Arctic Refuge Spring Basecamp

03 Oct Arctic Refuge Spring Basecamp

Each year we like to offer the opportunity to watch summer come to life in the arctic, within the flexible setting of a basecamp trip. On this trip we’ll be camped in the mountains at the edge of the coastal plain in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This beautiful setting offers expansive views and great hiking, with the chances of seeing caribou, wolves, and bears, along with newly arrived birds nesting after their epic flights back to the arctic, and resilient tundra plants bursting into life after the long winter.

While the early June timing adds its own exhilaration, this trip has a relaxed pace, with plenty of time for hiking and individual interests such as photography and bird watching, and endless hours under the never-setting sun.

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!