and Yolande Fejes, daughter of well-known Fair-banks artist Claire Fejes.

Gallery 49 and 2 Street Gal-lery are both located in the Co-Op building, and both feature art from a variety of mediums such as paintings, fiber arts metal works and pottery. Both feature work from Interior Alaska artists.

When it comes to clothing, Big Ray’s offers everything you need to make you feel like you actually live here. From Xtratuffs to steel-toed boots, Big Ray’s is the place to go. The shop is full of outdoors gear as well as more fashion-able gear and clothing needed

for the sometimes fickle Fair-banks weather.

Frank’s Menswear offers you a more upscale clothing choice if you’re looking to go out on the town.

For Alaska knick-knacks to bring home to family and friends, downtown Fairbanks has shops on almost every street.

The Fudge Pot serves soup, sandwiches and espresso and trinkets. Also, as the name implies, lots of fudge. Two Street Station and Soapy Smith’s are great spots for a latte, lunch or a cold beverage.

If Only ... A Fine Store, offers up fine goods, clever gift

ideas and local art. It’s a great place to find a gift for anyone, from babies to adults. You can’t miss the store’s greeter, Martha, who stands on the sidewalk ushering visitors in regardless of whether it’s rain-ing or shining. Arctic Travelers Gift Shop also offers an equally wide range of products.

There are plenty of other shops in downtown. Check out the Downtown Association of Fairbanks’ website at www.downtownfairbanks.com for a more thorough list of down-town businesses.

11409792-5-11-13VG

REPAIR SERVICE

Our 38 th Year

Downtown Fairbanks

551 2nd Ave., Suite 221

Lavery Bldg. (upstairs)

P.O. Box 71127, Fairbanks, AK 99707

452-8819 Mon. – Fr. 8 a.m.–11 a.m. & 12:15 p.m. – 5 p.m.

USED CAMERAS & LENSES

WE SELL WE SELL

• Ilford Film • Batteries • Ilford Film • Batteries • Filters • Accessories • Filters • Accessories

•Tripods • Camera Bags •Tripods • Camera Bags • Digital Media Cards • Digital Media Cards

ALASKAN

PHOTOGRAPHIC

18396920 5

-5-1

2 V

G

Digital and Film Repairs

A L A

S K A R A W F U R C O . A

L A S K A R A W F U R C O

.

~ Since 1979 ~

479-2462 4106

BOAT ST. AIRPORT WAY

UNIV

ERSI

TY

PARKS HIGHWAY

AIRP

ORT

EAST RAMP

Alaska Raw Fur Co. Largest Selection of Tanned Furs in Alaska

Pelts • Parkas • Coats Hats • Mittens • Ruffs

Earmuffs • Qiveut • Mukluks Custom Manufactured Fur Garments

Also: • Great Fabric Selection • Beads • Leather • Skin Sewing Supplies

www.alaskarawfur.com [email protected]

4106 B oa t St re e t , Fa i rbanks , A l a ska 99709

Open 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Monday–Friday • Saturdays 1 p.m.–6 p.m.

Fur Buyers — Great Gifts

Visit our seasonal Sunnyside Garden greenhouse

11409300-5-11-13VG

Where to shop downtownNews-Miner file photo

Sally and Carl Corte, right, of Queensland, Aus-tralia, get help from Jasmine Brown while shop-ping at Arctic Trav-elers Gift Shop downtown.


Fair

bank

s&

Vic

inity

Air

po

rt W

ayUniversity

Peger

Dennis

Ballaine

Mit

chell

Exp

Bad

ger

Van

Ho

rnR

ich

ard

son

Hw

y

Steese HwyCushmanIllinois

Steese

Hwy

Ch

ena

Ho

t Sp

rin

gs

Rd

Joh

anse

n E

xp

Ho

lmes

Bra

dw

ay

Gei

st

Yan

kovi

ch

Sheep Cre

ek Rd

Co

lleg

e

Farm

ers

Loo

p

UA

F

FOR

TW

AIN

WR

IGH

T

TA

NA

NA

R

IV

ER

CH

EN

A RIV

ER

Mu

sher

s H

all

Mu

sk O

x Fa

rm

Tan

ana

Val

ley

Fair

gro

un

ds

UA

Mu

seu

mo

f th

e N

ort

h

Un

iver

sity

of

Ala

ska

Fair

ban

ks

Cre

amer

’s F

ield

Ala

ska

Rai

lro

ad

Dep

ot

Pio

nee

r P

ark

Gro

wd

en

Mem

ori

al P

ark

Fair

ban

ks A

irp

ort

Pion

eer

Driveway

Brandt St

Church St

Term

ina

l St

Boundary St

Illinois St 1st

Ave

Wen

dell A

ve

3rd

Ave

5th

Ave

9th

Ave

Cushman St

Barnette St

Wickersham

Cowles St

Kellu

m St

Lacey St

Noble St

Dunkel St

7th

Ave

Ph

illip

s Fi

eld

Rd

C

HE

NA

R

IV

E

RRiver w

alk

Dow

ntow

nFa

irba

nks

Danby H

Imm

acu

late

C

on

cep

tio

n

Ch

urc

hM

orr

is T

ho

mp

son

Cu

ltu

ral a

nd

Vis

ito

rs C

ente

r•

Alas

ka P

ublic

Lan

ds

Info

rmat

ion

Cent

er•

Fairb

anks

Con

vent

ion

and

Visi

tors

Bur

eau

Park

s H

wy

DeeD

ee H

amm

ond/

New

s-M

iner

Map of Fairbanks



Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival is reaching out this summer — literally.

For more than 30 years, the annual gathering of artists and students has been based at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. But university construction this season changed that.

So the festival is expanding to other venues in the Fair-banks community and also is going beyond Fairbanks bor-ders to share talent, instruc-tion and performance with other communities.

Once again, workshops are available for a variety of schedules and interests — from classical music to dance and culinary and visual arts. It doesn’t matter whether you are an expert or a novice. You can learn and you can share the stage with experts in what-ever field you choose.

Register at www.fsaf.org or call 474-8869.

Classes range from mini-workshops of just a few hours to one or two weeks of inten-sive study.

It all happens July 14-28.Begin with a pre-festival

(July 12-14) at Chena Hot Springs Resort. There, art-ists Gayle Weisfield, Craig Buchanan and Sandra Westcott will offer a visual arts intensive of watercolor, Zentagle and recycled/found art.

Stay for the concert on Saturday night, July 13. It all takes place at a historic and beautiful resort east of Fair-banks.

Then it’s time to head south to the new Tonglen Lake Lodge, bordering Denali National Park. Sign up for three days of watercolor with Weisfield.

Then stick around a few days for a concert with ever-popular American Roots musi-cians Mike Stevens and Ray-mond McLain on July 21.

Those two musical experts will also offer workshops on July 22, so tune up your skills with a harmonica virtuoso and a bluegrass legend. Then join the jam at the Artisan’s Café afterward. For more details see www.tonglenlake.com.

There’s so much to do in Fairbanks these two weeks, too. If you are tight with time, check out a mini-workshop. Sign up for pilates at North Star Dance Studio, steel pan drums for the complete novice at the Dance Room Downtown,

glass fusion at Expressions in Glass, Italian appetizers and arias at Gambardella’s and much more.

This year, the festival will integrate arts into the very fabric of the Fairbanks community.

It also still will offer the traditional and much-loved Lunch Bites and evening per-formances, but keep track of the calendar because these will take place all over town.

11409813-5-11-13VG

“ Bowling Is For All Ages”

24 Lanes • Pro Shop Snack Bar • Cocktail Lounge

Full Service Bowling Center 952 Tenth Avenue, Fairbanks, AK 99701

456-7719 Summer Hours: 7 Days A Week

Open Noon to Midnight Closed:

Memorial Day – 4th of July – Labor Day

Visit Our Store For Unique Gifts And Antiques

Airport Road Antique Store 907-457-6700

11409809-5-11-13VG

3206 Airport Way, Fairbanks Summer Hours: Mon.–Sat.,11a.m.–6 p.m.; Sun., 12–5 p.m.

Summer Arts FestivalFOR MORE

See Denali Music Festival on Page 12.

Bentley Car Wash Bentley Car Wash

13409116-5-11-13VG

Corner of College Rd. & Old Steese between Safeway Gas & OfficeMax

• Self Service • Vacuums • Trucks & Motorhomes Welcome


Staff [email protected]

Fairbanks has the amenities of a modern city, but a daily

voyage down the Chena River aboard the Riverboat Discovery provides a glimpse of days past.

The Binkley family has worked the Chena for five

generations, piloting ships for more than 100 years. Since the 1950s, various versions of the

The Riverboat Discovery

Please see DISCOVERY, Page 41


Riverboat Discovery have led visitors on a uniquely Alaskan river ride.

The three-hour ride mean-

ders down the Chena, where passengers will watch a bush pilot take off and land in a small plane. The boat pauses at Trailbreaker Kennels, home of the family of late Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion Susan Butcher and stops at a replica Interior Alaska Native village

and fish camp.The trip begins at Steam-

boat Landing on the Chena River in west Fairbanks near Fairbanks International Air-port. The landing is a replica gold rush-era riverport with a dining hall where hearty miners stew is served and Idi-tarod champion musher Lance Mackey offers a presentation. It also has a gift shop, museum and ice cream parlor.

The riverboat tour show-cases typical Alaska modes of transportation as it glides downstream.

Sled dogs were a vital form of winter transportation between villages, carrying people and freight in the days before snowmachines. Riv-erboat passengers will learn about modern competitive mushing with a short talk and demonstration at Trailbreaker Kennels.

Visitors will see a small plane demonstrating a typical takeoff and landing in rural Alaska. Bush pilots trans-formed travel in rural Alaska in the early 20th century.

The sternwheeler stops for an hour at the Native village, where passengers get a guided tour.

Village hosts relate stories about their history, culture and subsistence lifestyle. Pas-sengers will tour a fish camp, complete with a fishwheel, and learn techniques for catching, drying and storing salmon.

Those who want to experi-ence a taste of an Interior win-ter can participate in “Alaska at 40 Below,” a specially designed chamber that gives a sample of the frigid conditions of a mid-winter day.

Rates at $59.95 for adults, $39.95 for ages 3-12, and free for children younger than 3. Reservations may be made at riverboatdiscovery.com or by calling 907-479-6673.

IF YOU GOWhat: Riverboat Discovery

cruiseWhen: May 15-Sept. 25,

9 a.m. and 2 p.m.Where: 1975 Discovery

Dr., FairbanksCost: $59.95 adults,

$39.95 children, free 3 and younger

Phone: 479-6673Online: riverboatdiscovery.

com

DISCOVERYContinued from Page 40


60 College Rd. • Fairbanks, AK 99701 • (907) 455-9225 Hours: 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. • 7 Days a Week

E x p e r i e n c e t h e b e s t S o u t h - o f - t h e - B o r d e r t a s t e f o u n d f a r N o r t h o f t h e B o r d e r ! E x p e r i e n c e t h e b e s t S o u t h - o f - t h e - B o r d e r t a s t e f o u n d f a r N o r t h o f t h e B o r d e r ! E x p e r i e n c e t h e b e s t S o u t h - o f - t h e - B o r d e r t a s t e f o u n d f a r N o r t h o f t h e B o r d e r !

• F a j i t a s • C a r n e A s a d a • E n c h i l a d a s • F l a n • H a l i b u t T a c o s & F a j i t a s • H a l i b u t C e r v i c h e • F a j i t a s • C a r n e A s a d a • E n c h i l a d a s • F l a n • H a l i b u t T a c o s & F a j i t a s • H a l i b u t C e r v i c h e • F a j i t a s • C a r n e A s a d a • E n c h i l a d a s • F l a n • H a l i b u t T a c o s & F a j i t a s • H a l i b u t C e r v i c h e

Farthest North Farthest North Tequila Bar! Tequila Bar!

13409123-5-11-13VG

Best Best

Margaritas Margaritas

in Town! in Town!

M

e x i c a n R e s t a u r a n t

11408856 5-11-13 VG

Walmart Location 907-374-7817

514 Old Steese 907-456-8686

227 N. Santa Claus Lane (North Pole) 907-488-7444

1800 Airport Way 907-452-5415

2301 South Cushman 907-452-6000

3574 Airport Way 907-479-8688

Welco m e! Welco m e! Welco m e! Visit One of Our 9 9 9 Locations!

Fort Wainwright • 3703 Neeley Road 907-356-1481

Eielson AFB • 451 Broadway 907-372-1166 UAF Location 907-372-1166

10% Military Discount

© 2013 Doctor’s Associates Inc. SUBWAY® is a registered trademark of Doctor’s Associates Inc. All ri ghts reserved. Printed in the USA. US Version

You may not have the time to climb Mount McKinley or fl oat the Yukon River, but there are plenty of other outdoor adven-tures you can do to make your trip to Alaska a memorable one.

To help out, News-Miner outdoors editor Tim Mowry has compiled a list of 10 outdoor things to do in the Interior. You may not be able to accomplish all of them, but try to check one or two off the list before you leave.

1. Take a hike. The best way to get a feel for the country you’re in is to walk across it. That’s not always easy to do in Alaska, but fortunately there are several premium hiking trails in the Interior that lead to spectacular, panoramic views of Alaska’s heartland. Check out the Angel Rocks Trail or

Granite Tors Trail in the Chena River State Recreation Area on Chena Hot Springs Road east of Fairbanks. For the more adventurous, check out the Chena Dome Trail in the Chena River State Rec Area or Pinnell Mountain Trail off the Steese Highway.

2. Catch an arctic grayling. They’re not as big and tasty as the salmon and halibut that Alaska is famous for, but arctic grayling are easier to catch and easier to fi nd. A cousin to trout,

grayling can be found in most Interior streams. They are dis-tinguished by their slate gray color and a large, iridescent dorsal fi n. They are famous for their voracious appetites, which make them a favorite of dry fl y fi shermen. There are several road accessible streams where grayling can be found, includ-ing the Chena, Chatanika, Delta Clearwater and Salcha rivers. Check the regulation booklet, though, because some streams, such as the Chena River, are restricted to catch-and-release fi shing only.

3. Visit a dog musher. Dog mushing is the offi cial state sport of Alaska, so you should check it while you’re here. Whether you take an organized

10 things to do outdoors

Please see OUTDOORS, Page 43

TimMowry


tour of a dog lot or just track down a local musher to check out his or her operation, a trip to a genuine Alaska dog mush-ing kennel is an eye-opening experience. Denali National Park and Preserve offers daily tours of its mushing kennel and the folks at the Yukon Quest offi ce in Fairbanks (452-7954) can help lead you to a musher.

