The Steese Highway

After a three-hour fix to replace the air bags in the truck (at the wonderful Bulletproof Trailers), we spent the night camping at Fairbank's Chitna State Park.  Truthfully, we were concerned.  The park sits right below the landing runway of the Fairbanks airport.  Thankfully, air traffic stopped around ten in the evening.  We were on the road early the next morning, however, when planes began landing again around six.

After a few reprovisioning stops, we traveled up the Elliot Highway to take the Steese Highway to Circle.  The Steese was a new road for us.  It was an easy drive, over a third paved, with the gravel roads that were well maintained.  We traveled 161 miles from Fairbanks to the town of Circle, which rests on the Yukon River (about 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle).

The drive took us through boreal forests, some recently burned.  In spite of the barren landscape caused by the fires, it was strikingly beautiful to see the charred remains of the forest drenched in fireweed.

Steese Highway, Alaska

While the town of Circle was built in the 1890s to service the gold industry, the population of Circle appears now to be largely First Nation peoples.  We met a very personable man named Gary who welcomed us to the community and told us a little about the town and invited us to partake of the hot coffee at the local restaurant.  Children played on swings.  A local church was holding Vacation Bible School, and we could hear the children singing.

Circle, Alaska

Yukon River near Circle, Alaska

With no campgrounds other than the boat launch on the Yukon River, we opted to drive back to Cripple Creek Campground, about two thirds of the way back down the highway.  After a short hike up Eagle Summit, we were ready to settle in for the evening.

Eagle Summit on the Steese Highway

The campground was nice but a bit buggy.  We were happy, however, to sit under out new bug screen tent and watch the mosquitoes hovering around, trying to get in for a tasty morsel.  It's always nice when you can outfox a mosquito!

Tomorrow, it's on to the Dalton Highway... aka The Haul Road!