Gates of the Arctic: no roads, no trails, no visitors

Gates of the Arctic lies entirely north of the Arctic Circle, in the Brooks Range. It’s a little bigger than Belgium, and it has nothing: no road, no trail, no campground, no sign. It’s the least visited national park in the country.

History and origins

The name comes from a forester and writer, Bob Marshall, who explored the region in the 1930s. He travelled up a river between two mountains facing each other, and named them the “gates of the Arctic”. His accounts launched the idea of protecting these mountains just as they were.

They aren’t empty, though. The Nunamiut, inland Iñupiat, have hunted caribou here for millennia. They still live in Anaktuvuk Pass, a village in the middle of the park. The park was created in 1980, with the idea of developing nothing in it.

What to do there

• Flightseeing: the simplest way to see the park. Small planes leave from Fairbanks, Bettles or Coldfoot. Some land on a lake or a gravel bar.
• Anaktuvuk Pass: the only village in the park, reached by plane. A small museum tells the story of Nunamiut life.
• The Arrigetch Peaks: a cirque of granite spires, the most famous landscape in the park. It takes several days’ walking to reach it.
• The rivers: six of the park’s rivers are designated wild rivers. You travel down them by inflatable canoe, over one to two weeks, after being dropped off by plane.
• The caribou: tens of thousands of them cross the park twice a year. You also come across grizzlies, wolves and musk oxen.
• The midnight sun: from late May to late July, the sun doesn’t set.

Stories and good to know

• The park gets fewer visitors in a year than the Grand Canyon does in half a summer’s day.
• The Dalton Highway, which leads to the oil fields of the Arctic Ocean, runs along the eastern edge of the park. From Coldfoot you can see its mountains without going in.
• The mosquitoes, in June and July, are an ordeal in their own right.

Practical information for your trip

• Getting there: it all starts in Fairbanks. From there, a scheduled flight goes to Bettles or Anaktuvuk Pass, or else you drive six to seven hours up the Dalton Highway to Coldfoot. After that, it’s the air taxi.
• Budget: it’s an expensive trip. The air taxi is charged by the flying hour, and a guided stay costs several thousand dollars.
• Information: the rangers have offices in Fairbanks, Bettles and Coldfoot. Call in before you set off.
• Combine it with: Kobuk Valley, just to the west, often flown over on the same day, and Denali.