Highlights Map
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Nome and the surrounding area are famous for the ease of access to some interesting wildlife and birdlife including some rare vagrants from Europe. In addition there are multiple remains of the gold boom area all around making it a big attraction for us. The big difficulty was finding a place to stay and from where to rent a car but after we sorted both we were ready to go.
Day 1: Stopover in Anchorage
We first fly to Nome in the far west of Alaska but due to the flight schedule we have to make an overnight layover in Anchorage which is just fine with us. That is before we understand how expensive a one night stay is especially for a hotel with an airport shuttle. Still with no choice we book the cheapest hotel (Still $200+ per night!) and after an uneventful flight we watch as the plane lands amidst mountains covered with snow.
Our luggage goes directly to Nome so there is nothing else to do than go outside and wait in the midnight sun (yes it Alaska) for the shuttle to arrive. It takes a bit and the area is unexpectedly busy but finally the shuttle arrives and we are on our way to the hotel.
The hotel is in renovations and that can be seen on our way to the room, it is a disaster. The room however looks reasonable enough even though we have trouble finding a good way to heat it. Luckily we have two beds and we poach additional blankets from the second one for a good night sleep.
Day 2: First steps in Nome
After a few hours of sleep we wake up and it is time to get breakfast before getting the shuttle to the airport. We have time today to admire the stairs that are the only point of access to the room. They are in really bad shape and while the hotel is in renovation the rrom certainly wasn’t cheap so it is not something you would expect. The breakfast itself is the usual warm continental breakfast with lots of other people all coughing and sneezing for some reason, we feel like in a hospital ward.
The shuttle however works ok and we arrive with time to spare at the airport. Therefore we have time to explore the many shops and exhibits like the big moose that we will see quite a few times during our trip.
The flight is a lot more scenic than we expected, we pass by Denali, which is quite impressive and the landscape is wild and full of lakes and snaking rivers.
As we approach Nome we can see the roads and sights that we plan to take and visit, it is quite a fun experience to get a lay of the land from above before landing.
The airport in Nome is quite small, ultimately there are only two regularly scheduled flights that land here per day. You even have to walk from the plane to the terminal which I am sure is quite interesting in winter.
At the airport we face a choice. Our accomodation is about 2 mile away and we have to decide if we want to try to walk or take a taxi. The weather is nice (50 degrees F and sunny), we cannot identify any taxis so we just give up and decide to walk. It is probably the first time we try to walk from the airport to a hotel two miles away carrying two big luggage pieces. The start is ok and the road to the airport is paved and there is little traffic as most people already left.
There is a canal running next to the road and whenever we tire we stop and take a look at the water trying to find any interesting birds. We are pleasantly surprised at how helpful the Nome natives are, at least two cars stop while passing us and ask if they can help us and take us to the hotel. But we feel confident and actually start to enjoy our walk so we thank them for their offer and soldier on.
Our hotel is not in the downtown area so as we approach it we have to follow a different road that is almost like a ring road around the downtown area towards our hotel. There is a short uphill part that left us breathless but then it evens out near a pretty lake with lots of birds where we spend some time just looking at them.
Continuing on the road we notice something big in the brush. Encumbered as we are with our luggage and not sure if it is not a bear we do not approach the area but try to view it from above. In the end we assume we saw a muskox but it is not clear as the animal is barely visible in the deep brush.
We see quite a few birds along this stretch of road including our first gray-cheeked thrush, robins, loons and a few ducks.
Our last road change is also the most welcome. Right at the corner where one of the two gas stations (and supermarkets) in Nome is we turn left on a trail which is paved and similar to a sidewalk. It feels good to be out of the road and this stretch is the most relaxed part of our walk.
On this stretch we have our first look at one of the attractions in Nome, for us at least, abandoned machinery. Much of it is left from the boom days and much of it is simply abandoned. There are quite a few dredges that are used to collect the gold from the rich Nome soil. We also get some good looks at the White Alice Site on top of a hill near Nome that was used for communication purposes during the Cold War.
