Jan
2020
Gates of the Arctic National Park
Imagine the most embarrassing situations. Your credit card gets declined. You called your boss “mom.” You accidentally liked that 5-year-old Instagram post hidden deep within your ex’s account. All situations that cause the utmost despair. Do you ever want a way out? Do you want to hide from society forever?
While you may never retrieve the dignity lost after calling your boss, “mom,” there is a location to camp out the most embarrassing repercussions. A place so far that you will not receive that 2 AM, “u up?” text from your ex-partner. Gates of the Arctic National Park is the perfect scene to find yourself after life knocks you down. A short trip to this heaven will solve every problem that may plague your mind.
Image by University of Alaska Fairbanks
Gates of the Arctic National Park is located north of the Arctic Circle in the remote Alaskan wilderness. This park is the northernmost national park in the United States. It holds 8,472,506 acres.
Gates of the Arctic is off the grid– completely. The national park has no roads, trails, or service centers. The land is remote and untouched by industrialization. Nomadic tribes live within the park’s boundaries and have relied on the area’s natural resources for centuries. Visitors must have adequate survival skills and be able to care for themselves and their partners when visiting the park. There are no emergency services within hundreds of miles.
Image by National Park Service
The park holds multiple wonders of nature. Six national rivers can be found within Gates of the Arctic: Alatna, John, Kobuk, Noatak, North Fork Koyukuk, and Tinayguk.
The Alaskan mountains are also magnificent. Wilderness advocate Robert Marshall called the two peaks, Frigid Crags and Boreal Mountain, as the gate for which the park is named.
Image by Patrick Endres
Numerous species of animals alway call this wilderness home. The park contains much of the habitat of the Western Arctic Caribou. Grizzly bears, wolves, mooses, wolverines, and foxes can also be spotted throughout the rugged landscape.
Image by Alaska Department of Fish and Game
While the park sees little snow, the extreme cold traps any precipitation to the landscape, creating a world of white ice. November to March is the park’s coldest season, with temperatures ranging from -20 degrees to -50 degrees. The best time to visit the park is in June.
Image by the National Park Service
Gates of the Arctic was created to preserve one of the last frontiers on Earth. All visitors are required to practice minimum impact techniques and the “Leave No Trace” principles. This national park is not a frozen wasteland. It holds beauty, solitude, and a reminder of what it means to be human.
So, next time you want to drop off the face of the Earth, hop on a plane to Gates of the Arctic National Park!
jbb5935
January 24, 2020 at 5:36 pm (5 years ago)Parks like this always amaze me. I find it intriguing that America used to resemble the parks that we now preserve because we are causing damage to our current landscape. Only if this was spread throughout the entire United States, maybe then more people would go and try to conserve more land . In addition, hiding out here in this wilderness would be quite fun, who doesn’t like adventure? Great insight and post, definitely brought this park to my attention.
Ysabelle Fernandez
January 24, 2020 at 5:40 pm (5 years ago)I love all the parks that you’ve talked about so far! I was never really aware of any national parks considering the fact I immigrated here some odd years ago, but this is just fueling my appreciation for what nature has to offer. I especially love how visitors are required to practice minimal waste techniques during their stay here in order to preserve the park’s natural beauty– it really shows! It’s a shame that there are still places out there where people just throw their trash wherever they see fit without any consideration of any plant or wildlife that reside in those areas. Great post!
gps5272
January 24, 2020 at 5:48 pm (5 years ago)I love national parks and have hiked through a few here in Pennsylvania. Last summer I hiked the Susquhanock trail system in an old growth forest in potter county. It took five days and I thought it was pretty difficult, including the maintained trail. I couldn’t imagine thinking or camping in an area with no defined trails or park services in negative temperatures. It is pretty crazy to think that people can actually live in an area like that when most people I know could barley live without a cell phone let alone electricity, running water, or central heat. Anyway, I love national parks state parks, or pretty much any other type of wilderness that I can hike through.
tmd5681
January 24, 2020 at 6:08 pm (5 years ago)I really enjoyed your description of this national park along with the images that you included. Your language when describing the park enabled me to create a pretty good image of what the park would look like in my head, but the detailed pictures that you included took it over the top. I like how you gave us a reason to want to go to this secluded national park, which we may not have otherwise known anything about when we are in those embarrassing situations that you mentioned.