Gates of the Arctic Guided Hiking

A great ​“a‑to‑b” style back­pack­ing route that allows back­pack­ers to move through a large por­tion of the Brooks Range. After a cul­tur­al­ly inter­est­ing start in the vil­lage of Anak­tu­vuk Pass, trav­el­ers are treat­ed vast, trail-less wilder­ness, stun­ning views of snow­capped peaks and a high like­li­hood of close encoun­ters with Alaskan wildlife.

Find out why the Brooks Range is known to have the best off-trail hik­ing in Alas­ka. You can choose to trek the entire route from the vil­lage of Anak­tu­vuk Pass to the Dal­ton High­way or the abbre­vi­at­ed route by char­ter­ing a flight to Sum­mit Lake and pro­ceed­ing in either direc­tion. This trip is exclu­sive­ly off-trail hiking.

This is a good place to stop and stretch your legs. The scenic view­point has plen­ty of park­ing, two out­hous­es and inter­pre­tive signs. Take the ¹⁄₂ mile inter­pre­tive trail to the sum­mit of Fin­ger Moun­tain for an up close view of the alpine tun­dra. Look for gran­ite tors, the jut­ting rock for­ma­tions caused by the freez­ing and thaw­ing of the ground.

If you’re trav­el­ing north, this is your first view of the famous Yukon Riv­er and a great view of the Trans Alas­ka Pipeline cross­ing the riv­er. The Yukon is the longest riv­er in Alas­ka and the Yukon Ter­ri­to­ry and a major means of trans­porta­tion dur­ing the Klondike Gold Rush.

The Koyukuk Gold Rush is one of the most remote and old­est min­ing booms in Alas­ka. Word got out that gold had been found at the Koyukuk Riv­er and min­ers stam­ped­ed to the area in 1898. Today, the Koyukuk Min­ing Dis­trict is one of the largest in the Yukon Riv­er region. Both life-long and recre­ation­al min­ers still find gold in this area today.

This is it, your last chance to see a tree on the Dal­ton High­way. Wel­come to the arc­tic tun­dra, the word tun­dra actu­al­ly means ​“tree­less uplands”. The sub­soil in this area con­sists of per­mafrost, which is per­ma­nent­ly frozen soil. Only veg­e­ta­tion with a very shal­low root sys­tem can sur­vive this far north. Take a break and check out the inter­pre­tive signs with infor­ma­tion on the tran­si­tion from the bore­al for­est to the arc­tic tundra.

Camp beneath the icon­ic Arrigetch Peaks — a great des­ti­na­tion for back­pack­ers and hard­core climbers alike. 22 miles min­i­mum — 12 miles one-way from the float plane drop off to the Arrigetch Val­ley. Once in the val­ley, there are many options for day hikes or even climbs, if rock climb­ing is your objective.

Wise­man (pop 20) This his­toric gold rush town was estab­lished in 1907, Wiseman’s hey-day was from 1911 to 1915. There was no min­ing in the actu­al town, how­ev­er Wise­man attract­ed prospec­tors from out­ly­ing creeks wish­ing to pro­vide or receive ser­vices. The town grew very quick­ly; a few cab­ins, a school and even a post office were brought upriv­er by sled from Cold­foot to sup­port the pop­u­la­tion swell. In the grand tra­di­tion of min­ing towns, as the…  ...more