Drake and I had decided we wanted to visit some more of the wonders near Fairbanks. One such wonder being Manley Hot Springs. So on Friday August 16th, he drove up from the station once he was off work. We departed shortly afterwards on the 4 hour drive to go see what it was about.
The Drive
The drive itself was fairly uneventful. Cloudy. Rainy. No real wildlife except the occasional ptarmigan. Maybe a handful of cars that we saw. However, once we were in the town of Manley Hot Springs (yes, that’s the name of the entire town!) we quickly were entranced by its character. It’s predictably small but fairly adorable. It’s right on a river. It has lovely small houses and cabins, and even its little general store is just the cutest thing. I don’t remember how many pictures I took there. Mostly I was just chatting with Drake and enjoying the hot springs, but I’ll post what I have.
The Hot Springs
Speaking of which, the hot springs themselves are piped in to a small cabin. This cabin was created by the resort. The history of the place prior to the resort’s creation was that of an older couple that used it to help garden. They piped in the fresh hot spring water into their greenhouse. This allowed for a bit more of a growing season for them. The resort’s creation was shortly afterwards. The modern day resort has several cabins on the property. Since Drake and I were only there for the day we just got a 1 hour pass for $30. It was quite nice. Plants growing inside the cabin due to the environment. A large hot tub with the the hot water being piped in.
The Recap
I noticed that you hit the resort first once you go into town, I think if I did it all over again I would check out the Roadhouse (for food) first, rather than the resort which is what Drake and I did. Not that it’s bad, quite the opposite — but variety is the spice of life. I’d also rent one of those little cabins at the resort so that could enjoy the hot springs for much longer than the 1 hour non-staying guests get.