Monday June 25 Fairbanks

Went for a run this morning while Cindy walked. Nice pathway thru Tok that went for some 16 miles. Our campsite in Tok was the best so far. It was a private campground, but it felt like a state park with lots of room. All the campgrounds in Tok were not very busy.

Left Tok about 8:30, since we had a very easy drive to Fairbanks. Nice roads, that got to be bumpy in places, but no gravel parts. Weather today was clear and started out cool (60ish) and by the time we got to Fairbanks, it was around 76. Clear all day. On the drive we could see the Alaskan Mountain Range far off to the west. It has to be really clear to see them. Couldn't see Denali, but some of the other big ones were in view. Very impressive. Saw our first Moose crossing the road along the way.

Got into Fairbanks, which is the largest city in Alaska by far. About 291,000 people (we think). About 1/2 of the population of Alaska lives in Fairbanks. Our intent was to find a campground in Fairbanks to use as our basecamp and venture out north from there. There are a number of places that we are going to go which are north of Fairbanks. We are going to do this travelling in the Jeep.

We checked out a couple of places and settled on Rivers Edge Campground on the West side of Fairbanks. Nice place, but it is a bit crowded. Our site is next to the Chena River, which is a smallish river that has lots of kayaks and small boats passing by.

So far we have not been bothered too much by mosquitoes. The one site a couple of days ago along the road was the worse but even it was not that bad. Tonight we are along this river and sitting outside typing this up with no bugs. We prepared for the worse because of all the talk of mosquitoes up here. I keep expecting to find an area where we get smacked by them.

One thing to note is that since about Watson Lake in Canada, the daylight is almost 24 hours this time of year. In Fairbanks, sunset is around 1am and sunrise is around 3am. The twilight time between sunrise and sunset is still very light. It takes a bit of getting used to when trying to sleep as it is always light.

Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but we will come up with a plan. I will probably go for a run along the trail that goes past the campground first thing, and then head out.