15 Best Sights in Northwest and the Arctic, The Bush

The Porcupine caribou herd, with nearly 200,000 animals, migrates through Alaska's Arctic and Canada's adjacent Vuntut and Ivvavik National Parks, flowing like a river of animals across the expansive coastal plain, through U-shape valleys and alpine meadows, and over high mountain passes. These migration routes demonstrate the interconnected nature of the region's lands and waters, and how arbitrary human boundaries seem.

Anaktuvuk Pass lies on a divide between the Anaktuvuk and John Rivers in the central Brooks Range. A small Nunamuit Iñupiat village of the same name sits atop this 2,000-foot pass. The economy and traditions here center on the caribou herds that supply residents with most of their meat. Surrounded by mountains, rivers, and lakes, this is one of the North Slope's most scenic spots. Daily flights from Fairbanks travel to the village, and you can walk from there into the national park. You can also do backpacking trips that start or end at the pass. As elsewhere in Gates of the Arctic, some of the terrain here is on private or Native corporation land, so inquire at the ranger station about where it's best to hike and camp—and whether or not you need permission to do so.

Take a summer evening drive to the top of Anvil Mountain, near Nome, for a panoramic view of the old gold town and the Bering Sea. As this is the city's lone peak, anyone in town will be able to direct you there. Be sure to carry mosquito repellent.

The Arctic Refuge includes one of the few protected Arctic coastal lands in the United States, as well as millions of acres of mountains and alpine tundra in the easternmost portion of the Brooks Range. Hundreds of thousands of birds, caribou, and other animals move across the Arctic Refuge during their annual migrations, relying on the area to nurse and feed their young while finding refuge from insects and predators. The Iñupiat and Gwich'in peoples have also relied on the lands of the Arctic Refuge for their food and ways of life for thousands of years. The Gwich'in consider the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge a sacred place because it feeds and protects the Porcupine caribou herd, which in turn feeds and provides the cultural foundation for the Gwich'in people. The quest for oil in the coastal plain has become a divisive issue that pits corporate interests and proponents of oil extraction against those seeking to protect traditional ways of life for generations to come. A lease sale of land in the coastal plan occurred in January 2021, but any further oil and gas activity or industrialization has been put on hold.

The coastal area of the Arctic Refuge also provides critical denning grounds for polar bears, which spend much of their year on the Arctic Ocean's pack ice. Other wildlife include grizzly bears, Dall sheep, wolves, musk ox, and dozens of varieties of birds, from snowy owls to geese and tiny songbirds. As in many of Alaska's more remote parks and refuges, there are no roads here, and no developed trails, campgrounds, or other visitor facilities. Counterintuitively, for such a notoriously brutal geography, the plants and permafrost are quite fragile. The ground can be soft and wet in summer months, so walk with care: footprints in the tundra can last 100 years. Plan for snow in almost any season, and anticipate subfreezing temperatures even in summer, particularly in the mountains. Many of the clear-flowing rivers are runnable, and tundra lakes are suitable for base camps (air taxis can drop you off and pick you up).

The frozen ash and lava of the 2.8-million-acre Bering Land Bridge National Preserve lie between Nome and Kotzebue, immediately south of the Arctic Circle, one of the most remote parks in the world. The Lost Jim lava flow is the northernmost flow of major size in the United States, and the paired maars (clear volcanic lakes) are a geological rarity.

Of equal interest are the paleontological features of this preserve. Sealed into the permafrost are flora and fauna—bits of twigs and leaves, tiny insects, small mammals, even the fossilized remains of woolly mammoths—that flourished here when the Bering Land Bridge linked North America to what is now Russia. "Bridge" is something of a misnomer; essentially, the Bering Sea was dry at the time, and the intercontinental connection was as much as 600 miles wide in places. Early people wandered through this treeless landscape, perhaps following sources of food and materials, such as the musk ox, whose descendants still occupy this terrain, or the mammoths and steppe bison, which are both long gone. Flowering plants thrive in this seemingly barren region, about 250 species in all, and tens of thousands of migrating birds can be seen in season. More than 100 species, including ducks, geese, swans, sandhill cranes, and various shorebirds and songbirds, come here from around the world each spring.

The most northern mountain range in North America stretches some 700 miles west to east across northern Alaska into Canada's Yukon Territory. Considered a subrange of the Rocky Mountains, the Brooks Range is the highest range above the Arctic Circle, with peaks of nearly 9,000 feet. Noatak National Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, and Gates of the Arctic National Park all lie within it. At the range's western end, the Baird Mountains, where Mt. Angayukaqsraq is the highest peak (4,700 feet), are in Kobuk Valley National Park.

The northernmost mountain range in North American stretches some 700 miles west to east across Alaska into Canada's Yukon Territory. The Brooks Range also forms the continent's northernmost drainage divide, separating streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific. It also marks the northern extent of the tree line. The range is the highest to the east, with peaks of nearly 9,000 feet.

Gates of the Arctic National Park lies in the center of the Brooks Range, with the Arrigetch Peaks as the showpiece. Designated a National Natural Landmark, the peaks draw hikers, flightseers, and even climbers intrepid enough to scale granite walls that rise thousands of feet. "Arrigetch" means "fingers of the outstretched hand" in the Iñupiaq language, and the name truly conveys the sense of awe experienced by many of those who visit them.

