Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Cirlce Hot springs/Steese Highway

Kids and I are going to venture up to FAI and explore the Steese/Circle area and we're looking for things to do. We'll be in a truck camper and leather personnel carriers.

We'd like to visit Circle Hot Springs, but is it accessible? I don't believe there is a lodge there anymore, but can we use the hot springs? Is it private property?

Any other recommendations for things to do/see/explore along the route? I believe there's an old dredge there somewhere. Good hikes, etc...?

Thanks in advance.

From what I gather, the land around the hot springs is private property, you could always ask about access though. I remember there being an area up the Steese where you could do some gold panning, Davidson Ditch I believe is the name of the place but it's been a while since I've been up there. Stop at 12 Mile Summit and do some glassing and there's food, gas and lodging in Central.

I haven't been up there since I won a weekend at the resort. It was fun swimming in the hot spring pool in a single-digit snowstorm.

I googled the resort. It's closed and for sale. Appears to have closed in '09. Private property around it. Website said ask before looking around the grounds.

There is a 'retired' dredge in Fox, just north of Fbx (Gold Dredge No. 6, iirc). It used to have panning, restaurant, lodging. Should call to check.

Nearby is the Howling Dog Saloon - classic Americana. They have a piece of the red carpet from when Reagan and the Pope met in Fbx.

Felix Pedro monument (1st gold discovery), Chatanike gold camp (bar, lodge), TAPS viewpoint. I don't remember where the trailhead is, but Pinnell Mtn trail is up the Steese - high and dry, no water.

More stuff HERE.

If Randy sees this, he'll have more info.

Gold Dredge # 8.

Thank you gentlemen, you're a great resource.

Thanks, John. i was close!

Also, if you have the time, Chena Hot Springs resort is open and in business. Being closer, it may be busier and more people.

Good hikes @ Granite Tors, Angel Rocks, and the ridge up behind the Two Rivers school. CHSR crosses the Chena River about 6 or 8 times.

Do ya like ice cream?

An obligatory stop (for us at least) is Hot Licks ice cream (hand made ice cream). They are a little shop on College Rd just down from the College Rd-Univ Ave intersection.

Circle Hot Springs is privately owned, by Laverne Miller, her husband Bobby passed away few years ago. He was a character! I don't believe they're open for biz, word on the street is that the guy that owns Chena Hot Springs Resort wanted to buy it from Mrs. Miller, but her asking price is too high for Bernie.

It's a real shame that it's not open or being utilized. Used to be a fun excursion back in the day. All the other stuff mentioned is good, maybe I just missed it, but lots of folks like to do the Riverboat Discovery tour while they're in FBKS.

".....word on the street is that the guy that owns Chena Hot Springs Resort wanted to buy it from Mrs. Miller, but her asking price is too high for Bernie."

Anything more than free would be too high for Bernie.

If you have the time and enough bug spray, on the way back to Los Anchorage drive to Delta Junction and continue South on the Richardson past the Donnelly Dome area. This small but steep hill is somewhere around 10 miles past Delta Junction, on the right side of a completely straight section of road (no curves). Anyway, a few miles from there (not too far), there is a State park on the right as you drive down a hill.

Somewhere around 8 miles from the park you will see a new building (a hotel) on top of a hill, left side of the road, and the Delta River on the right. Notice a very old cabin and other structures by the road, below the hotel. That old cabin is what remains of the Black Rapids roadhouse, which was owned for a few years in the early 1,900's by the person talked about in the book, "The Alaska Wolf Man." The black Rapids Army training center is nearby, just past the bridge in there.

Looking toward the mountains at the right of the training center, there is the Black Rapids glacier somewhere up in these mountains. There is also a rare chance to see bison roaming on the big open field across the river. Before you arrive to Summit Lake there will be all kinds of places were you can pull off the road and spend to night, and even another park, "Fielding Lake", if I well remember. Just by Summit Lake, before you drive down to it, there is the Richardson monument on the left, and shortly after there is a gravel road that leads from the Richardson to the valley behind the monument. You will probably notice some RV's in that area. Far on the left behind the monument there is another glacier, but to get to it you would have to park your truck and hike the rest of the way across a small bridge. The road to this bridge is quite bumpy, so I have never had the patience to drive my truck that far.

If you continue driving the Richardson past Summit and Paxon Lakes on your way to Glennallen, then take the Glenn Highway on your way to Los Anchorage. Don't forget your camera, and a couple of binoculars or even a spotting scope.

Is that "battery Bernie"?

Good call! I remember driving by there several times and was flagged down to stop so a guy in a cub could take off or land on the road, this was before they built the new hotel on the hill. This entire area is what I think of when I think of what Alaska use to be, beautiful country for sure. We moose hunt about 5-10 miles past Donnelly Dome before you start going down the hill towards the Black Rapids training center.

This is by Big Delta (before you arrive at Delta Junction


By Gunnysack Creek and the old cabin:


Rainbow Mountains, right by the road:






https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-rVhnTrF/1/98d7c317/L/i-rVhnTrF-L.jpg

great recos and photos Ray !

AkMtnHntr

I see a lot of moose in that area, but I don't like the antler restrictions, and hunt by the Elliott on the remainder of GMU 20B instead. But that section of the Richardson holds great beauty, and since it is part of the AK Range the weather can change on a dime. One can drive just a few miles and it can be nice and sunny, then cloudy and raining a minute later. If one takes the time to look around, one soon realizes that it is one of the most beautiful areas, all aided by the changes in weather and light conditions. I spend a lot of time around the creeks looking at rocks and such. By the way, there are a lot of fossils found on the rocks at the base of the Rainbow Ridge (the photo showing a dead tree and an some water coming down from the ridge in the background).

It's beautiful by Anchorage, of course, by I cant's stand the crowds. The Richardson is nice and quiet, plus beautiful.
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Thanks, 2legit2quit

If you happen to be near Summit Lake in the middle of the night... A smolt pattern swung through the outlet of the lake on a fly rod might find a lake trout... Just saying.

Or a small raft or boat on Tex Smith Lake just east of the Lake Louise Road intersection might just lead to some very good rainbow fishing. It holds over some really big fish sometimes.

Hit the UAF Museum if it is open. Big azzed copper nugget (IIRC - roughly 2' by 3' by 6') used to be in the entrance. Haven't been there in 30 years or so, so dunno. Other neat stuff.

There is also the 36,000* year old 'blue babe' bison.



*I last saw it about 10 years ago, so I guess it 36, 010 years now.