Destination Circle: Day 15

May 28, 2016

Shucks.....I finally researched Circle and how exactly to get there.  It is 160 miles northeast of Fairbanks with a population of 110, and it was my destination for the past two weeks. BUT, I decided not to go BECAUSE it would mean driving 160 miles of gravel road (only the first 80 are paved), and there are few services along the way if I got a flat tire which was a good possibility. I wanted to go to Circle to see the Yukon River, a river that for me is the epitome of wild and romantic Alaska and which was a prominent feature in nearly all the tales of Alaska I have read. I've always been drawn to rivers. However, there was a good chance I would inconvenience any unwary fellow traveler who would find me stranded by the side of the road with a vehicle malfunction. I really thought this road was paved all the way as there was no indication on the most of the maps that it wasn't. And after being on gravel for 40 miles yesterday, I got that out of my system.

I was mildly disappointed but so it goes....so it goes when one doesn't plan in advance very much.

Campground in Fairbanks where I did not stay

The sun was again shining this morning, and I found a beautiful campground (that I wished I had known about as I would have stayed there last night) on the banks of the Chena River which runs through Fairbanks. I sat by the river in the sun and sweet-smelling air, then and for breakfast ate a delicious Crab Louis salad from the deli in a Safeway but then discovered it tasted so good because it had 60% MDR of sodium...black olives, imitation crab meat, hard-boiled egg, greens, grape tomatoes and a dressing.

The drive to Denali National Park was a couple of hours and 100 miles south. I had tried to figure out where to stay the night and wanted to camp in the park. It being a holiday weekend and without reserving a campsite in advance, nothing was available for tonight, so I finally found a place called Denali Cabins on the Internet near the park. Except I couldn't find it in real-time. Siri directed me to an address on the highway with no dwelling in sight north of the park entrance. I tried again and got various directions both north and south of my current position. I finally found Grizzly Denali Campground or some name like that, pulled in, asked, and they told me Denali Cabins were "two miles south."

Wild Rose and Aspen at the campground in Fairbanks

Denali Cabins at 11 p.m.

They were wonderful. Even though my online reservation hadn't made it through, I showed the two seasonal workers at the desk (two college-age guys, one from Wisconsin and the other from California) the confirmation on my phone. They got the manager and she straightened it all out. I had a cabin to myself in this place that was fragrant with scent of pines. I lounged in the sunshine, reading, for several hours on the deck of what I thought was a bar (Lounge and Learn) until I went in search of a glass of wine late afternoon and discovered it was a cozy room with books and couches and puzzles, etc., and not a bar at all. But there WAS a restaurant next door where I got a light dinner. It was (to me) idyllic. More folks arrived throughout the evening, some by a free shuttle that went back and forth from the park. The whole place had an understated  north woods ambiance, in contrast to the hype and busyness of Park Village, a mile north of the park, which had the usual tourist commotion of gift shops and eateries and high-end lodging choices. The night was utterly quiet and I slept with the window open.