4. Ride the bus into Denali National Park and Preserve. Riding a bus might not sound like much of a wilderness experience. But when that bus is driving through the heart of Denali National Park and Preserve, it is that and much more. In addition to views of 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, bus riders will more than likely see grizzly bears, wolves, Dall sheep, moose and caribou. There are tourists who see more wildlife on one bus ride into the park than some Alas-kans do in their lifetime.

5. Get your picture taken un-der the Antler Arch. One thing every tourist in Fairbanks should do is check out the world’s farthest north antler arch. Located just a short walk from the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center on the Chena River bike path near downtown, the arch is made up of more than 100 moose and caribou antlers that were collected from all over Interior Alaska. Local artist and cabin builder Sandy Jamieson over-saw installation of the antlers. The arch was completed in 2010 at a cost of $25,000. The arch is monitored 24 hours per day, 365 days per year by a live

webcam so visitors can wave to friends and family back home.

6. Float a river. Whether it’s running Class IV rapids on the Nenana River with one of the rafting companies in Denali Park or renting a canoe for a leisurely fl oat down the Chena River through downtown Fairbanks, there’s nothing like spending a day on the river in the Interior. You might want to check the water temperature before you think about going for a swim, though; the water in Alaska is quite a bit colder than water in the Lower 48.

7. Drive to the end of a road. Isn’t that something Alaska is famous for? Well, the Inte-rior offers the best chance of anywhere to do it. Take your pick of a half dozen roads that come to an end. Drive up the 155-mile Steese Highway to the Yukon River in Circle. Head up the 154-mile Elliott High-way, which ends in the town of Manley. You can take a drive the 55-mile Chena Hot Springs Road and take a soak in the

springs. There’s the 158-mile Taylor Highway, which ends at the Yukon River in the village of Eagle. For the really adven-turous, take a drive up the 415.1-mile Dalton Highway to Deadhorse on the North Slope.

8. Climb, drive or pedal to the top of a dome. For Inte-rior fl atlanders, domes are the equivalent of mountains elsewhere in the state, and there are any number to choose from. Ester Dome (2,323 feet) and Murphy Dome (2,930 feet) are located just outside Fair-banks and have roads leading to the top. There is Wicker-sham Dome Summit (3,806 feet), about 30 miles north of Fairbanks in the White Moun-tains National Recreation Area; Chena Dome (4,421 feet) in the Chena River State Recre-ation Area east of Fairbanks on Chena Hot Springs Road; and Donnelly Dome (3,910 feet), located off the Richardson Highway about 120 miles south of Fairbanks.

Seoul Sushi Japanese Restaurant

MEET OUR CHEF! Visit our facebook page

AND AND

Seoul Gate Korean Restaurant

DELICIOUS KOREAN FAVORITES!

374-0527 958 Cowles St • Fairbanks

114098 12-5-11-13VG

T AKE $1 OFF ANY H OT S TUFF P IZZA ™

H OT S UB , M EGARITO ®

C HICKEN S ANDWICH OR W RAP

Expires 12/31/13 Not Valid With Any Other Offer. Limit 1 Coupon Per Item Purchase

Farmer's Loop Sourdough Fuel Corner of Farmer's Loop

& Steese Hwy.

Sourdough Fuel Danby Corner of Danby & Johansen

Van Horn Sourdough Fuel Van Horn & Lathrop

Airport Way Sourdough Fuel Across from Regal Cinemas

Sourdough Fuel Beaverbrook 3330 Badger Rd., North Pole

11409827-5-11-13VG

�

�

OUTDOORSContinued from Page 42


Clouds nestle in the valleys as seen from Murphy Dome facing south toward Denali.

Please see OUTDOORS, Page 44


Monday - Friday . . . . . . 10am - 7 pm Saturday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Closed Sunday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 am - 5 pm

Corner of 3rd & Noble #107 • Northward Building • Fairbanks

DEL RAYS

18409470-5-11-13VG

We Deliver! Call in orders are welcome. (907) 374-9003

Find us on Facebook!

“Our Kitchen is seasoned with love.” Sandwiches • Soups

Baked Goods • Salads Try Our $10 Combo Meal Deals

9. Get bitten by — and kill — a mosquito. The running joke in Alaska is that mosqui-toes are the state bird.

The Last Frontier is fa-mous for its hordes of hungry blood suckers, and nowhere is that more true than the Interior. If you leave even the smallest piece of skin exposed, you will get bitten. The good news is there is no bag limit on mosquitoes in Alaska and, unlike moose, caribou and salmon, local residents have no qualms about Outsiders coming in and killing them.

Swat away to your heart’s con-tent or you run out of blood, whichever comes fi rst.

10. Find a moose. Nothing says Alaska like moose. The ungainly ungulates are the true symbols of the northland, and you’ve come to the right place to fi nd one. The Interior has more moose than any other region in the state, and they’re not all that hard to fi nd if you keep your eyes open as you drive down the road — and it’s a good idea so you don’t hit one. Drive out Chena Hot Springs Road or up the Steese Highway and you stand a good chance of seeing one. Remember, though, don’t feed or approach them. They may not look mean, but they pack a whale of a kick.

Tim Mowry/News-Miner file photo

A large bull moose feeds in a pond just north of Delta Junction along the Richardson Highway.

OUTDOORSContinued from Page 43

By LESLIE PEARSONFor the News-Miner

In the middle of winter, during the midday moon, Fairbanksans and other Alas-kans dream of summer and the midnight sun.

June 21 on the calendar marks the longest day of the year — 22 hours of daylight — in Fairbanks, and visitors and locals alike celebrate with the Midnight Sun Festival.

“The event started as a furniture sidewalk sale in the downtown area and has grown to Alaska’s largest single-day event,” said Kara Nash, Downtown Association of Fairbanks events organizer.

This year is the 32nd Annual Midnight Sun Festi-val. It takes place from noon to midnight Sunday, June 23, and will feature three stages of live performances. Some of the bands include the Denali Mountain Band, Dry Cabin and Gary “Alaska” Sloan. Visitors will have the chance to see 33 performers on the three stages.

“We are also bringing back Break Fast, a break-dancing competition,” she said.

Music, food, vendors, and activities for kids are planned for Golden Heart Plaza on First, Second and Third ave-nues in downtown Fairbanks. More than 180 booths are expected to line the streets, which will be closed for the event.

IF YOU GOWhat: Midnight Sun

FestivalWhen: noon to midnight

June 23Where: Downtown Fair-

banksPhone: 452-8671Online: downtownfair

banks.com

Midnight Sun

Festival

Please see FESTIVAL, Page 45


G a m b a r d e l l a ’ s

13408783 5-11-13 VG

Pasta Bella

See our take-out & delivery menu.

www.gambardellas.com Located 706 Second Ave.

Summer hours: Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–9 p.m.

Sunday Noon–9 p.m.

Pasta, Pizza, Beef, Seafood Homemade Breads & Cheesecakes Garden Patio Seating & Cozy Dining Rooms

Voted Reader's Choice #1 Italian Restaurant

457-4992


Baseball is not the only entertainment held under the midnight sun in Fairbanks.

For 21 years, Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre has pro-duced a Shakespeare play in an open air venue. This year’s pick is “Romeo and Juliet.”

The production this year will include live music and a larger-than-usual cast to depict the colorful street scenes, song and dance, and sword fights the play calls for, director Bruce Rogers said.

Casting still was in prog-ress as of mid-April so Rog-ers had not yet determined whether the costumes and setting will have a specific theme, though he was leaning toward a non-specific setting.

“Sometimes we’ll put it in a certain place and time, and sometimes we’ll do it a little bit timeless,” he said. “‘Romeo and Juliet’ is one of those timeless plays, I think. If you don’t do too many con-ceits, you don’t have to make

People also will be able to enjoy skateboarding, face painting, extreme car racing, a paddlers river slalom race,

break dancing, pony rides, vin-tage vehicles, a barbecue cook-off, gold panning, and more, according to the Downtown Association’s website.

For more info, call the Downtown Association of Fair-banks at 452-8671 or go online to downtownfairbanks.com.


Break dancers stay loose between rounds by entertaining the crowd at the annual Midnight Sun Festival downtown.

FESTIVALContinued from Page 44

FairbanksShakespeare

Theatre

Please see THEATRE, Page 46


• Natural Burgers & Chicken • Natural Burgers & Chicken • Gluten-free Buns & Condiments • Gluten-free Buns & Condiments • Red Bridge Beer • Red Bridge Beer Celiacs! Celiacs! Attention: Attention: Open 11AM Daily

2581 (1.5 mi) Goldstream Road • Fairbanks, AK 99709 ivoryjacks.alaskansavvy.com

455-6666

Restaurant • Bar • Discount Liquors Great prices, NY Steak &

King Crab Legs all summer.

BRE AKFAST SATURDAY & SUNDAY AND FULL MENU

Souvenirs • Home of Elvis

12411323-5-11-13VG

Reservations recommended

2190 Goldstream Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99709

Tues.-Sun. 5:30-10:30

Closed Monday

455-6600

12411320-5-11-13VG

Vallata the

Excellent Steaks, Seafood, Italian Dishes & New

York Style Pizzas!


Why would anyone live in 40 below zero weather in Fair-banks? What were the settlers of the town thinking when they built a city in a cold hole where inversions keep temperatures in the negative for most of winter?

They must have been think-ing that the gold coming out of surrounding hills was worth it.

Fairbanks still celebrates its gold mining history with Golden Days, July 17-21 this year, commemorating Italian immigrant Felix Pedro’s dis-covery of gold in 1902. Pedro’s find encouraged other miners to come to Fairbanks, and the Golden Heart City was born.

This year’s theme is “Gold

Fashioned Fun,” and partici-pants and visitors are encour-aged to dress up like miners from Fairbanks’s gold rush heyday of the 1900s.

Golden Days begins with a re-enactment of Felix Pedro’s first delivery of gold.

But the big event is the Grande Parade, which begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 20. A street fair runs until 4 p.m.

that day.Other events include a

senior luncheon Thursday and a comedy night Friday. And keep an eye out for the Golden Days Jail as it travels around town picking up people whose friends or co-workers have had “warrants” put out on them for their arrest.

There’s plenty more, includ-ing the Rubber Duckie Race, in which thousands of numbered rubber ducks are dumped into the Chena River (and collected later). Buy a ticket, or several, before the race to see if you can win one of the dozens of prizes.

Other events that usually coincide with the festivities include the Red Green River Regatta and the Governor’s Picnic.

up too much. I like to let the language carry the play.”

The performances take place at Jack Townshend Point on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus and are held rain or shine. In 21 years of productions, only two performances have been can-celed, Rogers said. He recom-mends coming prepared for the weather.

“It’s odd: People when they get caught in the weather they have a great time,” he said. “But they only want to come on a sunny day. The truth is up here it generally rains for about 20 minutes in the afternoon.”


THEATREContinued from Page 45

IF YOU GOWhen: July 12-28.Where: Jack Townshend

Point on University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus

Contact: Call 457-7638 or visit the Fairbanks Shake-speare Theatre website (fstalaska.org) for more information.

IF YOU GOWhat: Golden DaysWhen: July 17-21Where: Various placesPhone: 452-1105,

Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce

Online: fairbankschamber.org/goldendays

Golden Days

Please see DAYS, Page 48


452-2501 107 Wickersham St

Fairbanks, AK 99701

11409749-5-11-13VG

Featured on Triple D with Guy Fieri!

Best BBQ/RIBS 2013 Readers’ Choice Awards


The biggest, freshest farm-ers market in Interior Alaska calls Fairbanks home, and it’s a summer delight of arts, crafts, fresh produce and food — lots of food.

The Tanana Valley Farmers Market is the oldest established farmers market in Alaska and the only one located in its own permanent building. It officially opened at its College Road loca-tion in 2005 and since then has grown to become the premiere farmers market for Fairbanks

and the surrounding area. Each year, the market continues to grow with more vendors and artisans, some of whom come from smaller communities hours away to sell their wares.

When you visit the farmers market, bring your shopping bags — you’ll inevitably buy more than you plan to — and your appetite. The market is a foodie’s paradise, with vendors hawking international delights of Thai and Chinese cuisine and Greek gyros, kabobs, kettle corn, buffalo hot dogs, Russian pastries and locally made jams, jellies and honey.

Artists take full advan-tage of the market as well. It’s a shopping ground of art and woodwork, pottery, jew-elry, fiber arts and homemade lotions, soaps, and bath and body luxuries. If an Alaskan artist can create it, you can find it at the market.

When it comes to produce, the market offers everything that can be grown under our midnight sun ... eventually.

The season starts off with flowers, seedlings and starter plants when the market opens

Tanana Valley Farmers Market


Ted Sponsel picks out kohlrabi from the Rosie Creek Farm stand at the Tanana Valley Farmers Market along College Road.

Please see MARKET, Page 48


in May as Alaska’s official planting date is June 1. As summer grows into full swing, so does the produce. By mid-June, the market usually is seeing an ample supply of vegetables; by July, it’s a well-stocked veggie lover’s delight.

Big hauls from area farmers include tables of onions, radish-es, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini and yellow squash, beans, peas, peppers, lettuce and greens. The end of summer sees the arrival of leeks and Brussels sprouts, and by fall, handpicked cranberries and Alaska blueberries make their appearance. It really is

a bounty of the produce the state produces, something that might come as a surprise to those visiting Interior Alaska.

A program growing in popularity at the Tanana Valley Farmers Market is the Chefs at the Market program, in which Fairbanks chefs from local res-taurants and venues prepare meals at the market using Alaska produce. Musicians and performers also have started frequenting the market more, making it a day of entertain-ment in addition to just shop-ping.

If you go, go early. The market gets crowded in the afternoons, and in the height of summer, parking can be dif-ficult to find. Also, the earlier you go, the better chance you have of picking up the best pro-duce available.


In the midst of a hectic vacation, a quiet river cruise can provide a much-needed excuse to sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery.

The Sternwheeler Tanana Chief is a replica of a passen-ger and trade vessel that was built in Unalaska in 1898. The paddle-wheeler travels the Che-na River during the summer months, providing an interest-ing vantage point for visitors and local residents.

The Tanana Chief has sev-eral different tour packages available, with discounts for children, Alaska residents, seniors and military.

