You may not be able to drive from the rest of the road system to get to Nome but once there, 350 miles of highway system connects you to the rest of the Seward Peninsula. The 72 mile long Nome-Council Highway stretches into the Alaskan wilderness past grasslands, coastal flatlands and leads to the beach. Take a day trip from Nome on the Nome-Council Highway and explore this uniquely beautiful part of Alaska.
The Nome-Council Highway heads two hours one way from Nome to Council, a summer fish camp community on the coast of the Seward Peninsula.
The highway will take you through the vast tundra of the central Seward Peninsula. There are no trees in this part of the world, just miles and miles of rolling hillsides covered in plush tundra.
This "Train to Nowhere" as well as some other remnants of the history of the region lie rusting into the grass. During the Gold Rush in 1897 almost 15,000 people lived in the area seeking their fortunes!
The settlement has a few defunct buildings and is primarily used as a summer fish camp by Nome residents. Fish camps are summer settlements where the primary task is to catch salmon and prepare them for winter by drying or smoking them.
An easy drive down the Nome-Council Highway will show you a part of Alaska most people will never see. Explore the Seward Peninsula next time you are in Nome!
There’s a scenic train ride in Alaska that runs all year long, but it’s especially beautiful in the winter time. This epic train ride brings you from Anchorage all the way up to Fairbanks, and no matter the season, you’ll find something gorgeous to look at.
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Alaska Railroad runs a train from Anchorage to Fairbanks all year long.
This 12-hour journey takes you through some of the prettiest countryside of all of the state. You’ll pass by mountain ranges, small towns, and plenty of boreal forest along the way.
The summer train is called the Denali Star, and it has many more trips available for booking.
The winter will grace you with cotton candy sunrises and sunsets, plenty of alpenglow, freshly fallen snow, and a peek at the aurora borealis if you’re lucky. And you’ll usually glimpse a moose or two along the way.
You can get off at this stop all year round, and Talkeetna always has something amazing going on. Whether you’re snow machining in the Alaska Range, eating pie at the Talkeetna Roadhouse, or just enjoying the scenery, Talkeetna is an excellent stopover for those who want to take the route at a more leisurely pace.
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The Aurora Train is so popular that the Alaska Railroad is adding new dates to their schedule.
Alaska is a relatively young state. Far before we even became a state, gold miners flocked to Alaska to explore the "Last Frontier." What started as a pack trail, the Richardson Highway in Alaska, is now one of the most scenic routes in the entire state. This road routinely gets added to many people's bucket lists, and it's no surprise why!
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The Richardson Highway started out as a pack trail in Valdez, Alaska.
It ran from Valdez to Eagle, at a distance of around 408 miles. This pack trail was built in 1898 by the US Army, as an "All American Route" to the Klondike Gold Fields, instead of the many trails through Canada.
To this day, you can still find the original trail that cuts through Keystone Canyon outside of Valdez.
The trail parallels the paved Richardson Highway, until ascending up through the mountains into Thompson Pass. Even after the gold rush ended, the Army kept the trail open for easy access from Fort Liscum in Valdez, to Fort Egbert in Eagle.
If you visit Keystone Canyon, don’t forget to check out the famous waterfalls right alongside the road.
As Eagle is right on the border of Canada, the trail was a perfect way in for many miners going after the Klondike Gold Rush. The United States Army camp, Fort Egbert, was built at Eagle in 1900. A telegraph line was also completed between Valdez and Eagle in 1903.
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When the 1902 gold rush hit Fairbanks and Nome, many people were lured away from Eagle.
In 1903 Judge James Wickersham moved the Third District Court to Fairbanks. Due to that and the significance of the strung telegraph, the trail was was considered one of the most important access routes to interior Alaska, and so the Alaska Road Commission upgraded it to a wagon road.
U.S. Army General Wilds P. Richardson headed up the highway project.
In honor of his work, the highway was later named for him. The government ended up hiring many of the failed gold prospectors to build the highway, and many of the Roadhouses that were built along the road ended up being on the National Register of Historic Places.
The first car that traveled the road from Valdez to Eagle drove it in 1913.
The entire road was finally upgraded to automotive standards in the early 1920's. In 1933 The Alaska Road Commission ended up collecting tolls for commercial vehicles, sometimes up to $175 per trip, to help fund the maintenance of the road.
Many will ask, “Can you drive the Richardson Highway?” And I say yes! Not only can you drive it, but you should. I take the trip at least once a year.
These pictures of the Richardson Highway show a diverse landscape, where you can do everything from gaze at mountains and waterfalls, drive up high mountain passes, and even watch the fish run in streams right off the side of the road. If you see a pull-out with something interesting, don’t hesitate to stop! I love soaking everything in.
With the opening of the southern part of the highway in the 1950's year-round, the road was paved in 1957.
Nowadays, the Richardson Highway is absent of any tolls, and is a dream of a road trip. The views of the multitude of mountain ranges, culminating in the sight of Worthington Glacier right before Thompson Pass, stun the visitors of this highway each year. Recognized as the first major road in Alaska, the Richardson Highway is now a glorious 368 miles from Valdez, to Fairbanks.
Have you traveled the Richardson Highway in Alaska? What was your favorite part of the road? Tell us in the comments below! And don’t forget to check out our favorite road trip snacks for your next adventure around Alaska.
