Fairbanks is by far the most populated area of Interior Alaska so it made a great base for launching day trips. Our first adventure led southwest on the Parks Highway.
I assumed Denali National Park and Preserve and the Denali State Park influenced the highway’s name. However, it actually referred to George Parks, an Alaska territorial governor from a century ago. Even so, the name seemed appropriate and it led to where I wanted to go.
The itinerary was pretty basic. Our route went to the outskirts of Anderson where I would turn around. Then we would have lunch in Nenana and drive back to Fairbanks. It wouldn’t take much time or effort, only about three hours round-trip with a couple of stops to stretch our legs and get something to eat.
Borough Counting
What do you call County Counting in Alaska? Borough Counting!
I planned to capture two boroughs on this excursion, well, maybe one if I’m being completely accurate. For sure, we entered Denali Borough. The other one was the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area of the Unorganized Borough. By convention, an Alaskan census area generally qualifies as a “county equivalent” and it was good enough for me. So that explains the discrepancy.
We set out from Fairbanks on our little adventure on a lovely morning with excellent road conditions. Higher elevations just west of town brought fog and a little unmelted snow from the day before but without any problems. It created some additional beauty and everything went fine.
Turnaround
We stopped at a pullout just north of Anderson. There was no sense going any further because it marked the first easy turn around in Denali Borough after exiting the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. But why wouldn’t I want to continue to Denali like any normal person? Well, there was actually a thought process.
Essentially the weather didn’t cooperate. There was a low cloud ceiling even if it was a decent day otherwise. Views of cloud-shrouded mountains from a closer vantage point wouldn’t make much difference. I got enough of Denali hidden by clouds when I visited Talkeetna several years ago. Also, it would double the driving distance for little discernible reward. So I collected my boroughs and shuffled back towards Fairbanks.
Alaska provides rest stops with primitive toilet facilities fairly regularly along its highways. Unfortunately they also seemed to lock them up during the off-season so they didn’t offer us much respite. Thank goodness we were close to Nenana.
Nenana
We backtracked about 20 miles to Nenana, arriving as planned around lunchtime. Nenana isn’t a big place but it sits conveniently along Parks Highway and it’s the only thing around for miles.
It’s an Athabascan community at the confluence of the Nenana and Tanana Rivers with a long pedigree, but with fewer than 400 residents today. It feels remote although that’s something of an illusion. Nenana is firmly connected to the highway and a railroad so it’s not at all isolated like much of Interior Alaska. Fairbanks is barely an hour away by car and Anchorage is accessible too. In fact, anyone driving between Fairbanks and Anchorage is probably going to drive past Nenana.
Railroad Museum
Nenana has been accessible for a long time too — the Alaska Railroad arrived here a century ago. The town depot sits along a 600 mile primary line stretching from Seward to Fairbanks. A railroad bridge first crossing the Tanana River here in 1923 and it was considered a technological marvel at the time. It still remains one of the longest simple truss bridges in the world.
The old depot now serves as a railroad museum. I’ve been known to enjoy a railroad museum so I’m sure I would have appreciated it. Unfortunately, and mentioning once again a recurring theme of our October adventure, it was closed for the season. But I still appreciated the weathered exterior and took some photos.
Nenana Ice Classic
It’s not completely quiet during the off-season but we arrived months too early for the big event: the Nenana Ice Classic. In an activity reminiscent of watching paint dry, the people of Nenana wait for the ice to break-up on the Tanana River as winter transitions into spring. Historically it signaled that boats would soon navigate upriver and replenish the town’s supplies. Obviously that’s not a concern today.
However, people back in the early 20th Century started placing bets on the time and date because there wasn’t much else going on, and it became really popular. They placed a tripod on the frozen river and attached it to a clock. Melting, shifting ice moved the tripod and stopped the clock. The tradition continues as it has since 1917 and now a lucky guesser can win a couple hundred thousand dollars.
Roughwoods Inn
We hoped to stop at the Roughwoods Inn for lunch because it has a small brewery. However, sadly, I’m unable add this to my brewery list because it wasn’t open. The hours of operation seem to be a suggestion much of the year and its social media presence is ambiguous and ephemeral at best. I didn’t have much confidence going in so I wasn’t too disappointed when I arrived and saw it was closed for the day. Maybe its more predictable in the summer.
Anyway, that didn’t leave a lot of dining options in Nenana either. In fact, the only alternative seemed to be a Subway sandwich shop that shared a mini-strip mall with the Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Court System, out on the edge of town beside Parks Highway. Theoretically I guess it was the local courthouse, although it looked weird within the strip mall aesthetic.
Frankly I’ve never been so happy to see a Subway restaurant in my life even if it was otherwise unremarkable. So we ate lunch and headed back to Fairbanks. But I still wish I had a chance to try a Roughwoods beer.
Scenic Drive
Sometimes the clouds lifted enough to see the mountains briefly. There were several places with pullouts and I enjoyed the view, although not enough to second-guess my decision to turn around. We returned to Fairbanks and called it a successful day.
Articles in the Interior Alaska Series
- Golden Heart
- Downtown Fairbanks
- Greater Fairbanks
- Parks Highway
- Coldfoot
- Dalton Highway
- Richardson Highway & More
- Memorable Signs
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr.
Leave a Reply