Fairwell to Fairbanks

We are just about to the end of our visit in Fairbanks, Alaska. It’s amazing how quickly these six weeks flew by! Our time at Creamer’s Field as volunteer Refuge Hosts was a very positive experience; we got to know so much more about the people, the area, and the wildlife than we would have otherwise. Being here for six weeks gave us enough time to explore the area on our non-working days, and we were able to do almost everything on our list.

We were lucky enough to be here before the Fairbanks “green-up” which is when everything turns from winter brown to lush green. When we arrived in mid-May, all the hills were brown, and there were no leaves on the trees. In a matter of two weeks, everything was green, and you would never have known it was the same place. I feel fortunate to have witnessed that transformation.

We were also lucky to be here for Solstice, which is a very big event in Fairbanks. There were weekend long festivities, culminating in a Midnight Sun Run (10K) at 10:00 p.m. June 21st. It was a fun run, with lots of people in costume, street parties along the route, and the sun up and shining the entire time! I thought I would have a hard time running this time of day, usually I am going to sleep about that time, but to my amazement, I ran it a couple minutes faster than my previous best!

Wednesday June 25 is departure day. As always, we leave here with mixed feelings – ready to move on to our next adventure, but sad to leave behind new friends and somewhere we called home, no matter how briefly. But so it goes when you live life on the road.

Next stop: Denali National Park!

North Pole, Alaska

Fifteen miles from Fairbanks is the town of North Pole (population ~ 1700), “Where the Spirit of Christmas Lives Year Round”. (Despite the name, the city is about 1700 miles south of the Earth’s geographic North Pole.) The town has really capitalized on the Holiday theme, with streets named Claus Lane, St. Nicholas Drive, Snowman Lane, and Kris Kringle Drive. Street lights in the city are decorated in a candy cane motif, and many local businesses have similar decorations. The city's fire trucks and ambulances are all red, while the police cars are all green. Prior to Christmas each year, the USPS post office in North Pole receives hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa Claus, and thousands more from people wanting the town's postmark on their holiday greeting cards to their families. It advertises the zip code 99705 as the ZIP code of Santa.

No visit to North Pole would be complete without a stop at the world famous Santa Claus House. Santa and Mrs. Claus are year round residents here, and one can visit with them every day. In addition to the usual tourist oriented merchandise you would expect to see in a place like this, there is a section of the house where many of the thousands of letters sent to Santa are posted on the walls. To me, seeing these letters was the most worthwhile part of the visit. Reading what children from all over the world wrote to Santa was very poignant. Volunteers from the local senior center as well as the junior high and high schools attempt to answer as many letters as possible each year, but of course, an impossible task to respond to all of them. I’ve included a picture of the “wall of letters” – if you can enlarge it enough, you will be able to read some of the letters, too.

Arctic Circle (Coldfoot)

Having come this far north, we decided we could not leave the area without crossing the line into the Arctic Circle, which is 200 miles North of Fairbanks. Since that would be a bit long for a one-day round-trip drive, we decided we would find the town nearest the Arctic Circle and stay overnight. That town turned out to be Coldfoot (population 13), which is 60 miles further north. Another 238 miles further north is Deadhorse, Alaska, where the Dalton Highway ends at the Arctic Ocean, but we didn’t want to go quite that far!

We didn’t leave in much of hurry to get there, figuring 260 miles would be about 5 hours, and there wouldn’t be much to do once we got to Coldfoot anyway, as it is basically a way station for travelers going further north. What we didn’t count on was the condition of the roads. The Dalton Highway which takes you to Coldfoot and beyond is mostly unpaved. That can mean anything from hardpan dirt road, to muddy road (if it’s been raining), to gravel road with lots of ruts. Even the paved portions were nothing to brag about, so let’s just say, it was slow going. Adding to that, we made several stops along the way, so even though we left at 10:00, we didn’t arrive until after 5:00.

