Gates of the Arctic National Park

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve sprawls across 8.4 million acres of the Brooks Range, representing ultimate wilderness in America's northernmost national park. No roads, trails, or facilities exist within this pristine Arctic landscape where caribou migrations flow like rivers across tundra and wolves howl beneath dancing northern lights. The park's name derives from Frigid Crags and Boreal Mountain, twin peaks flanking the North Fork Koyukuk River like a massive gateway. Six Wild and Scenic Rivers carve valleys through mountains that have witnessed thousands of years of human presence. Iñupiat and Athabascan peoples continue subsistence lifestyles, their deep knowledge essential for survival in this unforgiving realm. Adventure here demands complete self-sufficiency and wilderness skills. Summer's midnight sun enables round-the-clock exploration while autumn tundra blazes crimson and gold. Winter brings extreme cold and darkness pierced by aurora displays. This vast wilderness remains one of Earth's last unchanged landscapes, where grizzlies fish pristine streams and Dall sheep traverse knife-edge ridges beneath endless Arctic skies.

Water Features

Six Wild and Scenic Rivers

Ecosystem

This destination features a polar & tundra ecosystem.