• For those who would simply like a sightseeing tour aboard the sternwheeler, an approximately two-hour cruise is available to check out nature and neighborhoods along the

Chena River. The sightseeing tour is $24.95 per person.

• A catered dinner cruise includes a full-course meal for $54.95 and features prime rib, king salmon, vegetables, salads and dessert. A full-service bar is available.

• Every other Sunday, a champagne brunch is held for $37.95 and includes ham, scrambled eggs, bacon, sau-sages, biscuits and gravy, and more.

• A variety of specialty cruises are scheduled through-out the summer, including wine tastings, a pirate cruise and a margarita and salsa cruise.

For more information, go to www.tananachiefalaska.com or call 907-450-0768.

For more information on events and times, call the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce at 452-1105 or go online to fairbankschamber.org/goldendays.

Want to see the point of discovery yourself? Visitors can travel 16 miles north of Fair-banks on the Steese Highway to the Felix Pedro Monument and see where Fairbanks’ gold rush history began.

DAYSContinued from Page 46

MARKETContinued from Page 47

Sternwheeler Tanana ChiefIF YOU GO

What: Sternwheeler Tanana Chief

When: Daily dinner, sight-seeing cruises; brunch every other Sunday

Where: 1020 Hoselton Road, Fairbanks

Cost: $24.95-$54.95, with discounts for Alaskans, military and seniors

Phone: 450-0768Online: www.tananachief

alaska.com

IF YOU GOWhat: Tanana Valley

Farmers Market, 2600 Col-lege Road

When: Saturdays, Sun-days and Wednesdays, May through September. The mar-ket opens May 11; the first Wednesday it opens is May 15; the first Sunday is May 26. The market closes for the season on Sept. 22.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays

Phone: 456-FARMOnline: www.tvfmarket.

com. Or check out the mar-ket’s Facebook page.


Alaska’s first & finest fusion cuisine! Chinese , Thai & Sushi Chinese

1900 Airport Road, Fairbanks, AK 99701 Next to McDonald’s

479-8866 www.linsasianbistro.com

Lin’s Asian Bistro Lin’s Asian Bistro

Airport Way

McDonald’s

Lin’s Asian Bistro

11409296-5-11-13VG


The past and present his-tory and location of Fairbanks’ top cash crops — yellow gold and “black gold” — intersect at Gold Dredge 8, located sev-en miles north of Fairbanks in the Goldstream Valley.

Visitors to Gold Dredge 8 are rewarded with a three-in-one tour that encompasses a close-up view and walk under the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, a ride to the dredge site on a replica of the Tanana Valley Railroad that linked mining communities north of Fair-banks in the early gold mining days and a chance to try pan-ning for gold.

Learn about the construc-tion and operation of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline while standing in its shadow. Then board a replica of the narrow-gauge Tanana Valley Railroad and hear tales of the thou-sands of miners of yore who swarmed the surrounding val-

ley in the early 20th century searching for the big strike.

Gold Dredge 8 is a National Historical Site, and the tour focuses on the history of small- and large-scale mining in the Interior. You’ll see first-hand how dredges in Alaska

sifted the gold from the soil, recovering 3.5 million ounces of gold during the time they were in use.

Then practice the art of gold panning. You’ll find some


People filter through the dredge during a tour of Gold Dredge 8 off the Old Steese Highway.

Gold Dredge 8

Please see DREDGE, Page 50

21380626-5-7-11VG

Pick up the Daily News-Miner for information on local community activities.

50 2013 Summer Visitors Guide 13409139-5-11-13V

G-F

CV

B

Fairbanks Convention & Visitors Bureau Make the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center

your first stop for visitor information. 101 Dunkel Street in downtown Fairbanks

Open 8 am – 9 pm daily in summer (907) 456-5774 • www.explorefairbanks.com

www.maryshields.com (907)455-6469

Entertaining Visitors? Get hands on experience with

big friendly huskies.

Call for reservations.

Personal, home visit with this celebrated musher and author,

Mary Shields, the first woman to complete the Iditarod.

13409112-5-11-13VG

Please see www.tripadvisor.com for reviews of Mary’s tour. 13409172-5-11-13V

G

�

�

�

�

In the heart of downtown Fairbanks Between 2 nd & 3 rd Ave. • 215 Cushman Street

457-6659 • www.IfOnlyAlaska.com

Open May–December 7 Days a Week

Open January – April Monday – Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Mention this Ad Receive an Alaskan Card

Free!

See you Soon! Georjean, Martha, Rebecca

Vera Bradley • We Pack & Ship • Handcrafted Jewelry

• R

epre

sent

ing

40 A

lask

an A

rtis

ans

• St

atio

nery

• T

otes

•

Greeting Cards • Baggallini • Pottery • Vera Bradley • Specialty Foods • Pens • Journals • Scarves • Alaskan C

raft •

302 Cowles St., Fairbanks, AK, 99701

(907)-456-2040

Wow!

www.akpub.com/akbbrv/ahrose.html email: [email protected]

Year 'Round $90 & up + Tax

DOWNTOWN

18409493-5-11-13VG

Ah, Rose Marie B&B

color, guaranteed.The two-hour tour

allows visitors time to explore the dredge, the dredge camp and the gift shop to have their gold weighed before boarding the train for the ride back

to the depot.By the end of the visit,

you will have gained a wealth of knowledge about gold mining in the Interior and a little poke to prove it.

Tours are available daily at 10:30 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. at the train depot near Goldstream Road and the Old Steese Highway.

DREDGEContinued from Page 49

IF YOU GOWhat: Gold Dredge 8When: Mid-May to mid-Septem-

ber; tours 10:30 a.m. and 1:45 p.m.Where: 1803 Old Steese Highway

N.Cost: Adults, $39.95; children 3-

12, $24.95. Reservations required.Phone: 479-6673Online: golddredge8.com


G-F

CV

B

Fairbanks Convention & Visitors Bureau Make the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center

your first stop for visitor information. 101 Dunkel Street in downtown Fairbanks

Open 8 am – 9 pm daily in summer (907) 456-5774 • www.explorefairbanks.com

Locally Grown • Healthy Choices 457-1023

Off Airport Way at Gaffney Road www.fairbankscoop.org

13409170-5-10-13VG

fcvb

• Espresso • Soup

• Salads • Sandwiches • Ice Cream • T-Shirts

• Alaskan Treasures

Over 30 Flavors of Homemade Fudge Including Sucrose-free

Specializing in Wild Alaska Blueberry and Cranberry

Downtown Fairbanks

456-3834 www.thefudgepot.com

515 1st Ave. • Fairbanks, AK 99701

18409506-5-11-13VG

FC

VB

Located in the heart of Downtown Fairbanks across from Yukon Quest Çabin

Reservations 450-0555

18409507-5-11-13VG

3,000 Bottle Wine Cellar

7 Days 4:30–10 p.m. Fri. & Sat. til 1 a.m.

www.lavellesbistro.com

The largest gift shop in the Interior –

serving Alaska 50 years!

We WRAP, PACK and SHIP for you! Downtown Fairbanks, 201 Cushman St., Fairbanks, AK 99701 Ph: (907) 456-7080 Online: www.ArcticTravelersGiftShop.com

email: [email protected]

18409553-5-11-13VG

Looking for the perfect gift? WE HAVE IT ALL!

We Offer Military

Discount!

By BOB [email protected]

If you want to go out for a jog or compete in a race, Fairbanks has plenty to offer in the way of both.

There’s plenty of bike paths and trails available, and there’s a race almost every Sat-urday throughout the summer months.

The biggest races of the season are the

eight Flint Hills Resources Cup Series, which determine the top overall and age group run-ners in the Interior.

Plenty of ways to get out and run

Please see RUN, Page 53

ON THE WEBwww.runningclubnorth.org


17410001-5-11-13VG

• M

edic

al

Cen

ters

• E

du

cati

on

• R

iver

bo

at

Lan

din

g •

En

tert

ain

men

t • Emp

loym

ent • A

irpo

rt • Ho

tels • RV

Park

s • Recreatio

n •

Pio

neer P

ark

• University of Alaska • Shopping Malls • Library • Fairgrounds

• Santa Claus House • • Farmer’s Loop • North Pole

R IDE THE BUS! RIDE THE BUS! See See Fairbanks – Fairbanks –

MACS Transit MACS Transit

Check out our maps & schedules online: Check out our maps & schedules online: www.fnsb.us/transportation www.fnsb.us/transportation

Visit us Visit us at the at the

Transit Center Transit Center 501 Cushman St. 501 Cushman St.

Info Hotline: Info Hotline: 459-1011 459-1011

VanTran Scheduling: VanTran Scheduling: 459-1010 459-1010

New route to New route to Fort Wainwright Fort Wainwright

Coming Coming Soon — Soon —

By BOB [email protected]

If you want to play golf while you are visiting Inte-rior Alaska, you have four courses to choose from, and they all offer their own char-acter and charm.

All of the courses are public and offer club rent-als for visitors; however, the three courses in Fairbanks have evening leagues on most weekdays. Later tee times can be arranged so you can actually play golf under the Midnight Sun.

Chena Bend Golf Course

Chena Bend Golf Course is on Fort Wainwright and has been rated as one of the top

golf courses in Alaska by Golf Digest. Chena Bend will host the Alaska State Amateur Championships on Aug. 9-11.

It features a 6,476, par 72 layout with several holes along the Chena River and most fairways lined with woods. It’s not uncommon to see a fox or marmot while you are looking for your ball.

The course was rated by Golf Digest as Alaska’s best for 1999, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and received a four-star rating in the 2008 and 2009 edition of Golf Digest’s “Best Places to Play.”

Check in at Fort Wain-wright’s front gate to get to the course. If you are driving a vehicle, you will have to have your registration and insur-ance paperwork with you.

With summer months being short, you are encour-

aged to make advance tee times. Active duty, retired military and Department of Defense authorized civilians can call five days in advance. Civilians can call three days in advance.

The course is open 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

There is a pro shop a snack bar as well.

To make tee times, call 353-6223.

North Star Golf ClubLocated in the hills above

Fairbanks, North Star Golf Club is on Golf Course Lane off the Old Steese Highway, a short distance past Chena

Golf galore, day and night

Please see GOLF, Page 55


Act now for 2014

VISITORS GUIDE ADVERTISING If your business is interested in placing

an ad in the 2014 Visitors Guide, fill out and return this coupon.

11409836-5-11-13VG

P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks, AK 99707-0710 Mail to: Promotions Manager

Name ____________________________________

Business Name ___________________________

_________________________________________

Address _________________________________

_________________________________________

City _____________________________________

State _____________ Zip __________________

Phone ___________________________________

The first race in the series — the 5-kilometer Chena Riv-er Run — is held on the first Saturday in May, and the final race — the Equinox Mara-thon, Marathon Relay and Ultramarathon — on the Sat-urday closest to the autumnal equinox in September.

In between are six more races that each have their own character.

The biggest race is the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Midnight Sun Run. It’s a 10K race that starts at 10 p.m. at the University of Alaska Fair-banks and finishes at Pioneer Park.

Runners are encouraged to dress in costumes. The course winds its way through several subdivisions where thousands of spectators line the streets and numerous parties are going as you traverse your way to the finish line.

There is a giant costume parade near the starting line about an hour before the race

You’re pretty much guar-anteed to get hosed down by a child with a squirt gun or run through sprinklers to cool off during the event.

The race attracts about 4,000 runners. This year’s race is scheduled for June 22.

Other races in the Flint Hills Series include the June 27 Flint Hills Mile, the July 13 Run of the Valkyries (8K), the July 21 Gold Discovery Run (16.5 miles), the Aug. 3 Santa Claus Half Marathon

(13.2 miles), the Aug. 24 Golden Heart Trail Run (5K), organized in conjunction with the Interior Invitational High School cross-country race.

The 51st running of the Equinox Marathon will be held Sept. 21. The race starts at 8 a.m. at the University of Alaska Fairbanks athletic field and follows trails and roads to the top of Ester Dome and back, an elevation gain of more the 2,600 feet.

In addition to the Flint Hills Cup, there’s a Northern

Trails Series for the more adventurous runners.

The best way to find out all the details about races in the Interior is to visit. www.runningclubnorth.org.

The bike path system stretches from near the entrance to Fort Wainwright all the way to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, mostly along the Chena River.

Good trail running areas can be found at UAF, Birch Hill Recreation Area, Chena Lakes Recreation Area and Salcha Elementary School.

Contact sports editor Bob Eley at 459-7581.

RUN: Competition or fun (or both)Continued from Page 51


Runners head out on the course of the Labor Day 5K race.


Fall foliage is a backdrop for a runner in the hills around Fairbanks.


AlaskaNavigator.orgKnow before you go!

Road TripFind the quickest way to get from

HEREHERE to THERETHERE


Several years ago, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Coo-perstown, N.Y., declared the Midnight Sun Game a must-see event for any true fan of baseball.

The reputation remains for the 108-year-old event that is played without artificial lights on summer solstice, the lon-gest day of the year.

Growden Memorial Park is usually packed with 4,000 to 5,000 fans, several of whom come from other states and a few from other countries. The game has been featured in national publications such as The Sporting News and has been shown on ESPN’s SportsCenter.

The first pitch of this year’s game takes place at 10:30 p.m. Friday, June 21, at Growden Memorial Park. If the weather cooperates, the sun will be shining for much of the game since sunset is just before 1 a.m.

The 2013 contest features the Alaska Goldpanners of the Alaska Baseball League against Catholics in Action, a San Diego-based sports minis-

try of collegiate and ex-profes-sional players.

The Midnight Sun Game, also known as the “High Noon at Midnight Classic,” was inspired by a bet between local bars in Fairbanks. The first game was played in 1906 and attracted local teams until the Goldpanners took over the tradition during their inaugural season in 1960.

One of the game’s tradi-tions is the break that comes in the half-inning closest to midnight, when the crowd can join in a rousing rendition of the Alaska Flag Song.

The Midnight Sun Game was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame in Anchorage in 2010 in the events category.

Tickets for the game can be purchased online now at www.

goldpanners.com. The tickets are $15 each and will also be available at the Growden Memorial Park box office on game day.

The Goldpanners are a summer-league team of col-lege baseball players, and more than 200 players in the team’s history have gone to the professional ranks.

Among them are Baseball Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Dave Winfield, as well as Barry Bonds, Dave Kingman and Jason Giambi.

