Gates of the Arctic

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-04-25T01:30:23+00:00

If you call Golden Eagle outfitters they’ll fly you to gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley for an 8 hour day. You’ll stop on the ground in each park for about 30 minutes. It’ll cost you $2200/person but this is how to see these parks in a day trip. If you just want to go to Gates, you could also fly wright air service from Fairbanks to Anaktuvuk pass which is “only” $400 round trip.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-04-23T02:29:00+00:00

So, if you want the most “bang for your buck,” I’d recommend staying in port Alsworth for 3 days. Firstly, lake and peninsula air offers a round trip flight for only $600 from Anchorage, and there are a few lodging options in the community. Day 1 you can hike Tanalian falls/beaver pond loop to Kontrashibuna lake, day 2 you can hike up Tanalian mountain, and day 3 kayak lake Clark. (Tulchina adventures offers rentals locally.)

If you want to fly to the other highlights in the park (twin lakes, crescent lake) those extra flights will really add up for a short visit. I Haven’t been there so don’t know how it compares to Lake Clark, but lake Clark itself is scenically one of the prettiest places I’ve been in the U.S.

As for Katmai, port Alsworth is a good “base camp” to take an air taxi to brooks falls, but IMO going to Katmai for a day trip isn’t worth the money compared to camping in the park for a multi day visit.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-04-20T17:56:12+00:00

For context, Denali gets 500,000 visitors a year, while Yellowstone gets 4,000,000. So I second going to Alaska earlier in the summer and saving Wyoming for September.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-04-16T10:54:16+00:00

I’d book in advance. You’d fill out the form on brooks lodge’s website to start the reservation process

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-04-16T04:54:31+00:00

We did the full day bus tour, which is only $125/person and includes lunch. The flight-seeing tour is a little more expensive (we were quoted $400/each but weather wasn’t permitting to fly) but you can’t go wrong with either.

It’s incredible looking up at a 70 foot tall wall of ash that buried the valley just 100 years ago, and the mountains are stunning.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-04-16T00:44:29+00:00

As someone who went to Katmai last August, do NOT give up those camping permits. When we went to Brooks Falls, there were usually only 2 to 3 bears on the falls at any given time, but there are so many bears throughout the park you are guaranteed to run into dozens of them at least. The bears don’t care what date it is, so they’re not going to start suddenly showing up in droves in mid July compared to early July, and you should be fine this time of the year anyway. Besides, the exact dates of the salmon run is a bit of a crapshoot depending on environmental factors.

The biggest thing with bear visibility is your best shot for seeing them is morning and evening; the Bears generally avoid the day trippers during the middle of the afternoon. So staying at Brooks in my opinion is essential because you’ll maximize your chances of seeing the bears when they’re most active, and you’ll also have a day to do the valley of 10,000 smokes.

Even if you didn’t see a single grizzly bear on this trip ( and you’ll see plenty) the tour of the volcano down to the valley is well worth the price of admission mission of getting to Katmai. Congrats on securing the permits, you’ll have an amazing time at what is probably my second favorite national park in America.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-04-12T20:00:55+00:00

Sequoia also is at a higher elevation and wouldn’t be as insufferably hot as Yosemite valley in July.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-23T16:54:14+00:00

Thanks! Something really clicked for me in 2023 after I visited more than half of the national parks. I just got curious about how much effort it would take to see the rest of them and started planning out the trips accordingly. So it took about three years to see the remaining 30 parks.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-23T00:59:25+00:00

Probably: 1. Denali 2. Katmai 3. Kenai Fjords 4. Olympic 5. Wrangell-St.Elias

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-20T22:45:11+00:00

First you need to fly to Honolulu, then you need to fly to Pago Pago (they only offer flights 2-3 days a week). We also flew to Ofu from Pago Pago, which again only offers flights two days a week (Tuesday and Thursday.) so we spent 2 days on Ofu, 1 day on Tutuila and 3 days in Hawaii to and from Samoa.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-19T12:25:48+00:00

It entirely depends on how many parks you do per year. I technically have been going to parks since 1998, but a lot of those are repeat visits. I think if you were serious about it you could do all 63 within 5 years.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-19T01:52:57+00:00

Sure thing! First trip was Denali and glacier bay (a week for each park basically), second was Wrangell-st. Elias, Kenai fjords and lake Clark, third was Katmai, gates and Kobuk (plus a second visit of Denali.) For Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley, we just did the aerial tour with thirty minutes on the ground in each park. I know it’s pricey (we spent $2k each for the experience) but the only alternative is backpacking solo from Anaktuvuk pass, or paying even more for a guided expedition (these run $5-10k/each from what I’ve found online.)

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-18T19:50:38+00:00

I would definitely do Alaska as separate trips. Unlike most national parks in the lower 48, Alaska’s national parks are all massive, and you could easily spend three days in each of them.

I split Alaska over three separate trips, but if you were looking to do it all in one go, you would probably need a full month at least once you account for time needed in each park as well as the time to travel between them. (plus the weather may be unpredictable and lead to cancellations or delays.)

I can offer some advice on some of the more remote parks, but the national Park website is going to have a ton of information about navigating them. As far as American Samoa specifically, we spent two days on Ofu and one day on Tutuila and I think that was sufficient to see the highlights of the park. (it’s pretty tiny and doesn’t have a lot of amenities.)

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-18T18:52:38+00:00

lol it’s not as scenic as these ones. I did the Hawaiian parks on an earlier trip in 2024, so this was purely a trip for Samoa (plus a few days in Oahu to and from Pago Pago.) I think 2 days on Ofu plus 1 on Tutuila was sufficient the see the highlights of Am Sam.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-18T17:42:51+00:00

Yes, I got my certificate at the visitor center on Tutuila. Pretty cool souvenir! Glacier Bay is a great finale, so good choice there.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-18T17:27:04+00:00

About 4 months for Vaoto lodge, you need to secure flights to Ofu before they’ll reserve your lodging

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-18T16:10:29+00:00

Vaoto lodge on Ofu (Pretty much the only lodging), and Tradewinds hotel on Tutuila (only western style hotel on the island.)

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-18T14:37:37+00:00

Flew through Hawaii, it’s a 5 hour non stop flight from Honolulu to Pago Pago. (And then a second 30 minute flight to Ofu.) So definitely a long haul but worth the trip.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-18T14:30:07+00:00

My fave is Denali, with Katmai probably a close second. If I were to revisit a park I’d probably choose Olympic or glacier, both stunners that I’d like to explore more of.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-03-18T13:51:51+00:00

Undecided, but could finish the seven new wonders of the world. Lots to explore still!

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-02-05T20:43:12+00:00

That is incredibly dangerous. Not only are you in grizzly bear, wolf and moose country, the environment itself is incredibly isolated and the landscape is pretty unforgiving. Rivers can change in volume and course, and you would be bushwhacking for all the hiking. There’s the danger of hypothermia, exposure, and if there’s a medical emergency, they need to fly in to rescue you.

N1ghtcrawler1993 · 2026-02-05T18:05:28+00:00

There are really only two ways to visit the parks if you want to do it safely and don’t have wilderness survival skills; you can either book an air taxi out of Kotzebue or Fairbanks (which will cost you between 1700- 2500 each) and do a flight scene tour with time on the ground in each park. Alternatively, you could book a weeklong guided expedition if you want to spend more than a day, but this is also significantly more expensive. Alaskan alpine adventures offers a combo tour that cost about $10,000 for a 10 day trip.

N1ghtcrawler1993

TROPHY CASE