Alaska's cities

Winter fun in Fairbanks

Northern lights, hot springs draw visitors north

Multiple major sprint and distance sled-dog races begin or end in Fairbanks as well. The Yukon Quest ends in Fairbanks next year, with dogs pulling into town after running 1,000 miles from Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory.

Racers in the Iron Dog travel twice as far. What organizers say is the world's longest snowmachine race begins in Fairbanks in early February, heading to Nome before ending in Wasilla.

Ski trails provide a lower-key way to travel. Frozen rivers make peaceful byways, and groomed and lighted trails crisscross the woods behind the University of Alaska Fairbanks. A spin on the trails can lead to the front door of the university's museum for an evening lecture.

A few buildings away, the Geophysical Institute offers tours of the state's volcano observatory. The institute's motto shows it lives up to the university's unique status as a space, land and sea grant institution: "Conducting research from the center of the earth to the center of the sun."

Getting outside Fairbanks

As roughly the center of the Interior, Fairbanks makes a great staging area for trips farther afield. Blissful relaxation in natural hot springs makes a worthwhile reason to go a little farther. Roughly an hour's drive out of town, Chena Hot Springs offers outdoor and indoor pools and hot tubs. About 140 miles beyond Fairbanks, eight miles off the Steese Highway from the town of Central, is Circle Hot Springs. At the end of the Eliott Highway is Manley Hot Springs.

The sites are interesting for their history as well as their comforts. The Alaska Science Forum relates that a pair of prospectors built a geothermally heated 60-room log hotel at Manley Hot Springs, along with barns for milk cows, hogs and poultry.

They also grew crops and in 1910 shipped 150 tons of potatoes down the Tanana and Yukon rivers to the Iditarod mining district. Mining declined in the area and a fire destroyed the three-story hotel, causing major setbacks to the resort's business. Today there is a roadhouse that rents rooms and a few small cabins.

Places to see, things to do

Turn-of-the-century prospectors reportedly gathered at Circle Hot Springs in winter when streams were too frozen to work. Athabaskans enjoyed the site long before. The hotel built in 1930 is closed this winter.

Chena Hot Springs is the most developed of the three. The resort offers massages, dining and activities from flightseeing to snowmachining to snowshoeing. It has several tubs and pools and a range of lodging. Visitors can choose from rooms with full or partial baths. Family suites and wheelchair-accessible rooms are also available. For that truly rustic experience, there are cabins with outhouses, staff said.