As of April 12, there were at least four former Gold-panners on active rosters of Major League Baseball teams this season — Atlanta Braves pitcher Kris Medlen, a Goldpanner in 2005; Miami Marlins third baseman Greg Dobbs, a 2000 Goldpanners alum; Philadelphia Phillies infielder Michael Young, the Goldpanners’ Most Valuable Player in 1996; and Seattle Mariners infielder Brendan Ryan, who played with the Goldpanners in 2002.

The Goldpanners’ season runs from early June through early August.

They open against the

Baseball under the Midnight Sun

Please see BASEBALL, Page 55

IF YOU GOWhat: Midnight Sun GameWhen: First pitch, 10:30

p.m. Friday, June 21Where: Growden Memo-

rial Park, Second Avenue and Wilbur Street

Cost: $15. Available online at www.goldpanners.com and box office on game day.


Alaska Goldpanners pitcher Sean Timmons delivers a ninth-inning pitch against the Lake Erie Monarchs in the 104th annual Midnight Sun Baseball Classic in June 2009. The 108-year-old event is played without artificial lights on summer solstice, the longest day of the year.


G

Locally owned hotel with spacious suites and rooms, cable TV, free local calls, non-smoking and air conditioned rooms available, and…

(907) 452-5141 900 Noble St., Fairbanks, AK 99701 www.golden~nuggethotel.com

Iris Iris Iris Cafe & Saloon Cafe & Saloon …one of

Fairbanks' favorite restaurants.

12411359-5-11-13VG

7 Gables Inn & Suites 7 Gables Inn & Suites 7 Gables Inn & Suites 4312 Birch Lane • Fairbanks, Alaska 4312 Birch Lane • Fairbanks, Alaska 4312 Birch Lane • Fairbanks, Alaska

Kitchen Dining

Livingroom Jacuzzi Bath

King Bed

Bedroom

Fireplace

“Sweet Suite”

“Sweet Suite”

“Sweet Suite”

• Central Location • Complimentary Full Breakfast • Full Kitchens With All Utensils • Cable/DVD/FREE Internet • Rates begin at $75 and up

Excellent Locations • Rooms, Condos & Cottages • Jacuzzis, Fireplaces, Laundry, Canoes, Bikes

(907) 479-0751 • www.7gablesinn.com

12411384-5-11-13VG

4316 Birch Lane • (907) 479-7300 4316 Birch Lane • (907) 479-7300 (907) 479-7300 www.abbeyarchwayinn.com www.abbeyarchwayinn.com

• kitchens • fireplaces • cable • dvd • free wifi • jacuzzi tub in bath

Extended Stay & Special Getaways Extended Stay & Special Getaways $85 to

$150

12411321-VG

2013

907-456-7956 fairbankscampgroundandrvpark.com

Tanana Valley Fairgrounds 1800 College Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99709

Tanana Valley Cam p ground & R V Park

Camping near the

State Fair is the

ideal way to enjoy…

Hot Springs Road. It is in a picturesque valley surround-ed by hills and known for its many wildlife sightings.

This link-style course pro-vides an 18 hole, 6,342 yard championship tee, par 72 course with four par 3s, 10 par 4s, and four par 5s. An animal sighting checklist is included on your scorecard.

The course offers visitors specials that include nine or 18 holes of golf, golf cart, clubs, a logo ball, featured logo item and certificate of play. There’s a viewing deck that overlooks the challeng-ing course and a cafe offering locally brewed beers.

You can make tee times online at www.northstargolf.com or by calling 457-5653.

Fairbanks Golf Course

Fairbanks Golf Course is at the intersection of Farmers Loop and Ballaine Road near the University of Alaska Fair-banks campus. It is a pictur-esque nine-hole course with a challenging finish hole — a par 3 across the water. There are different tee boxes if you want to play 18 holes.

The course features three par 3s, three par 4s and three par 5s. In addition to the lake on No. 9, several holes are lined by woods that make things a little more than

challenging.Fairbanks Golf Course

is the oldest course in the Interior, having originated in 1946.

The Double Eagle restau-rant offers fine dining and has a wide-range of menu items and adult beverages.

To make tee times, call 479-6555.

Black DiamondBlack Diamond is a rustic

course located at 1 Mile Otto Road in Healy where you can play in the shadow of Mount McKinley. It offers pictur-esque views, and there’s a

good chance you’ll see some wildlife on the course.

The views are among the best golf has to offer. Hazards include such things as moose hoofprints and a local fox who steals your ball off green No. 2.

There are golf specials for visitors, and you can be picked up and dropped off from hotels in the Denali National Park area. It also offers fine dining at the Black Diamond Grill, with full lunch and dinner menus.

To make reservations, visit www.blackdiamondgolf.com or call 683-4653.

Contact the News-Miner sports department at 459-7581.

GOLF: Region’s four coursesContinued from Page 52

Oceanside Waves in Escon-dido, Calif., on June 7. Their first Alaska League game is against the Chugiak Chinooks in Chugiak on June 11, and their first home games are against the Fairbanks Brewers of the Fairbanks Adult Ama-teur Baseball League on June 16 and against the San Fran-cisco Seals on June 17 for the start of a three-game series.

The complete Goldpanners season schedule is available at www.goldpanners.com.

Contact staff writer Danny Mar-tin at 459-7586.

BASEBALLContinued from Page 54


18409498-5-11-13VG

WE NOW RENT CARS! COMPETITIVE RATES

Hours: Mon-Fri 9-7, Sat 10-6

2216 S. Cushman St varietymotors.us

Buy-Sell-Trade-Consign “Your Best Car

Buying Experience” can now be your

best rental or service

experience, too!

11409822-5-11-13VG

Transmission & Transfercase Repair & Diagnostics Automatic & Standard Foreign and Domestic

474-1075 705 Gaffney Rd, Fbks, AK 99701

[email protected] www.alltransmissions.net

All Transmissions Over 25 years of experience

12411340-5-11-13VG

24 Hours a Day, Every Day • Lockouts • Jumpstarts


Fairbanks is well-suited for bicyclists because it has little elevation change, is spread over a large area and is graced with a network of bike paths.

For visitors, it’s a good town to explore on two wheels, although finding a bike and the best places to ride takes a little research.

If you did not bring a bike to Fairbanks, there are a couple of places from which to rent one: Outdoor Adventures, part of the University of Alas-ka Fairbanks, can be reached at 474-6027 and Alaska Out-door Rental and Guides can be contacted at 457-2453.

Both also rent canoes and kayaks.

Another option is Fairbanks Pedal and Paddle, which does guided bike and paddle trips. They are located downtown and can be contacted at 388-4480.

For riding in town, con-sider picking up a copy of the Department of Transporta-tion’s bikeways map — avail-able online at http://dot.alaska.gov/nreg/planning/fmats/files/bikeways.pdf or at the Mor-ris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center. Most of Fair-banks can be accessed by some combination of bike paths and

sidewalks, which are open to bicyclists where marked.

A few of the major thor-oughfares are closed to bicy-cles, although one of the larg-est, the Johansen Expressway, has one of the best bike paths along its route.

RidesA good morning or after-

noon ride is a bike path around Farmers Loop, the 16-mile path (if you start and finish down-town) circles Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge.

Ridden counter-clockwise the route involves a short, moder-ate uphill ride, followed by a long, gradual downhill.

Other excursions from downtown Fairbanks include to the town of Ester, about 20 miles round trip, or Fox, about 25 miles round trip.

For an organized ride, check the website of the Fairbanks Cycling Club (www.fairbank-scycleclub.org). The group holds multiple events each week. Visitors can join the club for a day for $5.

Mountain bikingFor those who enjoy moun-

tain biking, there are a few options in the hills surrounding Fairbanks. One of the closest to town is Birch Hill.

Located north of town and next to Fort Wainwright, Birch Hill is a ski area that is open to bikers in the summer.

Another system of skiing trails open to bikers can be found on the other side of town at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. Skiers pre-fer if bikers stay away from the lower elevation trails, which tend to get muddy and can be wrecked by bike tires.

A bit farther out of town, a system of single track moun-tain bike trails can be found on Ester Dome Road.


Hit the bike paths

Sam Harrel/News-Miner file photo

A bicyclist leads a group of riders along Farmers Loop in July 2011. Fairbanks is well-suited for bicyclists because it has little elevation change, is spread over a large area and is graced with a network of bike paths.



There’s no ice and snow on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks during the sum-mer, where the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race starts some years and finishes in other years.

However, the Yukon Quest headquarters on First Avenue will be open for summer visi-tors who want to learn more about the 1,000-mile race that runs each February between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon, in Canada.

The headquarters is located in a log cabin that overlooks the Fairbanks start/finish por-tion of the race.

The cabin, at 550 First Avenue next to Golden Heart Plaza, offers visitors race information, memorabilia for purchase and documentaries of past Quests to view.

Sometimes, a musher and his or her dogs will be at the cabin to share stories about the race.

“We’re hoping to have dogs and mushers as often as we can so people can learn more about the sport,” Marti Steury, Yukon Quest executive director, said of a plan for this summer.

There is a pen in the back-yard of the headquarters and guest mushers and their dogs have appeared there during past summers.

Allen Moore, of nearby Two Rivers, won this year’s Yukon Quest, which ran from Whitehorse to Fairbanks. His wife, Aily Zirkle, won the race in 2000.

This summer’s hours for the Yukon Quest headquar-ters had not been determined as of press time. Visitors can

contact the headquarters at 452-7954 or go to its website (www.yukonquest.com).

The Fairbanks area is home to several sprint and distance mushers, and it’s also the site of one of the top sprint races on the planet — the Open North American Championships — conducted annually during the third weekend of March.

The ONAC features three heats that start and finish each day downtown on Second Avenue between Cushman

and Lacey streets. The first two heats are 20 miles apiece and the last heat is 27.6 miles.

Arleigh Reynolds, a vet-erinarian in nearby Salcha, was the winner of this year’s ONAC, and the Fur Rendez-vous World Championship in Anchorage.

Information about the his-tory of mushing in Fairbanks is available with an exhibit in the Fairbanks Commu-nity Museum, downtown at the intersection of Cushman Street and Fifth Avenue.

Contact staff writer Danny Mar-tin at 459-7586.

Act now for 2014

VISITORS GUIDE ADVERTISING If your business is interested in placing

an ad in the 2014 Visitors Guide, fill out and return this coupon.

11409834 5/11/13VG

P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks, AK 99707-0710 Mail to: Promotions Manager

Name ____________________________________

Business Name ___________________________

_________________________________________

Address _________________________________

_________________________________________

City _____________________________________

State _____________ Zip __________________

Phone ___________________________________

ARCT I C RV & INTERIOR TOPPER Certified RV Technicians

The Largest RV Parts & Accessories Showroom in Fairbanks

Service & Repair For A Price That’s Fair

http://www.arcticrv.com • [email protected] 4 5 1-8356

3013 Peger Rd • Fairbanks, AK 99709 SERVICE FOR ALL MAJOR RV APPLIANCE MANUFACTURERS

18409551-5-11-13VG

Home to sled dog race headquartersIF YOU GO

What: Yukon Quest Head-quarters

When: Open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day

Where: 550 First Ave.Cost: FreePhone: 452-7954Online: www.yukon

quest.com


Egil Ellis drives his team on the Chena River during a running of the GCI Open North American Championship sled dog race.

Act now for 2014 VISITORS GUIDE ADVERTISING

If your business is interested in placing an ad in the 2014 Visitors Guide, fill out and return this coupon.

18409564 5-11-13VG P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks, AK 99707-0710

Mail to: Promotions Manager

Name ______________________________________________________________________________________

Business Name______________________________________________________________________________

Address____________________________________________________________________________________

City __________________________State ____________ Zip ___________Phone ______________________


Sternwheeler Tanana Chief P RIME R IB D INNER C RUISE

F OR I NFORMATION AND R ESERVATIONS :

(907) 452-8687 Ask about our Sunday Champagne Brunch Cruise & Charters Greatland River Tours 1020 Hoselton Rd., Fairbanks, AK 99709 Next to River’s Edge RV Park

Make Your Summer

Memorable

11409854-5-11-13VG


Contrary to popular opin-ion, there are quite a few months of the year when Alas-ka isn’t covered in snow.

That doesn’t mean visitors can’t get a taste of dog mush-ing, the official state sport. There are several summer options for those interested in the sport and the lifestyle it entails.

There are a few opportu-nities to ride a wheeled cart pulled by dogs during the warm summer days, and there are plenty more mushers who take visitors on kennel tours for a fee.

• Four-time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion Jeff King offers three daily excur-sions at his Husky Homestead Tours near the Denali Nation-al Park entrance. Visitors meet the dogs, learn how the animals are trained and watch a training run. He doesn’t offer rides in summer.

The tour costs $59 for adults, $39 for children younger than 12. The tour is not recommended for children younger than 3.

For more information, visit huskyhomestead.com or call 683-2904.

• Just Short of Magic provides educational tours, including summer visits to the Chena Hot Springs Road ken-nel outside Fairbanks. Visitors will get a chance to harness a dog, handle mushing equip-ment, witness a feeding or help to hook up a team with

kennel owner Eleanor Wirts. Transportation to the kennel is available. Information may be found at www.justshortofmagic.com or at 750-0208.

• While you’re at Denali National Park, check with park rangers about visiting their sled dog kennel. Rangers use sled dogs for winter trans-portation and offer daily dem-onstrations. Check in at the park visitors center or visit www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/kennels.htm.

• Mary Shields was the first woman to finish the Idi-tarod. She lives in Fairbanks and offers folks an intimate look into the dog mushing

lifestyle. Visitors will get hands-on time with the dogs in an informal setting and learn about training methods and mushing gear. Shields invites visitors into her home for refreshments and a discus-sion about her experiences on the Iditarod and Yukon Quest trails and a trip to Siberia. The visit takes two hours and is by reservation only. If you want to learn about and experience a snippet of the life of a musher, visit www.maryshields.com or call her at 455-6469. She can arrange for transportation.

• Sun Dog Express Sled Dog Tours gives visitors a glimpse into their dog yard, with a dog sledding demon-stration that includes “history, equipment and stories from the trail.” The price is $150 for a group of less than eight, $200 for more than eight. For more information visit www.mosquitonet.com~sleddog or call 479-6983.

• Sirius Sled Dogs, atop Murphy Dome, 25 miles northwest of Fairbanks, offers a summer tour from 10 a.m. to noon, with pickup available from Pioneer Park in Fair-banks. The tour of the kennel includes a quarter-mile ride through a black spruce forest in a summer dog cart. Tours are $125 per person, with an additional $20 fee for trans-portation. For more informa-tion, call 687-6656, or go to www.siriussleddogs.net.

