The official name of this road is the Nome-Taylor Highway, but local residents call this scenic well-maintained gravel road the Kougarok Road. That’s because the road ends at the Kougarok River Bridge, about 25 miles shy of Taylor. From there, it becomes a rough trail passable only by foot or All Terrain Vehicle (ATV). Don’t be fooled by maps that show the road continuing on to Taylor.
The Kougarok Road begins at the edge of the Bering Sea, 1.6 miles east of Nome, and heads north for approximately 86 miles. Bisecting the spectacular Kigluaik Range, it crosses clear flowing streams and offers views up glacially-carved valleys. Past Salmon Lake, the terminus of the northernmost red salmon run, the road moves into the rolling lowlands of the central Seward Peninsula. Birders often make this journey in search of the elusive bristle-thighed curlew and brightly-colored bluethroat.
Much of the highway parallels the route of an old rail bed. In the early 1900s the Seward Peninsula Railroad hauled passengers and freight from Nome to the gold fields in the peninsula’s interior. The railroad saw use into the late 1950s until construction of the highway in 1960 opened the region to automobiles. You can still spot trestles and tracks, although some of the tracks were sold to Disneyland in the early 1960s.