Chena Hot Springs

The next day we're back on the road. We stop for coffee at the Salcha Knotty Shop roadhouse which is famous for its sculptures made out of wood burls.

Knotty Shop roadhouse

Attack of the monster mosquito!

It seems like ever roadhouse and small town has some gimmick to draw travelers in and leave some extra cash behind. One of the most unusual is the town "North Pole" just south of Fairbanks. The whole town does Christmas in a big way all year round. We stop to mail some postcards at the post office so they can be stamped with the official Santa Claus postmark. Oddly the only stamps they had were those of Aloha shirts.

Entering North Pole

Even the heavy equipment operator gets into the act

Yes - we make it to Fairbanks. We stock up and run a few errands and then head up Chena Hot Springs Road for some R&R. These interior regions of Alaska are famous (or infamous) for cold winters (as in -50 F or more below 0)... but summers are more pleasant with more sunshine and warmer weather than the coastal regions of Alaska.

Entering Fairbanks

Blue sky and fluffy white clouds on Hot Springs Road

We pass many signs warning us of "trail crossing" for the first several miles outside of Fairbanks.  Many dog mushers who compete in the Iditarod live in this area and train their dogs on the trails year round. In about an hour's drive through moose habitat (we spot a number of them in ponds), we arrive at Chena Hot Springs which marks the end of the road.

Entrance to Chena Hot Springs

Registration

Our campsite next to Monument Creek

After getting settled we check out the grounds of the extensive resort area. The general ambiance is of relaxed upscale Alaskan outback.

A cabin to rent next to the massage cabin

Moose antlers

Rental cabin

Bright flowers and old machinery dominate the landscaping.

Old snowplow

Ancient pick up truck

First snowmobile

Ice skating pond for winter guests

summer veggie garden for restaurant

where they grow BIG cabbages.

One afternoon we take a hike along Monument Creek on the road the circles the outside of the resort.

Beaver dam on Monument Creek

pond with beaver hut... but no seems to be at home

Pond behind beaver hut

Curve in Monument Creek

We see signs of Moose along our hike, but don't see any in any likely places.

Moose droppings

Moose tracks

Then as we are just about to get back to camp, we spot a young female browsing along the landing strip.

She keeps a wary eye on us

Then decides to mosey on back into the bush

They offer free tours of their geothermal power plant and greenhouses, so we decide to check it out.

Geothermal tour

Solar collector experiment

Main low-temp geothermal power plant

We then tour the greenhouses, which are heated with the hot springs water during the winters to produce veggies all year around.

Entrance to main green house

They start all their plants from seed flats

including all the landscaping flowers

Hydroponic lettuces

tomatoes

strawberries

and even bananas... in Alaska????

All in all, we have a great time in Chena Hot Sprints and are even thinking about coming back some day, perhaps to see the Northern Lights for Peter's next birthday.

As an interesting side note, Chena Hot Springs does a good business during the winters for Aurora viewing, especially from Asian visitors. Apparently, it's believed by some to be a very auspicious event to "mate" (as an Alaska Parks ranger put delicately) under the aurora. In fact, the Chena Resort hotel has several rooms with skylights which go for premium prices during aurora activity. In Denali, Peter helped a Chinese visitor from Beijing, who spoke excellent English, with his rental RV. During the conversation, we asked him about conceiving a child under an aurora. He just laughed and said that yes it was a popular belief, but by his manner, he didn't seem to put much stock into it himself.

Main hot outside hot pool with cool water sprinkler

Hanging out in the main hot pool we met an amazing array of people from all different cultures:

• Alaskan Native Peoples
• Russians
• Mexicans
• Europeans
• and of course people from all over Canada and the US

 In Anchorage we met a UAF (University of Alaska Fairbanks) student who loves to come up to Chena during the winter. He likes to duck his head under the hot water and then have his hair freeze after he comes up for air. On second thought, maybe I really don't want to visit Chena during the winter.

Bye Chena Hot Springs - hope to be back