Gates of the Arctic National Park
Gates of the Arctic National Park, AK
the Brooks Range, AK
A wilderness with no roads, no trails, and no facilities, spread across the Brooks Range above the Arctic Circle, about as wild and empty as any place left in America.
Gates of the Arctic is wilderness in its purest form. It has no roads, no trails, no campgrounds, and no visitor facilities of any kind, and it sits entirely above the Arctic Circle in the heart of the Brooks Range, the northernmost mountains in Alaska. To visit is to step into a landscape almost untouched by people, where you find your own way across the tundra and along the rivers, and where you may not see another soul for days.
The park takes its name from two peaks that an early wilderness explorer saw as a gateway into the Arctic mountains beyond. Behind them lies a country of gray granite spires, broad glacial valleys, wild and scenic rivers, and rolling tundra that flushes red and gold in autumn. Herds of caribou move through on their long migrations, wolves and grizzlies range the valleys, and the whole vast place carries a silence and scale that few landscapes on earth can still offer.
What Guests Love
- True untouched wilderness with no roads or trails
- Wild rivers to paddle through the Brooks Range
- The chance to witness caribou moving across the tundra
- A landscape of profound silence and solitude
Worth Knowing
- There are no roads, trails, campgrounds, or services; access is by bush plane, often from Bettles or Coldfoot
- This is expedition-level wilderness for the well-prepared and experienced, or best done with a licensed guide
- Weather, rivers, and bugs are serious factors; go equipped and self-sufficient, and leave no trace
- The short season centers on summer; conditions are harsh and daylight extreme so far north
Details
the Brooks Range, AK
Learn about Gates of the Arctic National Park
A park with no roads or trails
Gates of the Arctic was set aside to remain wild, and it has. There is nothing built for visitors here: no roads reach it, no marked trails cross it, and no campgrounds or lodges wait inside its boundaries. Travelers arrive by small bush plane, often from the tiny outposts of Bettles or Coldfoot, and from there they hike, paddle, or float into the backcountry entirely on their own.
That makes it a place for the experienced and self-reliant, or for those traveling with skilled guides. The reward is a rare kind of freedom and solitude, the experience of a genuinely trackless land where you navigate by the shape of the mountains and the run of the rivers, much as travelers have for thousands of years.
Rivers, caribou, and the Arctic seasons
Several wild and scenic rivers rise in the park and offer the classic way to travel it, floating for days through the Brooks Range past sheer peaks and open tundra. Along the way, wildlife defines the experience: this is caribou country, crossed by herds on their vast seasonal migrations, and home to grizzlies, wolves, moose, and Dall sheep.
The Arctic seasons are extreme and beautiful. Summer brings nearly endless daylight and clouds of insects, brief and intense; autumn sets the tundra ablaze with color before the long dark and deep cold of winter. Any visit here is shaped by the raw rhythms of the far north, part of what makes Gates of the Arctic so unforgettable.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near the Brooks Range
Bettles
Common gateway
A tiny fly-in community south of the park, a main launch point for bush flights and river trips into the Brooks Range.
Coldfoot and the Dalton Highway
Eastern gateway
A truck stop and outpost on the Dalton Highway, another access point for flights and treks into the eastern park.
Arctic Circle Wayside
On the Dalton Highway
A marked pullout on the Dalton Highway commemorating the crossing of the Arctic Circle on the way north.