Chena Lake is 35 minutes from Fairbanks in a small suburb called North Pole. This is a very large area with many different kinds of trails and many different options for more or less foreground and background business. Bathrooms are open on-site, and the property is well-managed. There is a potential to rent ice fishing huts for warming during our time frame, but they do fill up quickly. Cell coverage is good here.

February is particularly cold at this location, but with next to no light pollution, the probability of aurora is very high. Fog can accumulate in this area from time to time but rarely sticks around beyond a day or two.