DENALI TO FAIRBANKS

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August 1, 2011 DENALI TO FAIRBANKS
Our drive today was relatively short so we took our time to enjoy a leisurely drive into Fairbanks where we will be for the next 5 nights. Our first stop was in the small town of Nenana located at the confluence of the Nenana and Tenana Rivers. Many of the names in this area end with “na” which means “river” in the native language. Nenana boomed during the early 1920s as a construction base for the Alaskan railroad. On July 15, 1923, President Warren G. Harding drove the golden spike at Nenana signifying the completion of the railroad. Today Nenana is the hub of the tugboat/barge shipping industry that traverses the interior rivers providing goods to the many villages. Nenana is best known for the Nenana Ice Classic, an annual event that provides cash prizes to the lucky person who guesses the exact minute of the ice breakup on the Tanana River. The Ice Classic Festival begins the last week-end of February with the Tripod raising and ends at breakup time in April or May. When the surging ice on the Tanana River dislodges the tripod, a line attached to the tripod trips a clock located in a tower atop the Ice Classic office, thus recording the official breakup time. Further along the highway we were able to stop at pull-outs to take in the expansive views over the extensive valley of bogs, small lakes and creeks, to the distant Alaskan mountain ranges.

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