• If you are going to Chena Hot Springs Resort, you can enjoy a soak in the pool and a kennel tour, among other activities, or ride in a cart pulled by dogs. Visit www.chenahotsprings.com of call 451-8104.

Stop by the Morris Thomp-son Cultural and Visitors Center at 101 Dunkel St. for more information about dog mushing and kennel tours. Information is also available at the office of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, at 550 First Ave.

Tours give glimpse into mushing lifestyle


Musher Marvin Kokrine’s appropriately named dog Blue waits to run in the 19-mile mid-distance heat of the Alaska Dog Mush-ing Association Challenge Series Race in January 2009 at the Jeff Studdert Race-grounds.


Two Rivers Lodge Chena Hot Springs Road

11409829-5-11-13VG

www.tworiverslodge.com

16 Scenic Miles

Best Restaurant in Fairbanks 2013!

Readers’ Choice Award

488-6815

23.5 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road • (907) 488-9501 • 9 a.m.–8 p.m.

18409559-5-11-13VG

Gas • Groceries • Sporting Goods • Ice Alaskan Gifts • Information

Alaska Hunting/Fishing License • Post Office

Pleasant Valley Store A l l t r a i l s l e a d t o …


At the end of Chena Hot Springs Road lies the high-way’s namesake — an Alaska oasis, Chena Hot Springs Resort.

About 60 miles from Fair-banks, the hot springs now plays home to a resort, res-taurant and cafe, greenhouse, ice museum, cabins and hotel, even a salon. It’s a little bit of high-end relaxation in the middle of the Chena State Recreation Area, perfect for a weekend getaway or just a day trip.

The hot springs have become a top attraction for Alaska residents and visitors in the past 100 years, whether it’s summer or winter. The hot springs are naturally spring fed, taking advantage of the Earth’s geothermal heating system to keep the water a pleasant, warm temperature year-round, even when it’s 40 below zero in winter. Don’t be alarmed by the odd smell of the water; after all, it’s a natural spring-fed well rich in sulfur but perfectly safe to relax in. The springs also have a high mineral content, which many users claim offers health benefi ts.

For accommodations, the resort offers an assortment: rooms in a lodge setting, family suites, cabins, RV and camping spots and even

yurts. Be sure to check the resort’s webpage, as it often offers Web-only based special deals. On the food side of things, Chena Hot Springs Restaurant uses locally grown produce from the resort’s own greenhouse, which is heated year-round with geothermal energy from the hot springs. The year-round greenhouse is part of the resort’s sustain-ability plan, of which propri-etors Bernie Karl and Connie Parks-Karl are big propo-nents.

In late summer, the Karls host a renewable energy fair at Chena Hot Springs resort that showcases the latest in green energy developments in Alaska. It often draws huge crowds as well as politicians looking to keep up with the Karls’ latest developments.

Surrounding activitiesAs far as activities, the

resort houses a kennel with more than 100 huskies to give visitors the Alaska mush-ing experience, be it winter or summer. The Chena Hot Springs Kennel is a touring, non-competitive kennel, using mostly rescued dogs.

The ice museum is another big draw at the resort that

Relax at Chena Hot Springs ResortLeave the city for a day trip or stay overnight

IF YOU GO TO CHENA HOT SPRINGSWhat: Chena Hot Springs ResortWhen:• Pool House, 7 a.m. to midnight, daily• Restaurant, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily• Aurora Cafe, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m., daily• Lounge, 10 a.m. to midnight, Sunday through Thursday;

10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday• Activity center desk, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily• Activity center, 24 hours, dailyWhere: End of Chena Hot Springs RoadCost: For more information on hotel, pool and hot springs

rates, call Chena Hot Springs Resort at 907-451-8104 or visit its website at www.chenahotsprings.com

Phone: 451-8104Online: www.chenahotsprings.com

Please see SPRINGS Page 60


features winter creations even when Alaska summers reach way above the freezing mark. Bring a coat if you go to it — the inside is kept at a frosty 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

And if you’re thirsty, grab a martini in the Aurora Ice Bar, served in an ice-carved martini glass.

The museum even offers ice carving classes for those so inclined to try their hand at sculpting.

Contact infoCheck out the resort’s web-

site at www.chenahotsprings.com, as it is updated often.

For more information about rates or entry fees, it’s best to call the resort.

SPRINGS: Check out kennels, ice museumContinued from Page 59

News-Miner file photoChena Hot Spring Resort is about 60 miles from Fairbanks. For accommoda-tions, the resort offers rooms in a lodge setting, family suites, cabins, RV and camping spots and even yurts. Be sure to check the resort’s web-page, as it often offers Web-only spe-cial deals.

16409134-5-11-13VG

An Alaskan Gift Shop And Mounted Wildlife Display Alaskan size ice cream cones at a small Texas price.

Unusual Burl Construction 32 Miles South of Fairbanks on Richardson Highway

488-3014 6565 Richardson Hwy.,

Salcha, AK 99714 www.alaskaknottyshop.com


Ever since North Pole evolved from a homestead into the city “Where the Spirit of Christmas Lives Year Round,” the holiday season has reigned 365 days per year.

The idea for a Christmas-themed town began when the Dahl and Gaske Development Co. bought several acres of a subdivided homestead from Bon and Bernice Davis with the vision of attracting toy manufacturers to the area, according to the city of North Pole website. After all, what child wouldn’t want a toy “Made in North Pole?” Busi-nesses from the Lower 48 never materialized, so commu-nity entrepreneurs took it on themselves to make Christmas the focal point.

This summer, the North Pole Community Chamber of Commerce and commu-nity supporters such as Santa Claus House will continue to bring Christmas cheer to Alas-kans and Alaska’s visitors with these events:

• The seventh annual Cruis’n with Santa car show and street fair takes place May 18, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The event features muscle and antique

cars, vendors and live enter-tainment and takes place at Santa Claus House. For more information, call 488-2200.

• The city of North Pole celebrates two holidays in one with its Christmas-themed Fourth of July parade. The parade begins at 11 a.m. on Fifth Avenue and travels down Santa Claus Lane and St. Nicholas Drive. Enjoy a free picnic at Terry Miller Memo-rial Park on Fifth Avenue. Awards for the best parade

floats will be given out and visitors can enjoy live music in the afternoon.

“People can expect a good family time,” North Pole May-or Bryce Ward said.

For more information, call 488-8583.

• Support the Arthritis Foundation of Alaska and have fun with Jingle in July (Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis), a 5K run and 1K Children’s Run with the Elves on July 6. Runners gather at Santa Claus House at 8:30 a.m. and the race starts at 10 a.m.

“What’s really great about this event is that everyone wears Christmas-themed cos-tumes,” said Nicole Blizinski, Santa Clause House marketing coordinator. For more informa-tion, go online to jingleinjuly.com.

• Christmas in July, a new event from the North Pole Community Chamber of Com-merce, takes place July 26-28. Events include live music and

WHERE TO STAY• Hotel North Pole; 449

Santa Claus Lane, North Pole; 488-4801; standard rooms start at $150

• Visit the Morris Thomp-son Cultural and Visitors Center for campgrounds and other accommodations in the North Pole area.


The Santa Claus House in North Pole is a popular place for locals and visitors.

“People can expect a good family time.”

— North Pole Mayor Bryce Ward

It’s always Christmas in North Pole

Please see HO HO HO, Page 63


16408789 5-11-13vg

We welcome all to visit our community...featuring

Broadcasting the Gospel in: • English • Athabaskan • Inupiat

2501 Mission Rd., P.O. Box 56359 North Pole, AK 99705 • 907-488-2216 CALVARY’S NORTHERN LIGHTS MISSION

For more information write:

SOD-ROOFED LOG CABINS in the TRUE ALASKA MOTIF

visit our website - www.mosquitonet.com/~KJNP

AM RADIO • 1170 • 50,000 watts FM RADIO • 100.3 • 25,000 watts TV-Channel 4 KJHA 88.7FM in Houston, AK

Bibles For Others P.O. Box 601 Grand Rapids, MN 55744 218-328-5873

Recreate at Chena LakeBy GARY BLACK

[email protected]

Right in the middle of a seemingly huge wilderness is one of the most popular attractions in the Interior — Chena Lake Recreation Area.

The 2,100-acre park offers an illusion that you’re right on the edge of North Pole but seemingly hundreds of miles away from a city. It’s that image of utter wilder-ness that draws visitors year-round. In the summer, it’s a popular camping, swimming and hiking spot. In the win-ter, it offers trails for mush-ing, skiing and more hiking. It’s one of the most popular spots in Interior Alaska.

Chena Lake Recreation Area has two camping areas: the lake park and the river park, along the Chena River. The two parks offer more than 80 campsites, and each park has water and restroom facilities for use in the sum-mer and fall. If you really want to get away from it all, an island accessible by boat offers six campsites.

During the hot days of summer — yes, it can reach up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit or even higher in the summer — the beachfront of the lake can be packed with swim-mers. The lake is a popular spot for boaters and features volleyball and horseshoe pits and a covered pavilion, which makes it a prime spot for families. Boats — from row to paddle — are available for rent. During the winter, Che-na Lake offers groomed cross-country ski trails for snow-machining, skijoring, and dog mushing. It also offers three ice-fishing houses.

For the fishermen, Chena Lake is stocked by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game with rainbow trout, silver salmon and arctic char. The Chena River has arc-tic grayling, northern pike, whitefish, burbot and an annual run of king salmon. Be sure to check state fishing regulations.

Fees vary for use at the


Kids play in the sand at the Chena Lake Recreation Area.

Please see LAKE, Page 64


Breakfast Place Hours • M-F 8:30 - 10:30 am Gift Shop/Office Hours • M-F 11 am - 3 pm Join us for the

Jingle Bell 5K Run July 6

North Pole July 4th Parade Join us for a Pancake Feed!

8:30–10:30 a.m.

101 East 5th Avenue • North Pole, AK 99705 www.santaseniors.com • 907-488-4663

16408785 -5-11-13VG

Visitors Welcome!

1640

8492

-5-11

-13VG

street dancing, a Santa Claus costume contest, the 5K Candy Cane race and Ice Carving in July. Events will take place at the Santa Claus House, the temporary summer home of the North Pole Visitors Center. Proceeds from Christmas in July will fund the construc-tion of a new visitors center in North Pole. For more informa-tion, call 488-2242.

Can’t be in North Pole for these events? You can still

enjoy the spirit of Christmas at Santa Claus House, which is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days per week from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Visitors

can enjoy a cup of coffee and a piece of fudge from the café while perusing Christmas ornaments or photographing the kids with the reindeer.

HO HO HO Continued from Page 61


The aurora borealis, or the northern lights as they are commonly called, are a sight to behold.

Of course, it helps if you’re here in the darkness of winter. The lights aren’t visible in the summer months, so you’ll have to come on back.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn about them while you’re here during our peri-od of extended daylight.

The University of Alaska Geophysical Insti-tute provides a wealth of information about the aurora, including providing an aurora forecast and a place to sign up for aurora alerts. Visit www.gedds.

alaska.edu/auroraforecast.

Here are answers to common questions about the aurora:

Q: What is the aurora?

ONLINEAurora information from the Geophysical

Institute:www.gedds.alaska.edu/auroraforecast

View aurora photos submitted by Daily News-Miner readers:

www.newsminer.com/features/our_town


With Dog Mushers Hall in the foreground, the aurora lights up the sky over Fairbanks.

The northern lights in Alaska

Please see AURORA, Page 67


lake, so check with the entrance station or online at co.fairbanks.ak.us/Parksan-dRecreation. Camping sites are on a first-come, first- served basis. No reservations are taken.

IF YOU GOWhat: Chena Lake Recreation AreaWhere: 3780 Laurance RoadWhen: Park open 24 hours, seven days in summerSwim beach and Lake Park day use areas closed from

10 p.m. to 6 a.m.Cost: Tent camping, $10 per night; RV or camper, $15 per

night. Entry per vehicle, $5; military per vehicle, $1; pavilion is $35 up to four hours, $55 more than four hours

Phone: 488-1655Online: co.fairbanks.ak.us/ParksandRecreation

LAKE Continued from Page 62

The Richardson and Alaska highwaysBy LESLIE PEARSONFor the News-Miner

Gaining access to Alaska’s Interior was difficult for gold miners, trappers and other settlers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Creating modern highways from old trails and paths is an Alaska tradition.

The Richardson Highway and the Alaska Highway were created to access Inte-rior Alaska but for different reasons. The Richardson — marked Alaska Route 4 on maps — was stitched together from pieces of the old Eagle-Valdez Trail to access gold in Fairbanks though its original destination was Eagle on the Yukon River. The Alaska Highway — marked Alaska Route 2 on maps — was punched through Canada and eastern Interior Alaska to deliver supplies to military installations such as Ladd Field, now Fort Wainwright, during World War II.

Travelers sometimes get confused about where the

Alaska Highway really ends. It terminates in Delta Junc-tion, not in Fairbanks, which is the end of the Richardson Highway.

Today, travelers to Alaska can experience the sce-nic drives of the state and explore the towns that dot both highways.

Delta JunctionBordered by the Tanana

and Delta rivers, the town of Delta Junction sits in the agricultural seat of the Interior. It is also where the Alaska Highway meets the Richardson Highway. The history of Delta Junction can be experienced through its roadhouse museums and events:

• Friendly Frontier Days

is June 1. The event features a public barbecue, hay rides and a hay maze, a petting zoo and is the first day the Farmers Market opens. Fron-tier Days takes place at the junction of the Alaska and Richardson highways. For more information, call the Delta Junction Chamber of Commerce at 907-895-5068.

• Deltana Fair is July 27-29 and features live music, games, food and contests and is at the Deltana Fairgrounds on Nistler Road in Delta Junction. For more informa-tion, call the Delta Junction Chamber of Commerce at 907-895-5068.

• Big Delta State Histori-cal Park. Rika’s Roadhouse is

ROADS TO THE INTERIOR

Richardson HighwayMiles: 365.4Surface: Paved

End points: Fairbanks, Valdez

Alaska HighwayMiles: 198 (Alaska portion)Surface: PavedEnd points: Alaska-Canada

border, Delta Junction

Please see ROUTES, Page 65


9 MILES EAST OF DELTA JUNCTION 9 MILES EAST OF DELTA JUNCTION M ile 1413 Alaska Highway, beside

the large Grain Elevators

16409104-5-11-13VG

the main attraction at this Alaska state park. The park tells the story of its former owner, Rika Wallen, a Swedish immigrant, and the role her roadhouse played during the development of the Interior.

