July 22
Heading north from Fairbanks, we spend two nights camping in the small community of Manley Hot Springs. It has a roadhouse tavern, post office, one room schoolhouse, airstrip, and about 75 residents. The roadhouse has historic lived-in charm but is for sale, and I can't imagine who would buy it. Lisa is brave and trys to order a rum and tonic, with lime (why not ask?) Sorry, no limes. Then he returns: sorry, no tonic. How about a rum and Coke? Then he returns again: sorry, no Coke, Pepsi. So rum and Pepsi it is.
We visit one of the resident families, the Redingtons, who are multi generation dog mushers. They now breed their dogs for sprints of up to 20 miles instead of the endurance Iditarod. We see the working dogs close up, but are only allowed to interact with one litter of puppies who are super cute. This family has an incredible history, including leading the only group to mush dogs to the top of Mount McKinley.
The hot springs are here too; a five minute walk from our campground and are next to the white log cabin schoolhouse. There are several concrete tubs in a beautiful lush greenhouse and anyone can book several hours of time in advance. Our party of 10 people breaks down into several compatible groups for the natural bathing experience, which is wonderful. The only downside is washing off two days worth of insect repellant and offering the mosquitoes nice clean, tenderized flesh.
We are camped on a still waterbody, Manley Slough, which offers a fine canoeing experience on our second day. Very quiet gliding through still, tea colored water. We spot a moose and calf on the shore, but very little other wildlife. 10:30, sun still up and I am off to sleep with my favorite new eysehade.
The hot springs are here too; a five minute walk from our campground and are next to the white log cabin schoolhouse. There are several concrete tubs in a beautiful lush greenhouse and anyone can book several hours of time in advance. Our party of 10 people breaks down into several compatible groups for the natural bathing experience, which is wonderful. The only downside is washing off two days worth of insect repellant and offering the mosquitoes nice clean, tenderized flesh.
We are camped on a still waterbody, Manley Slough, which offers a fine canoeing experience on our second day. Very quiet gliding through still, tea colored water. We spot a moose and calf on the shore, but very little other wildlife. 10:30, sun still up and I am off to sleep with my favorite new eysehade.
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