Alaska in Winter
In March, FeFe and I took a long-awaited trip to Alaska to see the northern lights for the first time! We spent five days in Fairbanks and five days in Anchorage. It was so, so cold - highs during the days of 4F and lows in -14F - but it was worth every layer of clothing we wrapped ourselves in!
The Northern Lights
When we landed in Fairbanks, we realized the show had already started, so we grabbed our luggage and booked it to Chena Lakes for aurora viewing. It was surreal! Gazing upwards, I felt like I could see every individual charged particle twinkling in and out of existence in a rolling curtain of green light.
Every single night during our stay in Fairbanks, we left our warm hotel around midnight chasing aurora sightings. We were fortunate to see it on day 1! We got a very brief sighting at the top of Murphy Dome on our second day too, but we never saw a peep after that. We made the mistake of trusting aurora forecasts too much and slept through an incredible show on day three because solar storm arrived 12 hours early!
A faint aurora seen streaming over Murphy Dome’s telescopes. The frigid wind blowing at over 30mph made it impossible to stay out for long.
Castner Glacier Ice Cave
Apart from the aurora, this is likely the next best natural formation to see near Fairbanks! It was a 2 hour drive from Fairbanks, and in this winter, over 50 miles of the road was completely frozen over - drive with care! The cave looks like it was built in the land of Frozen. It’s large but not very deep, and yet we spent over an hour taking photos. We realized that people come in waves, so after twenty minutes or so, we had the entire cave nearly all to ourselves!
Alaska Railroad Aurora Winter Train
It took a lot of convincing for me to agree to take a train from Fairbanks to Anchorage instead of plane. The train ride took 12 hours, and historically I do not like trains. But this train ride really changed my mind! We passed through hundreds of miles of beautiful winter Alaska landscapes, and everyone was constantly on the hunt for wildlife. We saw a bunch of moose, but what was more beautiful were the meandering animal tracks at the bottom of the valleys with no animals in sight, a reminder of the untouched wilderness. Compared to planes, it was so much more comfortable, with dining cars serving warm food throughout the trip.
Matanuska Glacier
Matanuska Glacier is a two hour drive west from Anchorage. It is one of the only glaciers that ordinary tourists can drive to and walk on. Tours require bookings in advance, as guides need to keep us on predetermined safe paths to avoid falling into crevasses, We got up and close with glacial ice, which is an eerie shade of blue, and I even got to take a sip of water from melted glacial ice!
Flightseeing tour of Mt. Denali
Mt. Denali (formerly named Mt. McKinley) is the tallest mountain in North America, climbing above 24,000 ft. Denali National Park is a vast area of wilderness, and while it’s possible to take a bus tour through 90 miles of dirt roads in the summer, during winter, driving is really not an option. Our only option was to take a flightseeing tour, which got us up and close with this magnificent mountain range. Looking out the windows, I felt like a documentary was unfolding before my very eyes. It was a beautifully clear day, so we got a very close and clear view of Denali’s summit, which is often obscured by clouds. To cap it off, we landed on a glacier in the middle of the mountains and got 15 minutes to take photos outside. The flightseeing tour was rather expensive but 100% worthwhile.
Resurrection Bay Tour
Our final stop was a boat tour of Resurrection Bay, leaving from the port city of Seward. We had hoped to visit Kenai Fjords National Park, but no boat tours actually leave the bay during the winter due to the rough seas. This boat tour was all about seeing wildlife, mountain ranges, rustic cabins, and glaciers. We got amazing views of sea otters, sea lions, bald eagles, mountain goats, and at the end of the tour, a pack of porpoises came to play! The entire trip lasted about 4 hours, which was just fine - despite having taken Dramamine, I’m not sure I could have lasted much longer than that :)
Those were the highlights! I would definitely come back again to chase the auroras, the sea otters, and the glacier-capped mountains! See a collection of the best photos here.