Sitting on the bank of the Tanana River and of what used to be the Valdez-to-Fair-banks Trail from the 1900s to the 1940s, Rika’s Roadhouse provided travelers with a home off the trail. Alaska State Parks, the state’s parks department, will provide free guided tours this summer. The agency will host Kids’ Day at Rika’s in August that will feature tours, games, arts and crafts, and a picnic. For more information on Kid’s Day, call Park Specialist Maureen Gardner at 907-895-2113.

Donnelly DomeFor great views of the

Granite Mountains and the Alaska Range, travelers can head south on the Richardson Highway about 15 miles from Delta Junction. Sticking out of Donnelly Flats is a 3,910 foot solitary mound that looks like a mini-volcano. Rich Tay-lor of the Division of Geologi-cal and Geophysical Surveys said the dome is caused by uplift from surrounding fault lines along the northern edge of the Alaska Range.

That uplift creates a popu-lar hike for local residents and travelers. Hikers should plan for a half day and bring a jacket for the summit as it is usually windy. To access the trail, turn onto the access road at 248 Mile. Follow it up to the turnout, where you will see a footpath.

Black RapidsThe Black Rapids Road-

house sits across the Rich-ardson Highway from the Delta River at 227 Mile. High water after breakup creates the Black Rapids, so named because of the silt in the gla-cier water that turns them dark.

The roadhouse is in the middle of a restoration begun by Lodge at Black Rapids owners, Michael and Annie

Hopper, said Marsha Panfil, the lodge’s manager. In addi-tion to building a new lodge on the bluff above the road-house — the Lodge at Black Rapids — the Hoppers have been restoring the roadhouse, which is one of the last of its kind still standing.

Travelers to this stretch of the Richardson are awed by the views of the Alaska Range, the bison that migrate through the Delta River Val-ley and the opportunities for hiking, fishing or flightseeing tours of the Alaska Range, Panfil said.

The Hoppers plan on open-ing the roadhouse as a muse-um that will feature informa-tion on its former owner and Alaska legend, Frank Glasser, known as the Wolf Man.

“We also have some inter-pretive hiking trails behind the lodge planned that will be named after mountaineers who were so instrumental in exploring this area and Glasser was one of them,” Panfil said.

The Lodge at Black Rap-ids features guest speakers, musicians and guided outdoor recreational events through-out the summer. For more information on these events and room rates, call (877) 825-9413

TokTok is a paradise for

travelers coming to explore Alaska by RV. After the long drive through Canada on the Alaska Highway, visitors are greeted by several RV parks, hotels and a visitors center. The small town of Tok, with a population of about 1,400,

is the hub for the villages of Dot Lake, Northway, Tetlin, Tanacross and Mentasta. The town was built as a construc-tion camp when work began for the Alaska Highway in the early 1940s.

There are three Alaska State Parks campgrounds near Tok that offer hiking, fishing and boating opportuni-ties. Eagle Trail State Recre-ation Site is 16 miles south of Tok at 109.5 Mile Tok Cutoff Highway and offers hiking trails that are leftovers from the original Eagle-Val-dez Trail. Moon Lake State Recreation Site is near 1,332 Mile Alaska Highway, 15 miles northwest of Tok, and is popular with boaters. Tok River State Recreation Site is popular with highway travel-ers just entering Alaska from Canada.

Tok’s biggest event is its Fourth of July parade and fair. The parade begins at 11 a.m. at Fast Eddy’s Res-taurant at 1,313 Mile Alaska Highway. The parade heads north to the Tok Cutoff and turns left to the fairgrounds across the street from the Department of Transporta-tion. Games for kids and adults are planned along with an awards ceremony for the best parade floats. Entertainment is planned for the fair, and musicians and storytellers will perform that evening at the Sourdough Campground and the Tok RV Center. All Fourth of July events are free to the public. For more information, call Tok Chamber of Commerce President John Rusyniak at 907-883-5775.

ROUTESContinued from Page 64


124 11356-5-11-13VG

Fox General Store

in Beautiful Downtown Fox Junction of Hwys 2 & 6

Groceries • Propane • ATM Liquor • Beer • Wine

Hunting/Fishing Licenses

Open 5:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. 7 days a week

Last 24 hr. gas going North

2226 Old Steese Hwy. No. 907-457-8903

99712 www.silvergulch.com

12411301- 5-11-13VG

Steese Highway offers adventureStaff Report

[email protected]

A traveler can find a little bit of everything Interior Alaska has to offer along the Steese Highway.

The 160-mile highway starts by skirting the eastern edge of Fairbanks before even-tually turning into a gravel road that concludes in the Yukon River community of Circle, retracing a century of historic gold mining along the way.

Upon leaving Fairbanks, the first notable stop might be in Fox, about 10 miles to the north. Fox began as a mining camp in 1905, but has since become a destination for restaurants and nightlife for those willing to make the short drive.

The Turtle Club restaurant is well known for its heaping plates of prime rib, and Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling Co. combines the northern-most brewery in the U.S. with a gastropub. From May to October, the Howling Dog Saloon features live music in a colorful atmosphere. Road-trip

supplies and gas are available at the Fox General Store.

The Steese also offers road access to the vast White Mountains National Recre-ation Area, where you can pan for gold at Nome Creek at 57 Mile and hike, fish and camp.

Much of the area was burned by a massive wildfire in 2004. Hillsides are still strewn with charred trees.

The Steese Highway winds through the scenic Chatanika River Valley. The town of Chatanika, created by min-ing activity, was once 10,000 people strong. Chatanika Gold Camp is the site of the old Fairbanks Exploration Co. Camp, built between 1923 and 1925 as the original bunk-house and dining hall for the men who worked on Chatan-ika’s Gold Dredge No. 3. The camp is on the National Regis-ter of Historic Places.

Just down the road at 28.5 Mile is a large rustic lodge, across the street from Gold Dredge No. 3. The Chatanika Lodge was established in the 1930s as a trading post.

The lodge’s Alaska decor showcases its hearty fare, with a full kitchen serving break-fast, lunch and dinner.

Stop at Long Creek Trading Post at 45 Mile for an espresso or ice cream. The trading post offers canoe rentals, grocer-ies, camping, liquor and local advice on good fishing and gold panning spots.

A 2.5-mile loop offers access to the Davidson Ditch. The ditch is an 83-mile series of

ditches, siphons and pipes once used to carry water from a small dam on the Chatanika River to the gold dredges of Fox and Chatanika. It was one of the largest engineering projects in the world when it was built in 1925.

The road climbs well above the tree line at Twelve-Mile Summit and Eagle Summit, two popular places to watch the sun skirt the northern horizon on summer solstice.

After coasting down Eagle Summit to the town of Cen-tral, about 128 miles north of Fairbanks, travelers enter the Circle Mining District, which features many active mines.

Central has a post office, a restaurant, a museum, a landing strip for small planes and lodging. Service stations are scarce, so be sure to bring enough gas.

Turning right at Central will point you in the direction of Circle Hot Springs (the springs and associated resort, about 8 miles farther, have been closed for years); heading straight ahead will put you at Circle City.

The road ends 34 bumpy, winding miles later on the banks of the Yukon River in Circle. The river is two miles wide at this point.

Circle, founded in 1893, was the largest gold mining town on the river, at least until gold was discovered in Canada’s Dawson City.

More than 1,000 people lived in Circle, which was named in the mistaken belief that it was located on the Arc-tic Circle, which is really 40 miles north.

IF YOU GOSteese HighwayMiles: 155.4Surface: Paved, then

gravelEnd points: Fairbanks,

Circle City


A: The glow in the sky, called aurora, is the result of energetic particles entering the upper atmosphere.

This specific glow is dif-ferent than other forms of

brightness in the sky, such as scattered sunlight or light-ning. Magnetism within the Earth’s atmosphere guide the energetic particles, most often electrons, along field lines to the high-latitude atmosphere. As they penetrate the upper atmosphere, the chance of colliding with an atom or mol-ecule increases the deeper they go. When a collision occurs, the atom or molecule takes some of the energy of the ener-getic particle and stores it as internal energy while the elec-tron continues on its path at a reduced speed. The release of that stored energy by an atom or molecule, achieved by sending off a photon, produces light.

Q: What makes the color in the aurora?

A: The composition and density of the atmosphere and the altitude of the aurora determine the possible light emissions.

The atmosphere is made up of varying levels of oxygen and nitrogen. Sometimes the photons emitted by the ener-getic electrons, creating aurora energy, are strong enough to split the molecules of the air around them into oxygen and nitrogen molecules and atoms. This process gives them the

signature colors of nitrogen and oxygen atoms. Oxygen atoms typically emit green and red colors.

The overall impression is a greenish-whitish glow. An intense aurora can get a purple edge at the bottom, which is a mixture of blue and red emissions from nitrogen molecules.

Q: What is the altitude of the aurora?

A: The bottom edge is typi-cally at 60 miles altitude, but it extends over a large altitude range. An intense aurora from high energy electrons can be as low as 50 miles.

The top of the visible aurora peters out about 120-200 miles but sometimes high-altitude aurora can be seen as high as 350 miles.

Q: How often is there auro-ra?

A: There is always some aurora at some place on Earth. You just can’t always see it.

When the solar wind is calm, the aurora might be too high and faint to see.

To see the aurora, the sky must be dark and clear, which means in the land of the mid-night sun, the aurora cannot be seen during the bright sum-mer months.


The aurora

borealis hangs in the sky

over west Fair-

banks.

AURORA Continued from Page 63


Live music by Theresa Bauer Sunday afternoons 5-8pm

12411334-5-11-13VG

CHATANIKA LODGE

Saloon•Country Cooking•Lodging

Fishing & Hiking Nearby

5760 (28 1 ⁄ 2 Mi.) Steese Hwy. Fairbanks, AK 99712

907-389-2164 Fax: 907-389-2166

[email protected]

Ron & Shirley Franklin

Rustic Alaskan Atmosphere

Across highway from Alaska’s 2nd Largest Gold Dredge!

(Call for Hours)

Cafe • Saloon • Store Gas • Motel • Cabins WiFi • Showers • Laundry [email protected] In the heart of the Circle Mining District 128 Mile Steese Highway

12411339-5-11-13VG 907-520-5800

The trans-Alaska oil pipelineBy SAM FRIEDMAN

[email protected]

The trans-Alaska oil pipeline will be a frequent companion near the road if you drive the Richardson, Elliott or Dalton highways. It runs 800-miles from Alaska’s North Slope to the ice-free port of Valdez on the Prince William Sound. It crosses 800 streams and rivers along the way including the mighty Yukon River. A good place to get a close look at it near Fairbanks is at 8.4 Mile Steese Highway near Fox.

Tankers carry the oil to refineries on the West Coast, but less and less oil has been flowing down the line in recent years. The amount of North Slope oil flowing through the line — referred to as through-

put — averaged a high of 2.03 million barrels daily in 1988 but has steadily fallen, averag-ing 547,866 barrels daily in 2012.

Here are answers to some common questions about the pipeline:

Q: Why isn’t it below ground:

A: About half of the 800-

mile line is underground. But in northern latitudes the warm oil running through it would melt the permafrost.

Q: Does all the oil really travel through that?

A: Yes. Nearly 17 billion — yes, billion — barrels have been pumped through it since it opened. The pipeline is 48 inches in diameter.

Q: Shouldn’t there be more security?

A: 800 miles is a lot of terri-tory to patrol. There have only been a few instances of the pipeline ruptured by vandal-ism. The worst disaster in the history of the pipeline system was the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil

IF YOU GOWhat: trans-Alaska oil

pipeline When: AnytimeWhere: viewing pullout at

8.4 Mile Steese HighwayCost: FreeOnline: www.alyeska-pipe.

com

Associated Press file

photo

The trans-

Alaska oil pipe-

line is seen

parallel-ing the Dalton

Highway north

of Fair-banks

near the Arctic Circle.

Please see PIPE, Page 69


RUSTIC CABINS

Live 3+ Nights a Week !

2160 (11 mi.) Old Steese Hwy Fox, Alaska, 99712

456-HOWL (4695) [email protected]

Burgers, CheeseSteaks & More Open Daily 4 pm

12411330-5-11-13VG

& CAFE

12411302-5-17-13VG

2098 (10mi) Old Steese Hwy. • Fox, Alaska 99712 www.alaskanturtle.com

457-3883 FOR RESERVATIONS

Open 7 Days A Week

Enjoy an occasion of fine dining in a cozy, rustic atmosphere with air conditioned comfort

PRIME RIB GIANT

PRAWNS & KING CRAB

Featuring Our Famous

Australian Lobster Tail Halibut

(Dinners Include Salad Bar)

Also Serving

P R I M E R I B

S A L A D B A R


The trans-Alaska oil pipeline snakes across the tundra near the Brooks Range, about 150 miles from Prudhoe Bay carrying North Slope crude oil about 800 miles to Valdez.

tanker spill.

Q: Can I climb on the pipe-line?

A: No.

Q: When was it built:

A: From 1974 to 1977. The construction job was the largest privately funded construction project in the world at the time it was built and employed more than 28,000 people at the peak of construction.

Q: Who owns it?A: The Alyeska Pipeline Ser-

vices Co., a consortium of the companies that produce oil on

the North Slope. The big three are BP Alaska, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil.

Q: Wasn’t there also going to be a natural gas pipeline in Alaska in addition to an oil pipeline?

A: That’s a long story. The short answer, as it has been for several decades, is that it’s just around the corner.


The trans-Alaska oil pipeline is seen north of Fairbanks.

PIPE Continued from Page 68


11409828-5-11-13VG

Use this ad for $2 Off any Meal Purchase*

*Limit 1 Per Visit – Not Valid With Any Other Offer Expires 12/31/13

5.5 mile Elliott Hwy. • 15 minutes from Fairbanks Open 5 a.m.–Midnight • (907) 389-7600

24 Hour Gas • Diesel ATM • Showers

Full-Service Restaurant Groceries • Ice • Liquor

Propane • Phone Hand-Dipped

Ice Cream Famous

Homemade Pies!

Answers to questions about FairbanksQ: Do people still mine gold

in Fairbanks?A: Yes, especially with gold

prices being what they are. The largest open-pit gold mine in Alaska, Fort Knox Gold Mine, is 26 miles north of Fairbanks and an even bigger gold mine is being developed in Liven-good, about 65 miles north of town. The Fort Knox mine has produced more than 5 million ounces of gold since it opened in 1996 and an estimated 3 million more ounces remain to be mined. The Pogo Gold Mine, an underground mine 85 miles southeast of Fairbanks, began operation in 2007 and produces about 340,000 ounces of gold per year. It has an estimated reserve of 5.6 million ounces.

