Heading North-Camping in Fairbanks

We started the day in Delta Junction visiting friends, and by late morning, we had packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed to the airport. We planned on a short one-hour flight to get to Fairbanks, where we were planning on camping at the airport. Fairbanks is the only state runway I know of with a designated airplane camping area. The Fairbanks Airpark has it all: tie downs, picnic benches, fire pits at each site, a central covered pavilion with a grill, bathrooms, hot showers, and even firewood and a few bikes to take into town.

Woodsen and I had first stayed at the campground back in 2014 when it was just the two of us exploring together. We couldn’t get over what an awesome spot the campground was and enjoyed cruising around on the bikes.

We landed, found a spot, and quickly set up the tent. We left rainy Wasilla looking for sunshine and definitely found it on this trip. Fairbanks was hot, but thankfully, there was a bit of a breeze.

Woodsen had reconnected with longtime friends when he was in Fairbanks for the Iditarod in March, so when we made plans to head to Fairbanks, we had arranged to meet up and let the kids play. Shortly after setting up camp and exploring the area our friends arrived. We roasted hot dogs, ate, and the kids ran wild.

From our campsite, we could see what we thought were firefighting planes scooping water from the float pond nearby, so we decided to walk over and watch.

They firefighting airplanes came in groups of two or three, and we hung out to watch them return multiple times to scoop up water and head back to the fire to dump their load.

To Melozi’s delight, our friends not only have four kids to play with, but they also had a dog. Melozi spent most the evening walking and playing with their dog Rosie.

Airplane campgrounds, friends, and firefighting airplanes made the first day in Fairbanks a hit for everyone.

We had planned to stay in Fairbanks for two nights and do a little exploring the next day. With a few tips from our friends, and a generous offer to use their car the next day, we went to bed looking forward to the next day.