13 Dec Kobuk Valley & Gates of the Arctic Basecamp 2025
We’ve designed this unique trip for National Parks enthusiasts who are looking for an outstanding opportunity to visit both the Gates of the Arctic and the Kobuk Valley National Parks on one trip. On this basecamp trip, we’ll spend five days camping, hiking, and exploring in the Gates of the Arctic National Park and one day visiting the Kobuk Valley National Park by float plane. Extensive small plane flying between each of the locations provides breathtaking views and an opportunity to see vast portions of both of these parks from the air.
Our basecamp will be located near the confluence of the Noatak and Kugrak rivers in the westernmost portion of Gates of the Arctic National Park. We will fly in by floatplane and set camp along a large lake in the Noatak River valley. From camp there are ample hiking opportunities, including some with serious elevation gain and breathtaking views. On whichever of the five days that the weather is most cooperative, our pilots will return to take us to the Kobuk Valley National Park, where we’ll land on the water near the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes for a short exploration before returning to basecamp. We’ll travel through Coldfoot at the beginning and end of this trip, where we can visit the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center while waiting for our flights.
Trip Details
We don’t have set “daily itineraries” since all of our trips are true wilderness expedition-style trips, where we build in flexibility to respond to weather and other conditions, animal sightings, etc. Here is a sense of the general flow of the trip:
Each trip leaves Fairbanks in the early morning of the trip start date, so you need to be in Fairbanks by at least the day before that. We’re scheduled to be back in Fairbanks by late afternoon/early evening of the trip end date. We recommend leaving at least a day’s leeway at the end of the trip in scheduling other travel plans, since there’s always a chance of getting weathered in at the pickup point.
Since a basecamp trip means that we don’t have to move camp or travel from one place to another, these trips have the most flexibility and are the easiest physically. While the guide will generally lead a day hike every day, not everyone has to do the same thing, or hike the same distance-and just relaxing in camp and enjoying the beauty and quiet of the wilderness is a great option!
