Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve Information
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Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Photo from flikr
The park is located in the north-central part of Alaska
The Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve offers the outdoor adventure seeker one of the ultimate wilderness vacation opportunities within our national parks. There is mountaineering, rugged backcountry backpacking and camping trips, wild rivers to be floated whether by kayaking, canoeing or rafting, wildlife galore, dog mushing, cross-country skiing, and hunting and fishing. This is not your typical outdoor family vacation unless you aren’t the typical family! Check below for great Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve information.
Uniqueness
By establishing Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve (GAAR) in Alaska’s Brooks Range, Congress has reserved a vast and essentially untouched area of superlative natural beauty and exceptional scientific value – a maze of glaciated valleys and gaunt, rugged mountains covered with boreal forest and arctic tundra vegetation and cut by wild rivers. The charismatic mega-fauna include: moose, Dall sheep, muskox, caribou, wolves, and both black and grizzly bears. Several species of raptors call the region home during the summer so bird watching can be enjoyed as well as other adventure sports.
Congress recognized that a special value of the Park and Preserve is its wild and undeveloped character, and the opportunities it affords for solitude, wilderness, and adventure travel. Gates of the Arctic encompasses several congressionally recognized elements, including the national park, national preserve, wilderness, six Wild Rivers and two National Natural Landmarks. The National Park Service is entrusted to manage this area to protect its physical resources and to maintain the intangible qualities of the wilderness and the opportunity it provides for people to learn and renew its values. Northern Alaska is not the trackless wilderness that many people perceive it to be. Humans have continuously explored and lived in the region and used its resources for more than 12,500 years. For untold centuries it has been the homeland of Athapaskan and Inupiat people who used resources and occupied the land in a manner that preserved its integrity for the benefit of all Americans now and in the future.
From recent studies, we know that about 1,000 to 1,500 recreational visitors make their way into the park and preserve annually to float the rivers by kayaking, establish base campsites on remote lakes or backpacking through countless passes connecting drainages. Backcountry visitors stay for an average of 11 days during the long hours of light from June through September. Generally, these small, self-sufficient groups rely on bush planes with highly skilled pilots to drop them off and pick them up. Use increases in the autumn in the two preserve units where general hunting and angling is allowed. Winter recreational trips are a rarity and tend to occur from mid-February to May with the return of the sun.
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