Day 11: Rental car to Chena Hot Springs

July 22, 2015

Today I take a one day vacation from the bike tour to rent a car and visit Chena Hot Springs.

I picked up the rental car at the Fairbanks airport. It's only 2 miles from my hotel but I had to pedal 4 miles to get there because of obstructions such as the Chena river and two fence-lined roads that prohibit bicycles. I locked the bike at the airport's bike rack.

In the rental car I drove across Fairbanks to the Steese expressway and took it north a few miles then turned right on Chena Hot Springs road. The first 25 miles is populated with rural homes. The houses end as I enter the Chena River National Recreation Area.

North Fork Chena river, on the way to Chena Hot Springs.

After 56 miles the road ends at the entrance to Chena Hot Springs resort. The resort is quite large and famous. They have 120 guest rooms and a restaurant. But the main attraction is the hot springs. I found the hot spring entrance and paid $15 for a day pass.

The locker rooms exit to the indoor pool and hot tub area. These pools are chlorinated and children are allowed.

A long covered hallway leads from the indoor pools to the outdoor adults-only soaking pool. The outdoor pool is not chlorinated. It has a continuous flow of hot water. That's the kind of hot spring I prefer.

The outdoor un-chlorinated pool is for adults only.

Hot water flows into the outdoor pool from underground seeps along one side of the pool. That side of the pool is much hotter. Too hot during summer. Soakers mostly stayed in the cooler sections of the pool. The fountain in the middle allows some water to cool in the air. Guests often stood for a long time under the fountain, standing in 105F water while a shower of 90F water falls through the air.

All of the hot pools would be more appealing during cold weather than on a warm sunny 75F day. During winter the outdoor pool is surrounded by massive ice formations. It's dark most of the time, and people come to soak while watching the Northern Lights.

Chena Hot Springs is especially popular with young Asian couples during winter, but their main interest isn't the hot water. They believe that it's extremely good luck to conceive a child under the Northern Lights. I'm pretty sure they do that in their guest rooms, not in the hot pools.

The patio has an outdoor hot tub not shown.

Chena Hot Springs has very nice landscaping, both in the ground and in hanging flower baskets. I was especially impressed with the flowers growing alongside the outdoor pool. The hot water flows underground in that area, so the soil is geothermally heated.

Spectacular flowers behind the adult pool. At 65 degrees north latitude!

Chena Hot Springs also has geothermally heated greenhouses that grow many of the vegetables and fruits served at the restaurant. I didn't pay to have a greenhouse tour, but I could see very large and lush crops from the outside.

Adult pool again. Most of the hot water enters from underground on the left edge of the pool as shown. The left side is much hotter than the right side.

I had a morning soak in the outdoor pool, then went to have lunch at the restaurant. After lunch I had another short soak, but it was less appealing in the warm afternoon. So I left to explore the resort. I went into the activities center and learned that the only way to see the Ice Museum is in a guided tour. So I bought a $15 ticket for the 3 PM tour.

The Ice Museum is kept at 27F (-3C) and of course the temperature outside is much warmer. So they have a strict protocol for getting visitors in the museum. A group of 20 is let inside the air lock and given warm parkas. Then the inner door is opened to let the visitors into the museum. Visitors are not free to come and go. They must stay inside for the entire 45 minute tour.

The main attraction of the Ice Museum is the Aurora Ice Bar. Everything is made of ice except the fur seat covers. I chose not to get the complimentary Appletini at the bar.

The ice museum is full of ice sculptures made by the resident world-champion sculptors. Some of the sculptures are years old. The sculptures require occasional repairs because sublimation causes the ice to waste away over time.

This ice sculpture won a world championship.

An igloo in the Ice Museum has a full size and fully functional ice xylophone. That's interesting.

The ice museum also has 4 rental bedrooms in the back. They said they don't know why, but hardly anybody wants to pay to sleep on an ice bed in a 27F room with no plumbing or TV.

Ice bed in one of the 4 rental bedrooms. They said that they almost never rent rooms.

After 45 minutes in the Ice Museum it was nice to get outside in the warm sunshine. I was chilled enough to go back for one more short soak in the outdoor pool. Then I left the resort at 4:50 PM.

Granite Tors overlooking the North Fork Chena river.

The return trip to Fairbanks was uneventful. I stopped to look at the granite cliffs overlooking the North Fork Chena river. Back in Fairbanks I exited onto College Road to look for dinner and pulled into a Thai restaurant just as it started raining. The dinner was good, and it was interesting to see it rain heavily for 30 minutes while the sun shone brightly. Rain comes from overhead, but in Alaska the sun is never overhead.

After dinner I drove back to the airport to return the rental car, then biked back to Seven Gables Inn. I enjoy looking around the grounds. They have a huge number of bicycles and skis available for guests. The owners seem to be hoarders. Junk is piled up in every nook and cranny.

Huge collection of bikes for rent. Some good, some not.

The rare Softride tandem looks interesting.

Squash plants in the back yard garden of Seven Gables Inn.

Broccoli. Not sure what the other stuff is. Ground covered in black fabric to absorb heat and retain moisture.

Today was the warmest and sunniest day of the tour so far, high of 78F (26C). Kind of a shame to not be biking today, and to not get any views of the Alaska Range. That's the luck of the draw when you have a fixed schedule.

My top floor room was quite warm in the evening. Good thing it has a good fan.

Distance: 8.6 mi. (13.8 km)
Walked about 3 mi. (5 km)

Today's ride: 9 miles (14 km)
Total: 496 miles (798 km)

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