Sunday to Monday, August 7-8: Fairbanks to Circle



Sunday 

9:00 leave Denali Highway. Raining. 


9:45 Find Betsy along the paved road and connect for the ride to Fairbanks. 

12:30. Costco. Gas up and buy some supplies. Leave for Cripple Creek Campground on the way to Circle Alaska, 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle on the Yukon River. 

3:00 Arrive at campground and get situated. Walk the trail, talk with a family from Wasilla, walk some more. Make a campfire and have dinner. Early to bed. 


Monday

9:00 leave for Central and Circle. Astounded at the number of people camping with ATVs and side-by-sides, some with gun cases integrated, as the hunt begins here. The caribou don’t stand a chance if they’re spotted. We, however, don’t spot anything larger than, maybe, a fox. 

10:45 We pass through Central. There’s a museum that open at noon. We’ll be back. 

11:30. Circle, Alaska is a small village on the edge of the mighty Yukon River on Tribal land. The sign at the river says “Hunters No Parking” written in black spray paint along the river boat launch area. We’re not hunters, so we stay for a bit and watch the river through the rain. 

12:45. Tour the Central museum. Amazing for a small village in the middle of nowhere. Clearly proud of the 26,000 ounces of gold mined nearby. We head v out to the hot springs. Now especially interesting, but there are locals gathering blueberries. We stop. Swat mosquitoes and gather blueberries in my hat. Fun, but brutal. 


Armed for bear with our bug zappers!

Circle, Alaska. Another sign made with spray paint said ‘Hunters No Parking”
We weren’t hunting. 

The Yukon River. 

Church, converted to Evangelical Radio Repeater for tribal worshipers. 

Museum in Central. 




4:00 back at the campground. Sorry, but it’s a long way between highlights in Alaska! Dinner and then bed. 

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