Things to do in Steese Highway
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Circle District Historical Society Museum
One of the best museums of any small Alaskan town is the Circle District Historical Society Museum in Central. Established in 1984, the main portion of the museum is a large log lodge that houses a miner's cabin, exhibits on early mining equipment and dog-team freight and mail hauling, and the Yukon Press - the first printing press north of Juneau, which produced Interior Alaska's first newspaper.
The most interesting display is the museum's collection of gold nuggets and gold flakes recovered and donated by local miners. This display, more than anything else, will help you understand why they continue to tear away at the hills and streams in an effort to find the preciou…
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Eagle Summit Trail
Eagle Summit, 3624ft in elevation, has a parking area for the second trailhead of the Pinnell Mountain Trail. A climb of less than a mile leads to the mountaintop, the highest point along the Steese Hwy and a place where the midnight sun can be observed skimming the horizon around the summer solstice. On a clear day, summiting here can feel like ascending to heaven. The peak is also near a caribou migration route.
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Gold Dredge No 8 tours
Off the old Steese Hwy at Mile 10 Goldstream Rd, this five-deck, 250ft dredge was built in 1928, operated until 1959, and was named a national historic site in 1984. Today perhaps Alaska's most visited dredge, No 8 is still making money. There are on-the-hour one-hour tours from 09:30 to 15:30 daily; for an additional fee you can also indulge in gold panning and the all-you-can-eat Miner's Lunch.
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Birch Creek canoe route
The Birch Creek canoe route begins at Mile 94 of the Steese Hwy, where a short road leads down to a canoe launch on the creek. The wilderness trip is a 140-mile paddle to the exit point, at Mile 147 of the highway. The overall rating of the river is Class II, but there are some Class III and Class IV parts that require lining your canoe.
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Pinnell Mountain Trail
Access points for the Pinnell Mountain Trail are at Mile 85.6 and Mile 107 of the Steese Hwy. The first trailhead is Twelvemile Summit, which offers remarkable alpine views and is often snowy well into June. Even if you have no desire to undertake the three-day trek, the first 2 miles is an easy climb past unusual rock formations.
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Felix Pedro Monument
On the Steese Hwy, the Felix Pedro Monument commemorates the miner whose gold-strike gave birth to Fairbanks. The stream across the highway - now known as Pedro Creek - is where it all happened. You'll likely see amateur goldpanners there 'looking for color.'
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Circle
Circle is an Alaska-Native village on the banks of the broad Yukon River. Before the Dalton Hwy opened it was the northernmost point you could drive to - as a large sign in the center of town still proclaims.
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Steese Roadhouse
At the time of writing, just about the only culinary option in Central was the unappealing Steese Roadhouse, where, despite half-hearted service, locals crowd the bar to bad-mouth the government.
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Howling Dog Saloon
This saloon serves ales and lagers from the Silver Gulch Brewery (across the road), and hosts local and out-of-town bands.
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HC Company Store
Basic groceries, snacks and gas can be found just up the road at the HC Company Store.
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Turtle Club
This place has a roadhouse atmosphere and is reputed for its prime rib.
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