Gates of the Arctic National Park

The park covers around thirty-four thousand square kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in the Brooks Range and contains no roads, no maintained trails, no campgrounds, no signs and no visitor facilities inside it at all - this is deliberate, and it makes Gates of the Arctic consistently the least visited national park in the system, with annual numbers in the low thousands compared with millions elsewhere. Access is by bush plane onto gravel bars or lakes, or on foot from the Dalton Highway. Navigation, river crossings, bear safety and self-rescue are entirely the visitor's responsibility, and there is no cell coverage. Nunamiut people live at Anaktuvuk Pass within the park boundary and subsistence use continues.

What's there

• No roads, trails, signs or facilities - by deliberate policy.
• The least visited national park - thousands rather than millions.
• Bush plane access - onto gravel bars and lakes.
• Nunamiut subsistence use - continuing within the boundary.

When to go

June to September; the season is short. A week or more.

What to expect

This is not a casual visit - it requires wilderness competence, and rescue is slow or impossible. Bush flights are expensive and weather-dependent, and getting stranded is normal. Mosquitoes in July are extraordinary. Nothing is provided.

Nearby

The Dalton Highway runs along the eastern edge; Kobuk Valley is west.

Key facts