Our first stop was the Alyeska Pipe Line visitor center where we learned how the pipeline came about, how it was constructed, and how long it is (800 miles). We saw the pipeline alongside the highway for most of our journey to Coldfoot. The lodge where we stayed in Coldfoot was actually converted housing for pipe line workers back in the 1970’s. It is still sort of set up bunk style with single beds in the rooms, and many without private bathrooms or showers. We were fortunate enough to get a room with both, although the day we went wasn’t that busy. There is only one place to eat in Coldfoot, which is part of the lodge. It is buffet style until 9:00 to accommodate all the tour buses that come through, so we ate buffet, and it was actually pretty good! After dinner we toured the visitor center, and that was about it for our stay. But, hey, when in our lives again will we be able to set foot inside the Arctic Circle? It’s too bad we won’t be there on June 21 when the sun is up for 24 hours, without any dusk. (In Fairbanks there will be just over 2 hours of dusk on that day, and we will be celebrating at The Midnight Sun festival downtown – including a 10K for me that starts at 10:00 p.m.!)

Chena Hot Springs

Chena Hot Springs Resort is about 60 miles from Fairbanks, and one of the “local” attractions recommended for visitors. It was cold the day we decided to visit, which made the prospects of emerging myself into a steaming hot bath of natural spring water that much more inviting. The drive was absolutely beautiful, with the highway winding through the Chena River Recreation Area, and we saw trumpet swans and a moose along the way. Once we arrived, we discovered that the resort was very rustic, as many places in Alaska seem to be. A natural hot spring has been channeled into an outdoor pool with a sand bottom and big rocks all around the sides. The water was about 106 degrees, and smelled strongly of sulfur. But since it was only 40 degrees at the Hot Springs that day, it felt very good! The busiest time at the resort is in the winter when the Northern Lights are easily seen. They get a lot of Japanese tourists who fly in just to view the Northern Lights in the Hot Springs setting. We won’t see the Northern Lights over the summer since it never gets dark enough, but we enjoyed the water just the same.

Creamer's Refuge

Dan and I have been in Fairbanks, on the Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, just over three weeks now. When we decided to come to Alaska for Summer 2008, our goal was to try to find a temporary volunteer position somewhere. We knew it would be very expensive to get here, and to stay here (even before fuel prices were this crazy!), and we thought we could help offset these costs by working or volunteering somewhere. Dan did some exploration and found a position for Refuge Host at Creamer’s. We applied and were hired for a six-week position, and that is how we ended up here. Our duties consists of working Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, 10:00-5:00, overseeing the Visitor’s Center and light maintenance on the grounds. In exchange for that, we get a place to park our 5th wheel, electricity and water.

Below is some information from the Creamer’s website (www.creamersfield.org) explaining how a Dairy owned by a family named Creamer became a Wildlife Refuge. I’ve also attached some pictures of the grounds.

“During the gold rush at the turn of the century, Belle and Charles Hinckley brought three cows and some horses from Nome, Alaska, by steamboat and sternwheeler to the small outpost of Fairbanks to operate a dairy. They paid for their passage by selling milk to other passengers. On the last leg of the journey, they met and became friends with the Creamer's, another pioneer family on their way to Fairbanks. In 1928 the Creamers purchased the dairy from the Hinckley's and continued to develop, enlarge, and operate it until 1966. It was the largest and most successful dairy in Interior Alaska. As the dairy grew over the years, migratory waterfowl congregated at Creamer's Field in increasing numbers. The grain and large open fields provided prime habitat. When the dairy went up for sale in 1966, local residents met to plan a way to purchase the property. Along with money raised by the community, the State legislature provided funds (25%) to match with the federal government's Pittman-Robertson funds (75%) to purchase the 250 acre farm. Management was given to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G). In 1970 an adjacent 1500 acres of state land was added and the entire parcel designated "Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge" in 1979.

At Creamer's Refuge, a wide variety of different habitats provide homes for a diversity of animals. But the refuge plays a special role in the lives of migratory birds. Even though some birds such as Canada geese, pintails and golden plovers stay for only a short time, they depend on Creamer's Refuge to feed and rest each spring and fall. Other birds such as Sandhill cranes, Shovelers, and mallards may remain the whole summer. Visitors enjoy excellent bird watching spring through fall. Creamer's Refuge also appeals to other types of wildlife as well. Visitors frequently spot moose meandering through the forest, snowshoe hares nibbling on willows, chattering squirrels or a red fox pouncing on voles at field's edge.”