Nome

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Introducing Nome

Nome, in so many ways, is the Alaskan archetype: a rough-hewn, fun-loving, undying Wild West ghost town, thriving at the uttermost edge of the planet. With America's biggest concentration of Whites north of the tree line, the town is at once familiar and exotic: on one hand, with paved streets, grassy public squares, many saloons (more than in the rest of Bush Alaska combined) and palpable gold-rush history, it has the infrastructure like the rural West.

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On the flipside, there's the setting: hard against the ice-choked Bering Sea, cut off from the continental road system, closer to Siberia than to Anchorage, and patrolled by polar creatures like musk oxen and reindeer.

Of the three major towns in the Bush, Nome, Kotzebue and Barrow, Nome is the most affordable and best setup for travelers. It has a range of accommodations, from topnotch hotels to free camping on the beach, a fine visitors center, and friendly watering holes in which to meet the locals. It lacks the vibrant aboriginal culture of Kotzebue and Barrow, but Nome has something else the other two don't: roads. No trip to Nome would be complete without renting a pickup truck to see the remarkable outlying region.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009

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Thorn Tree forum discussion

Recent posts

  1. Chicagobest avatar
    RE: From the USA to Kamchatka

    by Chicagobest 11 September 2011

    Yblanter is of course correct. I was told by Bering Air 4 years ago that that had to fly to Provideniya and (rarer) Anadyr, with a load…
  2. EddyV avatar
    RE: From the USA to Kamchatka

    by EddyV 07 September 2011

    It is Bering Air that offers charter flights between Nome, Alaska, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky or from Nome to Chukotka
  3. EddyV avatar
    RE: From the USA to Kamchatka

    by EddyV 01 September 2011

    Bering Air runs direct charter flights from Nome, Alaska, to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. They're expensive, but you can also book seats…

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