The 364-mile drive from Fairbanks to Valdez unfolds as a grand cross-section of Alaska. It begins in the broad Interior valleys at the north, rises to the tundra and lakes of the Alaska Range, descends back down to the Copper River Country, and finally climbs over the steep coastal mountains into the Prince William Sound fjord where Valdez resides. This was the first route into Alaska, but today it is little traveled and mostly free of development, an opportunity to see real wilderness by car on paved road.
The intersection with the Denali Highway comes 81 miles south of there. This section has the most extraordinary scenery -- broad vistas, the Delta River, amazing alpine lakes including long Summit Lake, and many views of the trans-Alaska pipeline. Don't plan on stops or services, although there are a few widely scattered campgrounds and seasonal businesses. The spot on the map known as Paxson, the intersection with the Denali Highway, has a business called the Paxson Inn. You can fill your tanks there (summer 7am-10pm, winter 8am-8pm) or buy a snack, but I wouldn't recommend the restaurant or the rooms.
South from Paxson the views remain lovely, with more lakes, increasingly surrounded by trees, as latitude and elevation decrease going into the Copper River Valley. After 15 miles you reach the only noteworthy business on this 70-mile section of road from Paxson to Glennallen: the Meiers Lake Roadhouse and Atwater Chateau Motel, at mile 170 (tel. 907/822-3151). Way out here, where they have to make their own electricity, the owners have made a comfortable motel of 16 cozy rooms with satellite TVs and private bathrooms. They charge $100 double, $150 for three or more in a room. The same owners have a restaurant, bar, laundromat, and hardware store.
The next town on the Richardson is Glennallen. Fourteen miles south of Glennallen, Copper Center is a tiny Athabascan community on the old Richardson Highway. Its historic roadhouse, the Copper Center Lodge (tel. 866/330-3245 or 907/822-3245; www.coppercenterlodge.com) has long been worthy of a stop for dinner or even overnight. The history of the lodge dates from the bizarre gold-rush origins of Copper Center and Valdez, when about 4,000 stampeders to the Klondike tried a virtually impossible all-American route from Valdez over the glaciers of the Wrangell-St. Elias region. Few made it, and the hundreds who died are buried in Copper Center. The original lodge was built of the stuff they left behind. The existing building dates from 1932. Double rooms are $136 to $156 and they're open year-round.