This museum, located in the Richard Foster Building, holds the long-term exhibit Nome: Hub of Cultures and Communities Across the Bering Strait, which centers on five Arctic themes and involves interactive environments, such as an Iñupiat skin boat and miner's tent, along with hands-on technology to help engage the narratives. A second space contains a changing contemporary exhibit that typically features a regional artist or artists.

The Kobuk Valley provides a glimpse into what the thousand-mile-wide grassland of Beringia, the land connecting Asia and North America during the last ice age, looked like. The Kobuk River bisects the national park, with dunes to the south and broad wetlands leading to the Baird Mountains to the north. Running hundreds of miles (60 of them in the national park) from the Endicott Mountains to Kotzebue Sound, the generally wide river has been used for transportation for thousands of years. It also sustains a big population of sheefish, a large predatory whitefish in the salmon family that spawns in the river's upper reaches every fall. A portion of the vast Western Arctic caribou herd uses the Kobuk Valley as a winter range, and the boreal forest reaches its northernmost limits here.

South of the Kobuk River, the Great Kobuk (the largest active, high-altitude dune field on Earth), Little Kobuk, and Hunt River Sand Dunes—stabilized by small trees, shrubs, and the lichen that's typical of the tundra—cover much of the southern Kobuk Valley. They formed when glaciers slowly pulverized mountain rock into sand that washed into the valley during the last ice age. Of note, a flowering herb called the Kobuk locoweed is only found on the slopes of the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes. Most outfitters and air taxis that operate in the Arctic will take visitors to the sand dunes.

The Alatna, John, Kobuk, Noatak, and Tinayguk Rivers with the North Fork of the Koyukuk River make up six of the 13 National Wild and Scenic Rivers in Gates of the Arctic National Park. They have been byways for people and animals for thousands of years, and they support each summer's explosion of life. They're also navigable, with a variety of access points. Boating through the park reveals mountains, glacial valleys, and rolling tundra, plus glimpses of animals along the landscape.

Most people use rafts, inflatable canoes, packrafts, or other collapsible boats, as air taxis will not haul rigid vessels. Although the waters are generally Class I and II rapids, a few sections include Class II–IV rapids. The water is cold, and conditions constantly change, with levels fluctuating dramatically and the possibility of log jams and strainers. But when the going is good, boating can beat walking through thick tussocks and boggy ground. Many outfitters offer paddling options. If you're heading out on your own, talk to your air-taxi operator or local guides about current conditions.

Adjacent to Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, 6.5-million-acre Noatak National Preserve encompasses much of the basin of the Noatak River. This is the largest mountain-ringed river basin in the country, and part of it is designated by the National Park Service as a Wild and Scenic River. The river carves out the "Grand Canyon of the Noatak" over 425 miles and serves as a migration route between arctic and subarctic ecosystems. Its importance to wildlife and plants has resulted in its designation as an International Biosphere Reserve. The Noatak River also serves as a natural highway for humans and has for thousands of years. These days, river runners head here because of its beauty, inviting tundra for camping, and good hiking in the nearby Poktovik Mountains and Igichuk Hills. Birding can be exceptional; horned grebes, gyrfalcons, golden eagles, parasitic jaegers, owls, terns, and loons are among the species you may see. You may also spot grizzly bears, Dall sheep, wolves, caribou, and lynx, as well as the occasional musk ox. The most frequently run part of the river, ending at Lake Machurak, is mostly an easy Class I–III paddle. As with other parks and preserves in this northwest corner of Alaska, no visitor facilities are available and you are expected to be self-sufficient. Do not forget first-aid supplies, clothing for all conditions, and precautions for being on the water and around wildlife. Most trips on the Noatak use the inland town of Bettles as a gateway.

Stop by the Nome Convention & Visitors Bureau for a historic-walking-tour map, a city map, and information on local activities. The offerings do a good job capturing Nome's historic and current role as a gateway to the vast expanses of western Alaska.

If you're hiking the wildflower-carpeted tundra around Kotzebue, you are entering a living museum dedicated to permafrost, the permanently frozen ground that lies just a few inches below the spongy tundra. Even Kotzebue's 6,000-foot airport runway is built on permafrost—with an insulating layer between the frozen ground and the airfield surface to ensure that landings are smooth. These days, thawing permafrost can cause problems for communities like Kotzebue: as the ice that binds frozen ground melts due to warm temperatures, the ground collapses and splits, damaging buildings, roads, and other infrastructure.

One of the most isolated roads in the country, the Dalton Highway (Alaska Route 11) consists mostly of loose-packed dirt and gravel that can put wear and tear on your vehicle, as well as your spine. It can also take you on a magical road trip with sublime views and remarkable experiences. If heading up the 400-plus-mile "haul road" toward the Arctic Ocean, start 80 miles north of Fairbanks at a tiny town called Livengood (population: a baker's dozen, more or less), and then keep heading north.

The Dalton was built to support construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the oil fields on the North Slope, so the pipeline and tinges of industrialization parallel the road—and spellbinding beauty spreads out beyond it. The drive will take you through boreal forest, the Brooks Range, the Arctic foothills, the coastal plain tundra, and finally, a few miles short of the Arctic Ocean, to a town called Deadhorse, a place named exactly how it feels.

There's much to see along the way, yet many reasons to miss the show. The drive can be treacherous, with hazards ranging from speeding 18-wheelers to fog, snow, rain, potholes, and steep grades, with only a few services along the way. Plan ahead (spare tires, provisions, etc.), and take your time. Like all good road trips, there are things you won't want to miss, and a few you will.