Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve

The nation’s second-biggest national park clocks up a country-dwarfing 7.5 million acres as it stretches across the breadth of the Brooks Range. Thinking of a weekend visit? Think again. Ice truckers are the only usual passersby. You have to fly out of Fairbanks to a remote town on the edge of the Arctic Circle just to get in. Then, hiking boots, a dog mush or Nordic skis are probably your ticket the rest of the way. There are no marked trails at Gates of the Arctic National Park, only sweeping herds of caribou and packs of howling wolves.

It should hardly come as a surprise that not many people manage to make it up here. Covering an area that’s a third larger than Wales, the Gates of the Arctic is all jagged fells and snowy valleys. It’s real frontier stuff.

Visitors to this park will uncover pristine landscapes of wild rivers, valleys carved naturally by glaciers, northern lights ethereally dancing in the night sky, and vast tundra. The Gates Of The Arctic National park in Alaska features ancient trails rather than man-made roads, a park that allows visitors to truly get in touch with the rich culture and history embedded into the landscape.