Alaska Hot Springs
Thaw You Out

Alaska Hot Springs are really no different than any others. They have wonderful hot water that is great to swim or soak in. They're full of minerals with a healing effect.



There are OVER 100 discovered hot springs in Alaska! And probably many more that no one knows about. Look at a map of Alaska with the roads marked and you'll see that the Parks Highway is in the MIDDLE of the state. There are no connecting roads going west from there. That leaves an awful lot of land that is not easy to get to.

Someone told me an interesting story once. He was trudging across the tundra, through deep snow up north of the Arctic Circle, one cold winter day (about -40 ° F or C). All of a sudden, he stepped into a "mud puddle"—that was his description. Now, you don't find "mud puddles" when it's 40 below 0, that's for sure! He had accidentally found a hot spring.

Even though we have so many known Alaska hot springs, most can not be reached by road so no commercial use has been made of them. Only one, up near the Arctic circle, is well-established as a resort. What a great place to go and enjoy a swim!

Here are the better known Alaska Hot Springs:

Chena Hot Springs - If you want to spend your vacation at a luxury hot spring in Alaska, then you'll want to go to Chena Hot Springs Resort. This is located about 60 miles (96.5 km) east of Fairbanks. Take the Steese Highway for about 5 miles (8 km), then turn onto Chena Hot Springs Road. If you come to any 'Y' in the road, keep to the right to stay on Chena Hot Springs Road and continue to the end. The resort is located in a valley with a few small mountains surrounding it. It also has an airstrip for small aircraft.

Circle Hot Springs - About 130 miles (209.2 km) by road, this hot spring is northeast of Fairbanks. Take the Steese Highway out of Fairbanks and at the town of Central, turn off the Steese Highway onto Circle Hot Springs Road which goes southeast—this is about 8 miles (13 km) long. At the end of the road is a historic resort building, an olympic size pool and the town has a few businesses. Though the resort has been closed indefinitely, it's still an interesting place to visit.

And if you want to visit the historic gold rush town of Circle, return to the Steese Highway and continue on it, going northeast from Central, until you get to the end of the road. You'll be in the town of Circle, on the Yukon River.

Manley Hot Springs - About 155 miles (249.5 km) by road if you take the shortcut, or longer if you stay on the Elliott Highway. This hot spring is northwest of Fairbanks. Take the Steese Highway out of Fairbanks and at the town of Fox, turn onto the Elliott Highway. The Elliott Highway is an old gravel road and it winds around a lot, making this a very long drive. At about 71 miles (114.25 km) from Fox you can take a shortcut by taking a Tractor Trail Road to cut off part of the distance. But get directions from a local person in Fairbanks or Fox before you try this shortcut. Or you can stay on the Elliott Highway. The last 20 miles (32 km) to Manley Hot Springs is on Cemetery Site Road, which is left (south) off the Elliott Highway.

In the early 1900's, a 3-story, 60-room log hotel was built here and was heated by the spring. The building was destroyed by fire soon afterward. Now the current owners use the spring to heat a greenhouse and they still have some of the tubs from the original hotel, so you can soak in them for a small fee, if you want to try the hot springs water.

Other Alaska Hot Springs:

Many Alaska hot springs have been discovered on the Aleutian Chain, in the Western half of Alaska and in the tundra areas, north of Fairbanks. If you are a real adventurer and would like to go exploring and locate some of these Alaska hot springs, I'll give you the coordinates of a few that might be more easily reachable. The listed maps are available from the US Geological Survey - get your Alaska USGS Maps:

The first two are in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and are almost due east from the named towns. Number 2 is closer to the Richardson Highway than Number 1.

The next five Alaska hot springs are all north of Fairbanks. Number 3 is southwest of Livengood but east of the Elliott Highway. You have to go through a major river valley and across a few peaks to get to it.

Numbers 4 and 5 are west of the Dalton Highway and north of its Yukon River crossing. The Ray River runs on the west side of the Dalton Highway and parallel with it, before the river flows into the Yukon. At a point several miles north of the Dalton Highway's Yukon River crossing, Ray River comes close to the Highway. If you were to start there and follow that river upstream, you would find both of those hot springs near it. Number 4 is the closer one.

The next Alaska hot spring, (number 6), is also west of the Dalton Highway but further north in a mountainous area. There is a river that the Dalton Highway crosses that could be followed upstream to find this hot spring also.

Number 7 is in the same area as Circle Hot Springs, but quite a ways south. You could take the Portage Creek Road south from Circle Hot Springs to the point where it meets with a river. But that's the closest you could get by road. Follow your map from there.

The last two Alaska hot springs are in Denali National Park on the north end. Number 8 is almost due west of the town of Healy, but slightly north. It is between two major rivers. The closest you could get by road is to take the Kantishna Road in Denali Park all the way to the end.

Number 9 is the closest hot spring and it is northwest from Kantishna. Number 8 is almost due north, but slightly east from Kantishna, and it's much farther north.

While you are out looking for these Alaska hot springs, who knows -- you may find some new ones. If the land is available, and you wanted to get some property in Alaska, having a hot spring on your property is like having a constant source of power with no cost....mmmm...

Well, I KNOW you are just vacationing here, so let's get on with other ideas for your vacation. If you haven't had a lot of exercise recently, or if you just like getting out in the fresh air, take a look at some of our Alaskan trails...

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