- Expeditions
- Advanced
Client ratings of this location:
- 2024: 4.91/5.0
- 2023: 4.93/5.0
- 2022: 4.77/5.0
- 2021: 4.83/5.0
- 2020: cancelled due to Covid
- 2019: 5.00/5.0
The Brooks Range is the greatest wilderness in North America, and this location is designed to provide a once-in-a-lifetime backpacking experience and a capstone experience for our alumni. We operate in Gates of the Arctic National Park. This is the program’s premier destination.
These mountains will redefine your concept of wilderness. The range is 1,000 miles long and usually about 100 miles wide; it has no trails, save for those made by wildlife, notably caribou; it’s intersected by just one road, the Dalton Highway (aka the Haul Road); and only one town sits firmly within its boundaries, Anaktuvuk Pass, a native village with a population of about 350. To access most areas of the park, it’s necessary to charter a bush plane that can land on lakes or natural gravel airstrips.
The lack of trails and roads in the Brooks Range, combined with a long list of challenges unique to the Arctic, add significant burden and risk in planning a trip here. More than any other location, the value of our service shines — we will secure the regional and bush flights, ensure that you have the appropriate gear, plot a route that is suitable and spectacular, and assemble a competent group of like-abled individuals.
The Alaskan wilderness is romantic, but it’s not easy. You should expect wet feet (everyday and all day), ankle-twisting tussocks, occasionally thick bushwhacks, and probably some cold-and-wet storms. Late-June is too early for nightmarish bugs, thankfully. Grizzly bears and wolves are around, but historically stay away from larger groups like ours.
What we like
- Exceptionally vast, remote, and lightly traveled
- No manmade hiking trails
- Thrilling bush plane flights
- Unique wildlife, including grizzly bears, wolverines, caribou, and Arctic foxes
What we dislike about or are challenged by
- Consistently wet feet
- Tussocks, which are quart- to gallon-sized cylinders of vegetation-topped dirt that waver when stepped on
- Sponga, which is soft and soggy tundra
- Ankle- to knee-high brush at the lowest elevations
- Potential for cold-and-wet weather
- Heavy bug pressure as we get into July and if the weather is warm and calm
For an excellent description of Alaska, refer to Nathan McNeil’s review of his Gates of the Arctic trip in 2019. Since this trip, we’ve moved our trips to areas with better walking, but these challenges will all still be experienced.