When we arrive at the lodging location, at least according to the GPS, we find only a field of abandoned machinery. We then notice the Dredge 7 Inn right next to it, interesting location. The inn is great looking from the outside however we have trouble to finding any person or information about our reservation. The information is supposed to be on a board but it is empty. We finally find a person cleaning rooms and she finds a manager and then we finally get our car and room keys, happily the room is already ready.
A bit calmed we have some time to check out the inn. It looks quite historic and the room is spacious with a good size refrigerator and a nice table. In fact the only annoyance we had during our stay, a big one though, was that the walls were paper thin. You could literally hear people breathing in other rooms making sleeping quite difficult. Good thing that we didn’t sleep that much….
We are quite hungry by this time and eager to check out our rental car and downtown Nome. So we take the short drive downtown of about two miles stopping at the only open spot as far as we can tell, Pingo Bakery. In fact we have chosen it beforehand as it will be closed all subsequent days and it looked interesting. It is a real hole-in-the-wall eatery with only a couple tables with a direct view in the kitchen.
Despite this, or maybe because of it, the food is quite good and one of the best we had in Nome. The clam chowder was quite good and the fish was also well done and full we are now ready to explore Nome.
In fact we start right at the front of the restaurant where the Anvil City Square is located and where we parked our car on an unpaved road lined with dredge remains.
The square itself is quite picturesque today, with the sun shining and the imposing church anchoring one side of the square.
But the big attraction in the square according to the pamphlets is the world largest gold pan. It is quite large but I wonder if anybody actually used it?! And then after enjoying our time in the square we walk over to Nome’s main street to take stock of the businesses there.
Fortuitously we enter the visitor center where the person manning the desk is very helpful providing us with a book about the roads we are planning to take the following days and some history around Nome. The souvenir shop is quite interesting too, there are supposedly two in Nome but we never find the second one during our stay. There are also a few impressive buildings on main street that we enjoy as we explore the area.
Of course we keep an eye out for birds, not that we have to be that careful here with the ravens very visible on the big antenna in the middle of town and the short-billed gulls crossing the street without any thoughts of the cars passing by.
After finishing the main street we explore for a while the side streets. These are most times not paved with relatively small houses that are likely easier to heat in the winter. There are still a few larger buildings and one of them is even for sale, should we buy it we think?
The last stop in the downtown area is the museum, which we find out is also the library. As no one knows the schedule we have to stop by to find out it is closed. In fact it is closed for the majority of the time we will be in Nome unfortunately so we are stuck with exploring the outside exhibits.
In fact even some neighboring lots could be confused as being part of the exhibit given the number of old cars and machinery in them, it is quite interesting. We are also surprised as we round the building to find a nice green habitat on the other side that we scan for a while for birds with no luck.
Then it is time to buy some provisions for our stay from the supermarket we passed on foot previously in the day. While entering the parking lot we notice something running around and after more careful inspections we find multiple Arctic Ground Squirrels enjoying the great weather by staging combat tournaments. After buying our items from the supermarket, which was quite expensive as expected, we continued on the road we walked prior to see if we can find the hidden muskox from earlier in the day. No luck this time but at least we got some good views of scaups and other birds on the adjacent lakes.
We also take another look at the airport and the business area surrounding it, it looks quite weird with the abandoned machinery but of course we understand that it is quite difficult to recycle around here.
Back in our room we unpack everything, food and souvenirs, and then relax for the rest of the evening. It is evening only because we have clocks, as it is sunny outside till late in the night. And the relaxation also doesn’t go that well when we look at the weather and we notice that it is completely changed and excluding the next day it will very likely rain the remainder of the days here in Nome. So we decide to make the most difficult drive tomorrow and then see how the weather is for the remaining drives. With the decision made we drift to sleep after a long day.
