Where is  Cicely?

Nobody knows for sure-- the producers and writers of Northern Exposure--NX have sprinkled enough misleading clues that it cannot be pinpointed exactly.
Some include (references to specific episodes are in [brackets]):

Clue #1: It's in the 63rd parallel, placing it in the main body of the state. [Hello, I Love You]
my response:  Cantwell, Alaska is latitude 63 23 17 N

Clue #2: You can travel from Cicely to Cantwell on Route 8 (Ruth-Anne and Walt did), which again places it in the main body of the state. [Hello, I Love You].
My response: Route 8 is the Denali Highway, which runs east-west between Paxson on the Richardson Highway and Cantwell on the George Parks Highway.

 Clue #3: Route 6 also leads into town [Una Volta in L'Inverno]
My response: Route 6 is the Steese Highway between Fox (just north of Fairbanks) and Circle on the Yukon River. On this route is Central--another town that in some ways resembles the fictional Cicely

Clue #4: The men run naked out to Highway 1 when the ice breaks [Spring Break]
My response: Highway 1 is the Tok-Cutoff to the Richardson to the Glenn Highway at Glennallen to the Seward Highway, Anchorage to Homer, Alaska.


Clue #5: It's just across the border from Sixty Mile, in Canada. [Northern Hospitality]
My response: Sixty-Mile does not exist. There is a Forty-Mile, which is the gold-mining country in the eastern part of Alaska adjacent the Yukon Territory.


Clue #6: It is within a 75 mile radius of 143 degrees W, 62 degrees N, according to the ice-sculpture at Maurice's feast. [The Big Feast]
My response: Talkeetna is at 62:20:13N 150:05:33W


Clue #7: The address on the post card that Joel sends to Maggie is

Maggie O'Connell
P.O. Box 86
Cicely, AK 99729
My response: The zip code for Cantwell, AK.



Clue #8: It's north of the Arctic Circle because they spend some days in complete darkness [Northern Lights] and some days in complete light [Midnight Sun] It's south of the Arctic Circle because they don't have permafrost [Survival of the Species]
My response: We reach a point where there is nearly 20 hours of almost complete darkness at the midpoint of winter here in southcentral Alaska. Isn't that close enough?


Clue #9: It's 40 air-minutes from Anchorage, the nearest hospital. (Joel tells Shelly she'll be going there to deliver. [Baby Blues]) Maggie also receives her flight service briefings from Anchorage.
My response: Could be Talkeetna or the Gulkana airstrip near Glennallen. It's a little more than that, but close enough.

Clue #10: It's 200 miles from the next nearest town. [Ill Wind]
My response: That's about right for Chitina or Cantwell

Clue #10: It's 200 miles from Sleetmute, and not too far from Unalakleet.
My response:  This one matches nothing. Both of those are in far-western Alaska, well off the highway system on or near the Bering Sea !

Clue #11: It's 400 miles from Soldotna (the length of the drive for the owner of "Rick" the dog.) [Animals R Us]
My response: Could be either Chitina or Talkeetna


Clue #12: It's 500 miles from Sourdough. [Spring Break]
My response: This one does not fit anything. Sourdough is just north of Glennallen. The writers obviously found this name on either a map or a book of Alaskan place-names and liked it, just as they did Sleetmute and Unalakleet.
 

aerial of Copper Center where the Klutina (right) meets the Copper River (top). The CRD is on the left (click)

Clue #13: It's located along a river (or at least Roslyn, WA is), and is 1000 miles from Anchorage [Kaddish] (which of course, means that Maggie's little Cessna 170 travels at 1500 miles an hour :-)
My response: The Susitna flows near Talkeetna, the Copper flows near Chitina. Both are subject to a massive breakup every spring--much as described in the episode "Spring Break."


Clue #14: It's in the panhandle, because the specific Indians mentioned are Pacific Northwest tribes (Tlingit and Haida.)
My response: They got the Indians wrong, but probably used these Pacific coastal Natives because of the recognizable totem poles as well as the more colorful dress, in the same manner that the writers were intrigued with the name "Sleetmute."


Clue #15: It's in the panhandle portion that runs along the coast next to Canada ("The cusp of the new Alaskan Riviera" - premiere episode)

My response:  This one doesn't fit in with the others, although the climate there more closely fits the filming site of Roslyn, Washington.


Clue #16: At least we know that it's on a major log truck route, and there are paved roads nearby [premiere].

My response: There actually was a modern-day logging operation around Chitina in the late 90s after the show went off the air. Ordinarily, the interior of Alaska is not considered suitable for logging. However, Southeast Alaska used to be a major logging area. No log trucks in SE Alaska though.

Although it is obvious that there is no way to determine the intended location of the fictional Alaskan town of Cicely, I have always maintained that it most resembles Talkeetna on the Alaska Railroad route and the Parks Highway, but even more so it appears to be a cross between Talkeetna and Chitina (see map above).

Downtown Roslyn: Pennsylvania Avenue, the main drag (click)