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Gates of the Arctic National Park

Photo: Cadence C. Cook / Public domain · source

⛰️ Mountains

Gates of the Arctic National Park

Bettles, AK · Brooks Range, Interior Alaska

About

Gates of the Arctic is the least-visited and most uncompromising park in the system, 8.5 million roadless acres straddling the Brooks Range entirely above the Arctic Circle near Bettles, Alaska. There are no trails, no campgrounds, and no cell service, so you bush-plane in and route your own way past granite spires like the Arrigetch Peaks and along wild rivers such as the Alatna. Come in summer, when the Western Arctic caribou herd, some 225,000 strong, threads through the valleys.

Highlights

Second-largest U.S. national park, entirely above the Arctic CircleNo roads, trails, or facilities; access by bush plane or on foot from BettlesThe granite Arrigetch Peaks, a backcountry mountaineering and trekking magnetWild rivers including the Alatna and North Fork Koyukuk for float tripsWestern Arctic caribou herd migrations and grizzly, wolf, and Dall sheep country

Getting there

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, 101 Dunkel Street, Suite 110, Fairbanks, AK 99701

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Part of these collections

Curated guides that feature Gates of the Arctic National Park.

The United States National Parks63 places

The United States National Parks

All 63 of America's national parks in one place: the geysers and canyons, glaciers and giant sequoias, coral reefs and live volcanoes the country set aside for everyone. From the Grand Canyon to the Everglades to the wilds of Alaska, this is the complete collection, each one worth building a whole trip around.