Bearfoot Guides
BEARFOOT GUIDES
When Steve and I travel, I always pick up free copies of the Bearfoot Travel Magazine. Bearfoot publishes three very informative and interesting guides (Information below was taken from their website):
The Parks Highway Bearfoot - The Parks Highway Bearfoot Guide covers the Parks Highway from Anchorage to Fairbanks. It also heads north of Fairbanks, up the Dalton Highway. Inside, you’ll find the communities of Palmer, Hatcher Pass, Wasilla, Big Lake, Willow, Talkeetna, Trapper Creek, Denali State Park, Cantwell, Denali National Park, Healy, Anderson, Clear, Nenana, Ester, Fairbanks, Fox, North Pole, Circle, Manley Hot Springs, and Deadhorse. Special sections include Wildlife of Denali and a section on Alaskan Native Art.
The East Alaska Bearfoot -The East Alaska Bearfoot covers the Glenn and Richardson Highways, which traverse the eastern side of Alaska to its border with Canada. Communities in this guide include Palmer, Sutton, Matanuska Glacier, Sheep Mountain, Eureka, Nelchina, Glennallen, Gakona, Chistochina, Mentasta, Tok, Chicken, Eagle, Dawson City, Fairbanks, Delta Junction, Copper Center, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Kenny Lake, Chitina, McCarthy, Kennicott, Tonsina, Thompson Pass, Valdez, Cordova, and Prince William Sound. There is a special section on Marine Mammals.
The Anchorage & Kenai Bearfoot -The Anchorage & Kenai Bearfoot starts in Anchorage and goes all the way down the Kenai Peninsula to Homer. The Kenai Peninsula has two highways, the Seward Highway and the Sterling Highway. This guide covers them both. The guide starts with a large section on Anchorage. and continues south to Girdwood, Portage, Whittier, Hope, Moose Pass, Seward, Cooper Landing, Sterling, Soldotna, Kenai, Nikiski, Ninilchik, Deep Creek, Clam Gulch, Anchor Point, and Homer. There are special sections on Wildlife in Anchorage, Day Trips from Anchorage, and Fishing.
The magazines are free and, in my opinion, better than many of the other travel guides you can pick up (or buy) in state. If you’re visiting Alaska, look for the magazines at airports, rental car agencies, and visitor centers.
While traveling last week, I picked up the Parks Highway Bearfoot at a gas station along the way. I enjoyed thumbing through it and reading about some of the places we’d be passing through, even though we’ve visited all of these places many times over the years. I still found very interesting tidbits of information in the Bearfoot Guide; and even learned some things!
The section on Fairbanks is larger than most, as Fairbanks is the second largest city in Alaska. For being the second largest city, Fairbanks really isn’t all that large - especially from the viewpoint of someone who was born and raised in Philadelphia (Philly proper has a population of 1.5 million, while the entire metropolitan area has almost 6 million residents). The population of Fairbanks proper is about 35,000 while the Fairbanks metropolitan area is less than 100,000. To put things in perspective, the Philadelphia Eagles stadium (Lincoln Financial Field) holds about 68,000 people - almost twice the population of Fairbanks proper.
There’s a heading entitled “Journal”, in the Fairbanks section of the magazine, and when I read the words there, I had to smile. This paragraph sums up exactly why I love living in Fairbanks:
Culturally, Fairbanks is one of the liveliest towns in Alaska. Its university is a great science college, allowing students to perform important arctic research. The people of Fairbanks have a lot of energy. They are actively involved in just about everything. They form singing and music groups, work on historical projects of all kinds, coordinate snowmachining activities, and throw themselves into various other summer and winter events that keep them busy and in touch year-round. They call themselves “The Golden Heart City”. Nobody thinks that’s corny; Fairbanks people are sincerely old-fashioned in their unabashed enthusiasm. It’s a place where anyone will talk with you on meeting you for the first time, and where you can revisit what a strong American community looks like.
Thanks, Bearfoot!