Q: Can you see the northern lights in the summer?

A: No. The aurora borealis is visible in Fairbanks from about late August to mid- April. Northern lights are pres-ent year round but the long daylight hours in summer in northern latitudes prevents them from being visible.

Q: Why are there electrical outlets in all the parking lots and why do people have exten-sion cords sticking out the front of their vehicles?

A: Because of the extreme

cold temperatures in Fairbanks during the winter, most vehi-cles are equipped with several electric “heating” devices that facilitate start up during.

The standard set up consists of a engine block heater that warms fluids in the cooling system, an oil pan heater that warms the oil and a battery blanket that warms the bat-tery. It usually takes an hour or two after a vehicle is plugged in to warm it enough to start. Most employers provide “plug-ins” for its employees.

Q: How long does the Chena River stay frozen?

A: The Chena River usually freezes sometime in mid to late October and remains frozen until late April or early May. One part of the river, about a mile-long stretch from the Aurora Energy power plant on First Avenue to Pioneer Park, remains open year-round because of the warm water being discharged from the power plant.

Q: How many moose live in Fairbanks?

A: In the Fairbanks Man-agement Area, which basically covers Fairbanks’ urban envi-ronment — if you can call it that — there are an estimated 500 moose, according to sur-

veys conducted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. That area encompasses every-thing from Ester to North Pole to Fox. The number of moose in game management unit 20B, which encompasses most of the road system surrounding Fair-banks from Salcha to Chena Hot Springs to Chatanika to Manley to Nenana, is estimat-ed at approximately 20,000.

Q: How many moose get hit by cars around Fairbanks?

A: On average, about 150 moose are killed on Fairbanks area roads each year, most dur-ing the winter months when it is dark. The dead moose are salvaged by local charities so the meat does not go to waste.

Q: How do people drive in the winter?

A: Carefully. Most people use studded snow tires or special winter tires for extra traction on the snow and ice. Studded tires can be used from Sept. 15 to May 1 in Fairbanks and other areas north of 60 degrees latitude and Sept. 30 to April 15 in areas south of 60 degrees latitude.

Q: Is it dark all day long in the winter?

A: Not really. The shortest day of the year is Dec. 21, the winter solstice, when there is 3 hours, 43 minutes, of offi-cial daylight. But there are long periods of twilight before sunrise and after sunset that translates to about 4 or 5 hours of light during the darkest days, from about 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Granted, it’s not bright light, but we’ll take what we can get. After Dec. 21, we start gaining six to seven minutes of daylight each day.

Q: Is it light all day long in the summer?

A: Look out the window at midnight and you tell us. The longest day of the year is June 21, the summer solstice, when there is 21 hours, 49 minutes of official daylight. At that point, in the last half of June and first half of July, it pretty much is light all day long. After June 21, we start losing six to seven minutes of daylight each day.



152 Scenic Miles from Fairbanks on the Elliot Hwy 152 Scenic Miles from Fairbanks on the Elliot Hwy 152 Scenic Miles from Fairbanks on the Elliot Hwy

Historic gold rush era lodge. Accommodations • GREAT FOOD • Gas

Major cards accepted

M ANLEY L ODGE M ANLEY L ODGE M ANLEY L ODGE Better known as the...

ROADHOUSE Open for the season

11409774-5-11-13VG

907-672-3161 Come and visit us!

� Fairbanks • Yukon River • Arctic Circle • � Wiseman Brooks Range • � Prudhoe Bay • � Point Barrow

Let your High Arctic Adventure begin!

[email protected] • www.ArcticTreks.com

We specialize in selling

Alaska’s Arctic!

Experience Alaska’s Arctic on a guided adventure. Stop along the shores of the Yukon River, cross the Arctic

Circle, enjoy the Brooks Mountain Range, land in the Gates of the Arctic National Park, or take a dip in the

Arctic Ocean. Learn more on our website at: www.ArcticTreks.com

479-5451 (local) • 1-800-336-TREK (8735) (outside Fbks)

� �

� �

12411350-5/-11/13VG


No highway will take you farther north in Alaska than the Dalton Highway. The gravel road built to service construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and sup-ply the North Slope oil fields is still often referred to as the “haul road.”

The Dalton and the Elliott Highway, which leads to the Dalton on its way to Manley Hot Springs, may be what you’re looking for if you’re interested in adventure, hot springs and getting a taste of life above the Arctic Circle.

They’re both long, remote roads so plan ahead. Fill up on gas at the few sta-tions along the 498 highway miles between Fairbanks and Deadhorse. Bring one or more spare tires. Watch out for big trucks.

A good resource on this and other Alaska roadtrips is “The Milepost,” a mile-by-mile guide to Alaska’s highways updated every year and available at most grocery stores. The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center is a good place to plan for traveling these roads. The center has specific informa-tion on the Dalton Highway and receives road condition updates from the Depart-ment of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Elliott HighwayThe Elliott Highway

moves through rolling hills covered in birch trees as it passes the town of Fox, where the highway splits from the Steese Highway. Trees along the highway gradually get smaller and thin out as you drive north toward treeless tundra land-scape. Last stop for gas for a hundred miles is the Hilltop Truckstop, a diner that’s often featured on the Alaska-based reality show “Ice Road Truckers.”

At 73 Mile, the Dalton Highway splits from the Elliott. The Elliott contin-

ues west to the community of Manley Hot Springs. A junction at 109 Mile Elliott Highway leads south to the Athabascan village of Minto.

The hot springs the community of Manley Hot

Springs is named after is a more rustic experience than the more-developed Chena Hot Springs Resort 55 miles east of Fairbanks. Four tubs are in a greenhouse that grows grapes. Owner Gladys Dart lets visitors soak in the hot springs for $5 per person

Road to the top of the worldELLIOTT HIGHWAYMiles: 153.8. Junction with Dalton Highway at 84 Mile.Surface: First half paved, then gravel.End points: Fox, Manley Hot Springs

DALTON HIGHWAYMiles: 415.1Surface: Mostly gravelEnd points: Junction with Elliott Highway, Deadhorse

CONTACT INFOManley Hot Springs

greenhouse: Carolyn Dart at 672-3231

Joe Redington Jr. ken-nels and subsistence tour near Manley Hot Springs: 672-3412

Deadhorse Camp shut-tles to the Arctic Ocean: (877) 474-3565

Please see ROAD, Page 72


per hour. Use of the green-house is restricted to one party at a time, so she asks visitors to call in advance. Manley Hot Springs is home to musher Joe Redington Jr., son of Iditarod founder Joe Redington Sr. He introduces visitors to the subsistence lifestyle with a two-hour tour of his home and kennel for a fee of $25 per person.

Check with the rental car company you are rent-ing from before heading out. Many make customers sign agreements not to drive on gravel roads.

Dalton HighwayThe Dalton Highway cross-

es the Yukon River and climbs the continent’s northernmost

mountain range, the Brooks Range, before ending at a security fence just short of the Arctic Ocean. There are few populated places along the way. A few landmarks include:

• Yukon River Bridge: 56 Mile (from Elliott Highway junction). The only vehicle crossing in Alaska over the region’s largest river. Fuel, food and lodging are available in the summer here.

• Arctic Circle sign: 115. Mile. The sun does not rise on the winter solstice or set on the summer solstice north of the Arctic circle.

• Coldfoot: 175 Mile. A former pipeline construction camp. Gas, lodging and the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center (open only in the sum-mer), the visitor center for Arctic federal lands including Gates of the Arctic National Park.

• Wiseman: 189 Mile. Turnoff for Wiseman, a his-toric mining community three miles off the highway.

• Atigun Pass: 244 Mile. At 4,800 feet, this Brooks Range pass is the highest highway pass in Alaska.

• Deadhorse: 414 Mile. There is fuel and lodging at this community of Prudhoe Bay oilfield workers. Security fences block access to the Arctic Ocean, but Deadhorse Camp, which offers lodging for both oilfield workers and visitors, offers shuttles to the ocean. Shuttles leave twice per day in the summer and cost $49 per person. Reserva-tions can be made at (877) 474-3565.

Again, remember to check with the rental car company before leaving.


ROAD: Dalton runs through Arctic Circle Continued from Page 71


The Denali Highway

offers one of the most scenic drives in Alaska.

More and more visitors discover it every year. Even when clouds move in, the mountains of the Alaska Range, which run along both sides of the road, offer majestic views.

The primarily gravel road runs between Cantwell on the Parks Highway and Paxson on the Richardson Highway. Cantwell is 27 miles south of the entrance to Denali National Park.

The land along this high-way is not under the author-ity of the National Park Service. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management oversees it, so it’s open to almost any recreational activity.

That’s why you’ll see all-terrain vehicles, hikers, and bicyclists. It’s a popular hunting area in the fall.

Most of the highway passes through high, alpine terrain. Views are vast and you’ll have a good chance of spotting caribou, moose

and bear. Check out tundra ponds to see nesting swans and other waterfowl.

McLaren Pass is the high-est point on the drive, at 4,086 feet. On a clear day, you can see the McLaren Glacier.

Tangle Lakes, close to Paxson, offers canoeing and a look at an extraordinary variety of waterfowl.

It is also an archeologi-cal site. Native peoples have lived in this area for more than 10,000 years, and archeologists continually find traces of their prehis-toric life here.

Just driving the road can be an adventure. Be sure you pack along a spare tire. Maybe two.

Some years the road is in great shape and visitors can make the 135-mile drive in about four hours. When rain and heavy use take its toll

and potholes form, the trip takes much longer.

That’s OK, though. You don’t want to drive this road at 65 mph. The best speed is a leisurely 30 mph.

Be forewarned: Most rental car companies do not allow their vehicles to be driven on this highway.

It’s becoming more com-mon for bicyclists to venture through the mountain range this way. Those who live in Alaska often have vehicle support, but it’s also com-mon for bicyclists to go on their own, carrying their own gear. Be careful about dusting them with gravel when driving past.

The BLM maintains campgrounds at Brushkana Creek and at Tangle Lakes, but you can pull over any-where along the road and make camp.

A few small roadhouses offer lodging, including the MacLaren River Lodge. See www.maclarenlodge.com.

Drivers are always happy to see the gas pumps at Pax-son Lodge, at the intersec-tion of the Richardson High-way and Denali Highway.

Denali Highway: a scenic adventureDENALI HIGHWAY

Miles: 134.6Surface: GravelEnd points: Cantwell,

Paxson



Two tiny Alaska commu-nities anchor one of the most beautiful drives in Alaska — the Denali Highway.

Both Cantwell and Pax-son are situated in beautiful spots, 135 miles apart. Both provide services and housing for visitors year round.

PaxsonPaxson is the launching

point for driving west on the scenic Denali Highway, to Cantwell, 135 miles away.

It sits at the junction of the Denali Highway and the Richardson Highway. Only about 40 people live here, and most of them are high-way maintenance workers.

The area has several lodg-es that offer housing during the summer season. There are also restaurants, gift shops and some tours.

Most drivers are pretty happy to see Paxson Lodge and its gasoline pumps.

Just down the Denali Highway is Tangle Lakes Archaeological District, man-aged by the state and federal governments. More than 600 archeological sites show that early humans lived here in the area more than 10,000 years ago.

Alvin Paxson established the Timberline Roadhouse at 192 Mile Richardson High-way in 1906. Paxson even-tually added another road-house a mile away, a barn that included a drying room, pump and sleeping quarters, two rooms and a bath. A post office, store, wood house and small ice room followed.

The Denali Highway was built in 1950. For many years, it provided the only access to Denali National Park — before construction of the Parks Highway.

Now a variety of lodges in the nearby area help tourists enjoy the natural beauty of this remote wilderness.

Check out Denali High-way Cabins and Tangle River Inn, too.

CantwellA former mayor of the

Denali Borough counted him-self lucky that he lived close to what he considered the most beautiful place in Alaska — Cantwell.

This tight-knit community of 200 to 300 people is in a pic-turesque spot at the junction of the Parks Highway and the Denali Highway.

Turn 360 degrees and see towering mountains of the Alaska Range in every direc-tion.

The town, primarily an Athabascan Indian village, is named after Jim Cantwell, a worker on the Alaska Rail-road. Cantwell was once a railway flag stop. Oley Nicklie, an Alaska Native, sought work with the railroad after fur prices dropped. He and his two brothers founded the settle-ment.

Claim to fame? This is where the 2007 movie “Into The Wild” was filmed.

Now it is a haven for snow-machiners in the winter and a photographers’ paradise in the summertime. There are outdoor opportunities in every direction — hiking, rafting on

nearby rivers and camping.Cantwell Lodge offers rea-

sonably priced housing and a café in “old” Cantwell. Turn west at the Parks Highway/Denali Highway intersection to get there.

This longtime business has announced it will be the new home of Cantwell Bluegrass Festival on July 26-28. Call 388-2709 for more information.

Denali Fly Fishing Guides is a longtime guiding operation that knows all the best local fishing holes. See www.denalyflyfishing.com.

Wolf’s Den Kennel offers a new tour of a racing sled dog kennel. See www.doggoneittours.com. There are tours three times per day. You can even sign up for a walk with new puppies.

When it’s time to leave, turn north and you will head deeper into the mountains toward Denali National Park; go south and you’ll hit the vast openness of Broad Pass and Denali State Park; turn east for the Denali Highway, one of the prettiest drives in Alaska.

If you head west, you should probably be wearing a backpack.

Paxson and Cantwell: communities that anchor the Denali Highway


It’s not uncommon to see wildlife such as caribou, bears or moose on the Denali Highway.


1241

1349

-5-1

1-13

VG

EXPLORE ALASKA’S ARCTIC! Experience for yourself the legendary hospitality and authentic interpretation of Northern Alaska Tour Company’s one-day and overnight Arctic Circle Adventures ® . Travel the famed Dalton Highway. Visit the Arctic Circle Trading Post. View the remarkable Trans Alaska Pipeline. Experience the mighty Yukon River. Cross the Arctic Circle. Explore up close the amazing arctic tundra. Tour the Nunamiut Eskimo village of Anaktuvuk Pass. Fly Alaska’s rugged wilderness airways. Arctic Circle Drive, Fly/Drive, Air, Native Culture, and Brooks Range Adventures available.

