Alaska in Winter: Fairbanks, the Northern Lights and Dog Sledding

Arrive in Fairbanks

Fairbanks International Airport to your hotel in central Fairbanks

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Fairbanks
• Environ 12 min de route

Soir

In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group, hands out the arctic parka, insulated boots and mittens we lend you for the week, and checks that everything fits. The briefing covers how the aurora evenings work, how to dress for thirty below and why most mornings start late. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner in town. If the forecast is strong and the sky is clear tonight, your guide tells you where to look from near the hotel.

Compris

• Pick-up at Fairbanks International Airport (FAI)
• Fitting of your loaned arctic parka, boots and mittens
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Fairbanks by day, the first aurora night

Fairbanks: the Museum of the North, downtown and the pipeline, then a viewing lodge in the hills

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Fairbanks
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

As the late sun comes up we drive downtown to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center for an introduction to the Interior's Alaska Native peoples and to life through the winter, then sit down to lunch in town. Early in the afternoon, in the best of the low light, we stop at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline viewpoint north of town, where the pipe runs on raised supports across the snow.

Soir

Then it is back to the hotel to rest and eat dinner where you like, because tonight is a late one. At about 9:30 pm we drive up into the hills to a heated aurora viewing lodge, away from the city's light, and wait with hot drinks until about 2 am. Your guide watches the sky and the forecast and calls you out when the lights appear.

Compris

• University of Alaska Museum of the North
• Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center
• Sit-down lunch in Fairbanks
• Trans-Alaska Pipeline viewpoint
• First aurora evening at a heated viewing lodge in the hills outside Fairbanks, with hot drinks

Chena Hot Springs and the Aurora Ice Museum

Fairbanks to Chena Hot Springs on the Chena Hot Springs Road, and back late at night

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Fairbanks
• Environ 3 h de route

Soir

A slow breakfast after the late night, then we drive about 97 km east along the Chena Hot Springs Road, through spruce forest and the Chena River State Recreation Area, to the hot springs at the end of the road, about an hour and a half away. Lunch is at the resort. Afterwards we tour the Aurora Ice Museum, a building kept below freezing all year and filled with ice sculptures, ice chandeliers and an ice bar where drinks are served in glasses carved from ice (the drinks are extra). Then comes the soak: the outdoor rock lake is fed by the springs, and sitting in hot water at twenty below while your hair turns white with frost is the photo most people want. There is time to rest, walk the snowy grounds or stay in the water before dinner together at the resort. After dinner we stay on for the second aurora evening, about 95 km from the lights of Fairbanks, and drive back to town by about 1 am. Our driver rests during the day for the late run.

Compris

• Chena Hot Springs day entry and a soak in the outdoor rock lake
• Guided tour of the Aurora Ice Museum
• Lunch and dinner at Chena Hot Springs
• Second aurora evening at Chena Hot Springs, away from city light

Activités en option

• A drink from the ice bar at the Aurora Ice Museum

Dog sledding and a last aurora night

Fairbanks to a sled dog kennel outside town and back, then the viewing lodge

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Fairbanks
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

Another late start, timed to the light: near the December solstice the sun is up from about 11 am until before 3 pm, so we reach a working kennel outside Fairbanks around midday. The mushers introduce the dogs, mostly lean Alaskan huskies bred to run, and show how a team is harnessed, steered and stopped. Then you ride, sitting in the sled basket under a blanket while the musher drives the team along a forest trail of a few kilometres. If you choose the active option, you stand on the runners and drive a small team of your own on a short loop after a lesson. Back at the kennel there is time with the dogs and a hot lunch. The afternoon is free: rest, look for Alaska Native crafts downtown or, on February and March departures, walk among the ice sculptures of the World Ice Art Championships if the park is open.

Soir

At about 8:30 pm we head out for the third aurora evening at the viewing lodge, coming back by about 11 pm, earlier than before, because the train leaves at about 8:30 the next morning.

Compris

• Dog sled ride of a few kilometres at a working kennel outside Fairbanks, with an introduction from the mushers
• Hot lunch at the kennel
• Third aurora evening at the heated viewing lodge, with hot drinks

Activités en option

• World Ice Art Championships ice park (February and March, when open; entry extra)

The Aurora Winter Train to Anchorage

Fairbanks to Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad Aurora Winter Train, past Denali Park and Talkeetna

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Anchorage
• Environ 18 min de route

Matin

This is the one early morning of the trip. In winter the Alaska Railroad's Aurora Winter Train runs south from Fairbanks to Anchorage only on Sundays, leaving at about 8:30 am, and our small-group dates are set so that day 5 is a Sunday.

Soir

We leave the hotel at about 7:30 am with suitcases packed the night before. They ride in the baggage car, so keep a day bag with a warm layer. Then come about 12 hours and some 575 km rolling south: across the Tanana River flats at Nenana, through the Alaska Range past the Denali Park station, over the high bridge at Hurricane Gulch and down the Susitna valley past Talkeetna and Wasilla. On a clear day Denali shows above the valley, and moose often stand in the snow beside the track. Lunch in the dining car is included, and the long ride is a chance to sleep off the late nights. We reach Anchorage at about 8 pm, a driver takes you to your hotel, and dinner is free. On private dates, or if the railroad cancels for weather or changes its timetable, we fly instead, about an hour, and gain a free afternoon in Anchorage.

Compris

• The Alaska Railroad Aurora Winter Train from Fairbanks to Anchorage
• Lunch in the dining car
• Transfers to the Fairbanks depot and from the Anchorage depot to your hotel

Turnagain Arm and home

Anchorage along Turnagain Arm to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center at Portage, then Anchorage airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive south out of Anchorage on the Seward Highway, squeezed between the Chugach Mountains and the tidal flats of Turnagain Arm, which in winter fill with grinding ice floes. We stop at Beluga Point for the view down the arm and keep watch on the cliffs above the road, where Dall sheep are sometimes seen. At Portage, at the head of the arm, we spend about an hour at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, a sanctuary for orphaned and injured animals that cannot return to the wild: moose, musk oxen, wood bison, caribou and elk stand out in the snow, while the bears may be denned for the winter. Then we drive back along the arm to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, arriving at about 1:30 pm. Driving is about 165 km in all, a little over two hours. Book a flight leaving after about 3:30 pm; if you are staying on, we drop you downtown instead. Your guide sees you to the airport and checks your flight before saying goodbye.

Compris

• Beluga Point on Turnagain Arm
• Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, Portage
• Drop-off at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) or downtown Anchorage