After some pre-plannings we decided to check one of the items from our bucket list - Northern Lights. We checked some of the blogs and figured that March is considered to be one of the best months for the lights, so here we go..
Boarded flight from Chicago to Seattle and then from Seattle to Anchorage. We reached Anchorage at 1 AM. No gate was available for our flight so we had to wait for 1 additional hour. This was a very tough hour to pass as flight was taking our precious time which would have been spent on chasing the lights :(
At around 2 AM we took the rental from the airport and started Our first Aurora chasing. We reached Glenn Alps at 2:30 AM and to our sheer luck - there it was - The Aurora. It was a very amazing first experience with the lights, snow covered mountains with green lighted sky. After spending about an hour there, we headed back to the city.
Anchorage to Turnagain Arm Drive and Portage Lake. We started at 8:30 AM - first stop was Walmart to buy the essentials for the whole trip and after seeing some huge ravens there, we started the scenic drive. Turnagain Arm - we stopped at Potter Marsh and Beluga Point Lookout for amazing views and then we went to Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We saw grizzly bear, wood bison, musk ox, reindeer, moose, porcupine, Elk, Lynx, deer and many more Alaskan wildlife animals. After this stop we went to Portage Lake. It was frozen lake with surroundings of beautiful snow covered mountains. We spotted a small piece of glacier ice stuck on the lake. After spending some time there, we headed back to Anchorage and checked into our hotel.
At around 1 AM we headed for Point Woronzof to see some Aurora but it was cloudy and we weren't able to see the lights. After waiting for an hour, we went back to our hotel. In the morning after having breakfast we checkout and started our journey towards Palmer at 10:00 AM. We started with Arctic Valley road Scenic Drive to see the views of Anchorage & Cook Inlet. After this we headed for some trails to see frozen falls. We did South Fork Falls and Thunderbird Falls trails. To see mountain views during sunset we went for Lazy mountain trail which is about 5.6 miles back and forth. We did the steep side up and slid down 75% of the trail. It felt like a crazy mountain trail during sliding down but was fun. After this we headed for Wasilla for the night. We stayed at an Alaskan Cabin which was beautiful and we enjoyed it.
We woke up at 1:30 AM in hope of seeing some Aurora but we were unlucky again (it was partially cloudy and low KP - the importance of which we know now :-) ). After waiting for 30 minutes we went back to our cabin. We checked out at 11 AM and headed towards Willow, AK to do some mountain trails. We reached Hatcher Pass via fishhook but the roads to trails were closed due to snow. So, instead of trails we decided to have some fun in snow. It was a 360 degree view of snow covered mountains and we spent 2 hours there and then headed towards Denali National Park.
It was 4 hour drive from Willow. We stopped at Denali View South and Denali View North for great views of Denali peaks. For around 200 miles there were no gas station. It's highly recommended to full the tank before starting for Denali. We reached Denali at 5:00 PM. During our visit the park was open till 11.5 miles.. we drove through the park with some stops for great views. After this we headed towards Fairbanks.
We directly went to Cleary Summit in hope of seeing some Aurora but it was cloudy and we were unlucky this time as well. In the morning we went to Morris Thompson visitor center to see the Alaskan cultural exhibits and then to see the Moose Antler Arch, it's a beautiful arch that includes more than 100 moose and caribou antlers from all over Alaska; nearby is the Lend Lease Monument which is Alaska Siberia WWII memorial. After this we went to Alaska Pipeline Viewing Point which features above-ground pipe display of famous Trans-Alaska Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay and then we called the day off and headed towards hotel.
We got up at 12 AM in hope of seeing Aurora - we went to Creamer's field, Mushers Hall and UAF Overlook but were not able to see Aurora as it was very cloudy and snowing. And sadly, we head back to the hotel. Next morning, we went out to buy the Souvenir for the trip and after exploring few shops we finally bought it from Arctic Travelers Gift Shop. From there we went to see the Chena River Viewpoint and then had a walk around downtown before heading back to the hotel. It was a lazy chilling day.
It was snow for whole night so we decided not to go out for Aurora chasing and rest for the night. At this point, we had realized how lucky we were to see the Aurora on our very first day at Anchorage. For the day we had booked a tour for Dog Mushing, so it was MUSHING time !!! It was a FREEZING experience but we had fun. Temperature was -30C.
It was clear tonight and we started for Murphy Dome at 10:30 PM for Aurora viewing and it was our lucky day. We saw the Aurora for whole night till 3:00 AM after which our car got stuck in snow and we had to wait for 2 hours for the roadside assistance. We reached our hotel at 7:00 AM and called it for the day - decided to sleep for the whole day to get ready for aurora chasing for the next night :)
We started at 10:00 PM for Cleary Summit from Fairbanks and it was our super-duper lucky day. We saw dancing Aurora in night at around 1:30 AM. It was a magical experience for 2-3 minutes - whole sky was covered in Aurora lights, all different colors at the same time - red, blue, purple, green, pink. It was like a musical fountain of Aurora lights - who could resist to fall in love with that !!!
We headed back to the hotel around 4AM. After having a decent sleep, we went to see the Ice Sculptures at Tanana Valley Fairgrounds for 2021 World Ice Art Championships at 2 PM. Some of the sculptures were beyond terrific there. We also got a sledge and had fun on the ice-slides there. We returned back there during the evening as we wanted to see all those sculptures with lights in the night. And there, out of nowhere, around 8:30 PM we saw some more Aurora from there.
We went to Murphy Dome at 11:00 PM for seeing the Aurora one more time and this time as well Aurora Gods did not disappoint us. It was again a freezing night but seeing Aurora was relaxing and memorable experience. In the morning we headed back from Fairbanks to Anchorage as we had flight to catch at 5:00 PM from Anchorage. It was a long scenic drive with some stops for photos and rest. Our trip came to an end after boarding flight from Anchorage to Seattle and then from Seattle to Chicago.
All Photos are taken from iPhone 11.
Some Useful Tips:
1. Figure out the car on how to keep it running without any of the headlights or parking lights else it would bother the other tourists during northern lights photography.
2. Most of the rental Cars don't allow travelling to Dalton Highway, Denali Hwy, Steese Hwy, Elliot Hwy and similar unpaved routes. Pre-check with the company. Local rentals do provide cars for travelling on these roads and highways.
3. Freezing Temperature as low as -35C Make sure to layer yourself properly.
4. Most of the aurora viewing points are remote locations so prepare and plan yourself accordingly as help might not be available right away in case you get stuck somewhere.