OR extend your journey to the shores of the Arctic Ocean with our ARCTIC OCEAN ADVENTURE™

All the highlights of our one day excursion PLUS Overnight in rustic Coldfoot. Visit the historic community of Wiseman. Travel through the majestic Brooks Mountain Range. Tour the Prudhoe Bay oil field. Optional Barrow extension tour also available.

Sharing Alaska’s Arctic With The World P.O. Box 82991-VG • Fairbanks, AK 99708

907-474-8600 www.northernalaska.com

800-474-1986 [email protected]


If you came to Alaska looking for wilderness, then Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is a must see.

At 13,175,901 acres, Wrangell-St. Elias is the larg-est national park in the United States. It is more than twice the size of its more famous Alaska cousin, Denali National Park and Preserve, yet has only about one-quarter the number

of visitors. Only about 87,000 people per year visit the park and preserve, which is about 250 miles south of Fairbanks and can be accessed from the Richardson Highway.

Wrangell-St. Elias is bigger than a lot of states and even some countries — it’s more than 25 percent larger than Switzerland. In addition, the park and preserve has more than 9 million acres of desig-nated wilderness, the largest single wilderness in the U.S.

Still not impressed? Check out these statistics about Wrangell-St. Elias:

• The park and preserve contains nine of the country’s 16 tallest peaks, including the second-tallest mountain in North America, 18,008-foot Mount St. Elias.

• Wrangell-St. Elias includes parts of four different moun-tain ranges — the Alaska Range, the Chugach Range, the Wrangell Range and the St. Elias Range.

• It has the greatest con-centration of glaciers in North America — about 25 percent of the park and preserve is cov-ered by glacial ice. At 75 miles in length, the Nabesna Glacier is one of the longest valley glaciers in the world, while the Hubbard Glacier, which is 76 miles long, is the longest tide-water glacier in Alaska. The Malaspina Glacier, meanwhile,

Wrangell-St. Elias: a giant hidden gem

Tim Mowry/News-Miner file photo

The historic Kennecott Copper Mine is one of the main attractions for visitors to the town of McCarthy in the heart of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Once the world’s largest copper mine in the early 1900s, the abandoned mine is now a national historic landmark managed by the National Park Service.

Please see GEM, Page 75


is the largest piedmont glacier in North America at 1,500 square miles.

Unlike much of Denali, vehicles are allowed to drive into Wrangell-St. Elias via the McCarthy and Nabesna roads, a pair of rough dirt roads.

The best way to capture the enormity of Wrangell-St. Elias is from a plane.

“Get up in a plane, and stay for as long as you can afford,”

recommended Gaia Marrs, co-owner and guide for St. Elias Alpine Guides, one of the local guiding companies that oper-ates out of McCarthy. “It’s the only way to begin to get a scale (of the park).”

Air taxis for flightseeing trips or backcountry drop-offs operate from Glennallen, Chi-tina, McCarthy and Yakutat.

A trip down the 59-mile McCarthy Road to the town of McCarthy and the old, abandoned Kennecott cop-per mine is also a great way to see the park and preserve, assuming your vehicle is up to the task. The copper mine, once the largest in the world, shut down in 1938 and is now a National Historic Land-mark District managed by the National Park Service. Many of the buildings have been restored; others remain as they were left.

The town of McCarthy, which is about five miles from Kennecott, remains much the same as it was when the mine was in operation, with a lodge and saloon, general store and handful of private cabins.

The McCarthy and Ken-necott areas feature several hiking trails, including one that takes you to the face of the Root Glacier.

Tour companies offer day

trips onto the glacier as well as extended backcountry hiking trips farther into the park.

In addition to flight char-ters, seasonal shuttles are available to take visitors from Glennallen and other towns on the edge of the park into McCarthy.

Private vehicles are not allowed in McCarthy and must park at a footbridge about a mile from the small town.

The Wrangell-St. Elias Visitor Center is at 106.8 Mile Richardson Highway, about 15 miles south of Glennallen at the junction of the Glenn and Richardson highways.

11408836-5-11-13VG

IF YOU GOWhat: Wrangell-St. Elias

National Park and PreserveWhere: About 250 miles

south of Fairbanks. Visitor center is at 106.8 Mile Rich-ardson Highway.

When: Best from mid-May to mid-September.

How: You can drive into the park and preserve via the McCarthy or Nabesna roads; take one of several daily shut-tles that transport visitors to the park from the communi-ties of Chitina, Copper Center, Glennallen and Kenny Lake; or fly into the park on one of several air taxis.

Phone: 822-7250, visitors center

Online: www.nps.gov/wrst

GEMContinued from Page 74


www.chickengold.com • 520-413-1480

1/4 mile Airport Road • Chicken, Alaska [email protected]

RV Park • Cabins • Campground • Cafe • Espresso Beer/Wine • Historic Bucketline Dredge Tours

Gold Prospecting Adventures: Panning, Dredging, Highbanking

1840949 7-5-11-13VG


Like the Richardson Highway that runs between Valdez and Fairbanks, the 105-mile Taylor Highway also started out as a series of trails. It was born from the route between Eagle on the Yukon River and several mining camps that dotted the Fortymile River area. Accord-ing to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the trails became wagon roads, and the roads eventually became parts of the Taylor Highway. Construction on the highway, which is only paved from Tetlin Junction to Chicken, began in 1945 and was com-pleted in 1951.

The state Department of Transportation warns that the Taylor is “mostly gravel with several steep, narrow grades and long distances between services.”

The highway is not main-tained in the winter.

Visit ChickenThe town of Chicken keeps

the gold mining spirit alive

for travelers who want to see how the gold mines of the late 19th and early 20th cen-tury operated in Alaska.

Mike and Lou Busby, owners of the Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost at 68 Mile Taylor Highway, run an RV park, dredge tours, an espresso bar and restaurant, and a gift bar that sells Alas-kan- and Yukon-made gifts. The Outpost opens by May 15 and closes around Sept. 20, weather permitting. It is open 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Sunday, throughout the summer.

“We’ve added a lot more new artists, a new dining room and will be adding to the Felix Pedro Dredge No. 4 tour,” Mike Busby said. “We’ve acquired more mining relics.”

Guided tours of the Felix Pedro Dredge No. 4 cost $10 per adult or $7.50 per person for groups of 10 or more. Children under 12 get in for $5.

Recreational mining, at a cost of $15 for a 24-hour day under the midnight sun, is a

The Taylor Highway: road to gold

TAYLOR HIGHWAYMiles: 157.6Surface: paved, gravelEnd points: Tetlin Junc-

tion, Eagle

Tok

Chicken

EagleYukon River

ALA

SKA

CAN

ADA

TaylorHighway

Alaska Highway

Top of theWorldHighway

DeeDee Hammond/News-Miner


Chicken’s old-time feel makes for a fun and unique stop on the Taylor Highway.

Please see TAYLOR, Page 77


“big draw,” Mike said. “It’s always interesting to see what people will find.”

A gold pan and a stand-up slough are provided for those who want to try their luck at finding a gold nugget. Pan-ners get to keep whatever they find.

Chicken’s largest event is its summer folk music festi-val, which takes place June 14-15. A ticket also buys music-lovers a spot to camp. Mike expects a dozen bands this year, he said.

“It’s really popular,” he said. “People will be camping all over the place.”

For more information, call 235-6396 or visit Chicken Gold Camp on Facebook for regular updates. Reservation information can be found at chickengold.com.

The end at EagleAs travelers drive through

Alaska on their way to Eagle, they may hear locals say, “Don’t be Chicken on your way to Eagle!” The Taylor Highway twists and turns and then turns to gravel after leav-ing Chicken. Drivers should look out for animals and Hol-land America tour buses.

But once you descend into the small town of Eagle — the first Interior community to incorporate as a city, in 1901 — Alaska’s history and the Yukon River wait there to be explored.

Donna Westphal, director of the Eagle Historical Society, said the city’s Fourth of July parade is its biggest draw. The parade begins at the historic Wickersham Courthouse at 11 a.m. After the parade, there is a carnival and a root beer

float stand for the public. For more information, call 547-2325.

To really explore the history of Eagle, Westphal suggests a guided tour of Eagle’s his-toric buildings and museums, including Fort Egbert. Tours run 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Sun-day between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Participants pay $7 per person and meet at the Wickersham Courthouse.

WHERE TO STAY• Falcon Inn B&B: 220

Front St., 547-2254, rooms with a private bath for two people starting at $145

• Bureau of Land Man-agement Eagle Camp-ground: $10 per night, 474-2200

TAYLOR: Don’t miss Eagle’s July 4th paradeContinued from Page 76


While driving, you may hear locals yell “Don’t be a Chicken on your way to Eagle!”



Before the Alaska High-way punched through Cana-da and into Interior Alaska in the 1940s, the harbor town of Valdez was the gate-way to Alaska.

Whether it has been min-ers searching for passage to the Interior via the Eagle-Valdez trail of the 1890s, or the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS) con-necting the military instal-lations in Alaska with Wash-ington, D.C., in the 1940s, or the trans-Alaska oil pipeline bringing oil from the North

Slope to Valdez in the 1970s, visitors have used Valdez as a gateway to the state.

The city of Valdez and the Valdez Convention and Visi-tors Bureau has many attrac-tions and events planned for this summer that should not be passed over:

• Fourth of July Festival. Parade runs from 9-11 a.m. and is followed by the Fair-banks Street Rock Party, which will feature live bands and vendors from 12:30-3 p.m. Festivities continue throughout the day with a community picnic at 5 p.m. and live bands starting at 6 p.m. Fireworks and a bonfire are planned for the evening. Call the city of Valdez for more information on times and locations at 835-4313.

• Enjoy Alaska’s seafood at the Pink Salmon Festival at 11:45 a.m. July 6. The event is free to the public and will be held at the Civic Center, 110 Clifton Drive. For more information, call 835-4636.

• Gold Rush Days. “The whole town comes out and celebrates,” said Selah Prather, business, member-ship and events coordinator for the visitors bureau. “Our

town was founded because of a gold rush.” The event takes place Aug. 1-4. For more information, visit www.valdezgoldrushdays.org.

• New to the Valdez events calendar this year is the Octoberfest Homebrew Competition scheduled for Oct. 11-12. “The homebrew competition came about so people would have another good reason to come to Val-dez,” Prather said. Home-brewers and Alaska brewer-ies can submit their brews to certified judges in order to find out who has the best ales, beers or spirits. For more information, visit www.valdezalaska.org/events.

WHERE TO STAY• Best Western Valdez

Harbor Inn: 100 Harbor Drive; 835-3434; standard rooms start at $169

• Totem Inn: 144 East Egan Drive; 835-4443; stan-dard rooms start at $159

• Eagle’s Rest RV Park and Cabins: 139 East Pio-neer Drive; 835-2373; RV sites start at $27 per night; cabins start at $135 per night

Valdez: the harbor gateway to Alaska

News-Miner file photos

Before the Alaska Highway punched through Canada and into Interior Alaska in the 1940s, the harbor town of Valdez was the gateway to Alaska.

Hotel Chitina

Gilpatrick's

Historic hotel Full Service restaurant & BAR

All rooms with private bath

The Gateway To Wrangell - St. Elias Nat'l Park

www.hotelchitina.com • [email protected]

12411326-5-1 1-13VG

33 Edgerton Hwy, Chitina AK 99566

Hotel (907) 823-2244

Winter (907) 835-5542


18409487-5-11-13VG

www.sharktoothcharters.com [email protected]

Valdez Halibut Charter with Mike McDaneld aboard the Dawn Treader

(907)351-8853 or

Welcome!

Glen & Sharron Mills

Free Wi fi

or Email: [email protected]

“Feel at home in Valdez” “Feel at home in Valdez”

For Reservations Call: P.O. Box 184 113 Galena Dr. Valdez, AK 99686

1-800-478-2791 or (907) 835-2791

Fax (907) 835-5406

12411325-5-11-13VG

www.valdezdowntowninn.com


If you discount the 1989 Exxon oil spill, Valdez is famous for two things: spec-tacular scenery and big fish.

The oil that soiled the beaches along Prince William Sound has been cleaned up, and the scenery and fishing remains as spectacular as ever.

Located 360 miles south of Fairbanks at the start of the Richardson Highway, Valdez is situated on the shore of Prince William Sound with the snow-covered Chugach Mountains serving as a picturesque back-drop. The city has earned the nickname “Little Switzerland” for good and obvious reasons.

The Chugach Mountains are the most heavily glaciated mountains in the Northwest and the coast of Prince William Sound provides unparalleled viewing of tidewater glaciers such as the Columbia and Shoup, both of which are popu-

lar destinations for tourists.There are several tour oper-

ators in Valdez who offer half-day and full-day glacier tours by boat, kayak or helicopter, as well as extended guided or unguided kayak tours of Prince William Sound. Along the way, chances are good you will see whales, sea otters, seals, puf-fins, sea lions, bald eagles and more.

Another reason to visit Val-dez is the fishing. The port city is famous for its halibut, silver salmon and pink salmon fish-ing. Valdez hosts halibut and silver salmon derbies each year, with the angler who catches the biggest fish in each derby netting a check for $15,000.

There are several charter boat operators in Valdez who offer their services to anglers hoping to land a derby winner or just enjoy a day of fishing on the Sound.

Last year, the winning hali-but weighed in at 264 pounds while a 17.88-pound silver salmon took top honors in the silver salmon derby. The win-ners in both derbies often top 300 pounds and 20 pounds, respectively. The city also holds a one-day women’s-only silver salmon derby, as well as a one-day Kids Pink Salmon Derby.

Some companies offer a mix of all of the above — kayaking, fishing and sightseeing — in one trip, so it’s important to know what you are looking for when booking a tour.

There are also companies that offer guided raft trips through Keystone Canyon,

where you will be treated to incredible, up-close views of towering waterfalls.

Be sure to sample Valdez’s rich history by visiting one or all three of the local museums in town.

For more information on Valdez, go the Valdez Conven-tion and Visitors Bureau at www.valdezalaska.org.

VALDEZ FISH DERBIES

Halibut Derby: May 19 to Sept. 1

Silver Salmon Derby: July 20 to Sept. 1

Kid’s Pink Salmon Der-by: July 20

Women’s Silver Salmon Derby: Aug. 10

Online: Valdez Convention and Visitors Bureau, www.valdezalaska.org

From fish to glaciers, Valdez has it

... chances are good you will see whales, sea otters, seals, puffins, sea lions bald eagles and more.


Documents

2013 Visitors Guide