Originally Posted by
Minos
Hi there,
Might sound crazy for a first timer in Alaska, but I booked a week-long MR to Anchorage in the Middle of February.
I have seen some Alaskan people say the Winter is the real way to experience Alaska....
So I am planning to go North towards Fairbanks to improve my chance of Aurora sightings. I guess the sky is clearer in the interior.
I'll be renting a Compact or Economy car. I'd like a SUV but this is beyond my budget.
Any resident expert could tell me all that I did wrong and how I could make it right?
I am quite familiar with driving in the snow. I want to avoid critters and the like and I know that days will be short.
I picked second half of February because I wanted less cloudy nights and a new moon.
Minos
PS: I guess no Grizzly or Brown Bear at this time. Any thing else could harm me during my time in the outside looking at the skies? Wolves?
You should fly direct in/out of FAI and skip ANC altogether if you are only wanting to see the Aurora. As a Parks Highway veteran, I would strongly advise against doing that drive in February in a rental car with no snow tires.
The other issue with renting a car in ANC and driving is that Anchorage rental cars aren't winterized for Interior Alaska (perhaps part of the ANC mentality that Alaska starts and ends 50 miles in any direction from C Street, but that's another discussion entirely). If you get up to Fairbanks or Chena Hot Springs and it gets down to 30 below overnight (a distinct possiblity), you could be in big trouble with your car. Your average Anchorage vehicle is usually only winterized to the 20's-below zero, and I have yet to see a rental car in Anchorage that has a block heater installed.
Just my $0.02. I spent 5 years in Fairbanks and working on year #6 in Anchorage, and routinely go back to Fairbanks year-round (going up next week, as a matter of fact)