Touring - Smoked out in Alaska

Curious if there are any other touring riders in the Alaska area on the forum? Right now I'm camped about 50 miles SE of Fairbanks and visibility is down to 1/4 mile or so. My goal was Denali and then Anchorage but it sounds like there's smoke cover all over the state from the forest fires. I'd be curious to find out what others are doing with the situation being what it is.

As for me I'm kind of stuck because I can't keep riding through this smoke. I'll try to figure something out when I get into Fairbanks tomorrow. What a way to end a Florida to Alaska bike tour. :)

The only plus side to this is it sounds like most of the fires are in very remote areas so few structures have been affected.

There is no smoke here in Anchorage. Though Fairbanks is the nearest town of any size, the closer you get, the worse the fires are going to get, and it is really bad between Nenana and Clear. If it were me (and you are not, and probably have your own agenda...like Denali) and you just wanted to make it to Anchorage, I'd cut south of Delta Junction on the Richardson Highway (towards Valdez), hang a right at Glenallen (long before Valdez), and that road will take you to Anchorage. This will circle you well east and south of the fires. You may think about cutting across from Paxon to Cantwell to see Denali that way. A VERY beutiful trip (I think you may like it better)...but, that road is unpaved and you will find more bears that direction. It is also longer, but if you are on a MTB rig versus road touring bike, it should be OK. It is closer to the fires than going through Glenallen, but it should be better than going through Nenana.

We have had alot of rain south of the Denali range and I do not believe there should be much smoke. Fairbanks, and west/south of Fairbanks is burning pretty good, and I do not think it is going to be out anytime soon.

Good luck. Sorry about the smoke.

Thanks balinamood. I was checking out activefiremaps.fs.fed.us and getting to Denali via Paxon looks like a good plan.

I just dug up the book "Mountain Bike Alaska" which has a 1-page breif on that route. I can scan it in the morning and send it to you if you do not have the book (e-mail would be helpful). It is probably most useful as it gives mile posts for the 1-two camp grounds, locations of hills, etc. It should be doable.

That would be awesome. Thanks. I have the Milepost (at least most of it) but it's not very bike-oriented.

PM sent with map linky.