News-Miner Editorial
Scenic status
Northern stretch of Parks Highway finally gets some respect
Published Monday, September 15, 2008
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Stumble It!Modesty rules residents of Alaska’s middle when they discuss the scenic attributes of the land around them, that relatively low-lying swath between latitudes 64 and 67. This is not the classic Alaska of picture books — glacier-clad crags, 100-foot waterfalls and soaring Sitka spruce.
Thrusting geological activity has been absent here lately, allowing our crags to melt into domes sprinkled with tors. Ancient winds smoothed their slopes with loads of loess. Eroding gravel and silt from glaciers to the south filled the valleys; a fall of 100 feet in the waters of the Tanana River requires some 80 river miles from Fairbanks downstream into the Minto Flats. Struggling in this cold land, many spruce fail miserably at the task of soaring.
Yet something about the scenery asks for a second look, especially from the curves and pull-outs along the Parks Highway south of town. Tourists arriving in Fairbanks often remark on the vistas they find there. State government officials also recently noticed, granting “scenic highway” status to the roadway from Fairbanks south to Healy at the request of the local convention and visitors bureau.
The recognition will be handy for obtaining some grant money to enhance the views, but the designation is worthwhile on the merits. The rolling hills between here and Nenana — which create some of the longest continuous grades on the state highway system — provide wide panoramas over the Tanana and Minto flats, with sparkling river bends and blue lakes dotting the expanse.
The flatlands south of Nenana have their charm, too. Above them, the Rex Dome looms up, hinting at the larger Alaska Range beyond. On a clear day, the top half of Denali rises lonesome on the southwestern horizon, like a solo cloud.
The elements of Interior Alaska’s scenery often must be counted more in horizontal span than vertical rise. But they create scenery, nonetheless, and it deserves the recent recognition.
Community Discussion
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Why not offer the trees to people who are willing to cut them for fire wood.
Thanks to the News-Miner for waxing poetic about a part of the land that is so representative of northern Alaska. I am not convinced that we need grants (public money) to enhance anything. If that was the sole point of the designation it ranks up there with ear marks. Well maintained turn outs are adequate to appreciate the vistas. It is true that visitors (I speak to hundreds each summer) love the vastness of the land, like something from Robert Service (Spell of the Yukon, excerpt below). Some of us have spent our lives with the harsh realities, and yet the romance of the land won't let go.
The summer — no sweeter was ever;
The sunshiny woods all athrill;
The grayling aleap in the river,
The bighorn asleep on the hill.
The strong life that never knows harness;
The wilds where the caribou call;
The freshness, the freedom, the farness —
O God! how I'm stuck on it all.
The winter! the brightness that blinds you,
The white land locked tight as a drum,
The cold fear that follows and finds you,
The silence that bludgeons you dumb.
The snows that are older than history,
The woods where the weird shadows slant;
The stillness, the moonlight, the mystery,
I've bade 'em good-by — but I can't.
So, hoo-ray for the designation but let's not be consumed with embellishing what nature provides. I think that would be akin to gilding the lily, with public money. - AlaskaPhil
The pullouts could use a little clean up from the trash people leave there and maybe cut down a few willows that grow up blocking the views.
It costs me about $40 to drive to Fairbanks and back; I cant afford to stop and gaze at the "Flats". What glimpses I get remind me, like FreeDarfur above, that there is over 1/4 million acres of standing dead firekill, and 3-10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas out there.
While most in the interior are wondering how they will stay warm this winter, pet projects with no real value tie up our resources and make life even more difficult in an otherwise harsh environment, all to promote an industry that at best is doomed to failure as oil reserves fail and travel prices climb.
Thanks, Phil, for sharing the poem. The line "The freshness, the freedom, the farness — " is so fitting of the views along this section of roadway. It was the thing that so awed me when I first saw it back in '72 -- and still does -- being able to see so far with nothing but rivers and trees and God's beautiful creation.
Wr need to do what we can to preserve that beautiful view. It embodies the uniqueness that is Alaska.
The pullouts have become overgrown with trees amd brush since back in the '70s. It would be nice to have the view restored so that you can actually SEE the view from the pullouts.
We should just get *all* of the 4 (or 5 if you count the Denali highway) highways in the state designated "national scenic highway" and leave it at that.
To bad you didn,t include the few mileposts where Mt McKinley can be seen. Even though it can be seen from a few spots north of Healy, its still looks like a "mouse" when compared to the view north of Talketna and south of Cantwell. Money from the Feds is used to keep the DOT admin afloat, period.
"The recognition will be handy for obtaining some grant money to enhance the views." I thought Alaska was now against taking federal earmarks to pay for pet state projects. I guess Governor Palin and Senator Stevens are still trying to iron that one out.
It is Mt. McKinley National Park which has become a glitter gulch of tourist shops, hotels and traffic lights, not Denali Park. The mountain is Denali. Denali Park is a State Park, south of McKinley National Park, transected by the Parks Highway (named after Territorial Governor George Parks). Denali State Park has no formal visitor accommodations or centralized park entrance the way McKinley National Park does.
In any event, it seems unfair to marginalize the beauty of the designated area simply because one does not approve of the "urbanization" of the park entrance.
Finally, it is shortsighted to shun tourism. It will NOT go away. As an industry it is relatively clean, profitable, and a major part of the summer economy in Interior Alaska. Tourism is a renewable resource. It may have its ups and downs in the years to come, there may be things we don't like about it (not me), but blanket statements like "it is doomed to failure" reveal a paucity of knowledge of the industry and the people who use it -- the indomitable tourist! To state that "tourism is doomed" is cynical; and perhaps reflects one's wishes. But "doomed"? Nothing could be further from the truth.
So far this designation has cost us nothing. A civic-minded individual worked for the "designation". So long as that is not used as an excuse to spend money "developing" the attraction beyond maintenance of the existing turn outs, it will be an asset.
I am once again amazed at the apparent bitterness and negativity in these blogs.
Ummm... if the pullouts are in the DOT rights of way, would they not be the ones doing the maintenance?
Yep, need a little garbage patrol and a few trees thinned. You can say the same thing about the Hagelberger overlook. Time has passed; the trees have grown.
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