Roadtrippin’ 2025: The Mad Max-looking town of Adak
ADAK, Alaska (KTUU) - As we rumbled down the dirt road in a City of Adak truck, we peppered Breck Craig with questions about the former military base.
Craig was hired as city manager about six months ago, but rattles off facts about Adak as if he’s an old-timer.
“You can see the tile work and the showers,” Craig said as he toured the pink women’s bathroom connected to one of the two pools in town. “I mean they spared no expense. I mean it’s just really something.”
Most Alaskans know the story of Adak: it became a U.S. military base during World War II to fend off a feared Japanese invasion of Alaska. Because it’s close to Russia, it remained a strategic base and submarine surveillance center throughout the Cold War.
It’s near the center of the Aleutian chain, about 1,200 miles west-southwest of Anchorage.
The island is surrounded by the Bering Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south.
“In 1942, the Adak Army Airfield was established, which gave the United States Army Air Force a forward base to mount a successful offensive against the Japanese-held islands of Kiska and Attu during World War II,” reads a State of Alaska webpage.
The base was closed in the late 90s, listed under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Program in July 1995, and turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Aleut Corporation (you need to buy a filming permit from Aleut to film here).
Now, in about three hours on an Alaska Airlines 737 from Anchorage, there are epic experiences to be had here — hunting, birdwatching, hiking, or playing archeologist at the dozens of defunct military buildings.
The airport is a pretty social experience and as soon as your plane touches down, it’s likely that you’ll meet most of the full-time residents living here. Craig says he thinks it’s about 50 people.
Craig took us to meet Thom Spitler. He was born in Adak, which makes meeting him a “must-meet” attraction. You might recognize him from the Netflix show “Pirate Gold of Adak Island.”
Spitler took us to an old building up on a windy hill to see where he was born. Walking over wires, broken glass, and past macho caricatures of Marines painted on the wall, he told us what it was like growing up here.
“It’s a singular place,” Spitler said.
He spent his first night of life sleeping inside the church beside the hospital.
Today the weather-damaged paint chips off the wooden sanctuary that leans heavily to the left held in place by bending boards.
Adak has two pools, a movie theatre, a bowling alley, and perhaps the most western McDonald’s in the United States.
One pool is still full of water.
The drive-through at McDonald’s has the prices listed from the 90s.
Most of the windows on the buildings here are broken. The bunkers that once stored nuclear weapons are now hollow echo chambers.
What’s been left behind looks like an eerie scene from a Mad Max movie.
It looks both apocalyptic and beautiful.
“Well, welcome to Adak,” Craig said. “It’s good to have you guys here.”
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