I took these pictures a few mile outside of Fairbanks. This is on Hwy 3 looking East:
About 50 miles south of Fairbanks is the little town of Nenana on the Nenana River. The town is somewhat famous for its annual ice classic, where they sell chances for you to guess the date and time that the ice breaks loose on the river in town. They put a floating tower on the ice and when it breaks through, that determines who is the winner. The winners last year split a pot of over $300,000. Anyway, here is the tower:
And here's the river:
About 125 miles southwest of Fairbanks is Denali National Park, home of a bunch of high mountain peaks, including Denali (once known as Mount McKinley). Denali is the highest peak in North America, and actually has two summits. The south summit is 20,320 feet elevation, and the north summit is only 19,470 feet elevation. I first spotted Denali about 50 miles away when it appeared in the middle of the road ahead of me:
I got all the way to the Visitor's Center and didn't see it again. Nor did I see it until I got about 50 miles south of the Park entrance. Here are a few shots...it is spectacular:
You can see the two peaks. The South Peak (the higher of the two) is on the left and the North Peak is to its right.
Here's a little closer shot:
This is Denali looking at the mountain from the south:
Just so you don't thing the ol' girl is the only show in town, here are a few other random pics I took along the way today:
A pretty spectacular show today on the way to Anchorage.
I plan to be in Anchorage for about a week, so I'll start the local sight-seeing tomorrow. Been a wonderful trip so far and the weather certainly has been great!
Miles today: 390
Total: 6,289
