Key Information: Tour Duration: 10
day(s) Group Size: 3
- 6
people Destination(s):Alaska Specialty Categories:Hiking & Trekking Season: August Airfare Included: Yes Tour Customizable: Yes Minimum Per Person Price: 2775 US Dollar (USD) Maximum Per Person Price: 2800 US Dollar (USD)
Late August in the central Brooks Range is spectacular. The diversity within the plant community makes for an extraordinary array of color for autumn’s pageant. New mountaintop snows add an extra element to the already fine scenery. Late season also means that the night sky is a stage ripe for spectacular displays of northern lights. Our route down from the Continental Divide to the upper Noatak valley is along a caribou migration corridor and consequently you should expect to see caribou, sheep, bears and even moose regularly. On our last pass through this route we also got to watch a wolf pack on the move. This is really a picture perfect outing.
Your Itinerary:
Day 1:
Leave Fairbanks on scheduled flight to Bettles located on the southern flank of the Brooks Range and gateway to the Gates of the Arctic NP. Shuttle to the put-in in smaller air taxi service. Flight takes one over the Continental Divide - spectacular scenery. Establish camp. Local day hike.
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Day 2:
Begin hiking down to the side creek leading to Portage Pass. Caribou as well as bears and sheep should be seen regularly.
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Day 3:
This is a nice area for a day hiking day. If all goes well we will hike from a base camp.
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Day 4:
Continue hiking down the valley, enjoying fall colors.
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Day 5:
Today we should reach the pass.
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Day 6:
This could be another fine day to hike the high country from a base camp.
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Day 7:
Begin our trek down to the Noatak valley.
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Day 8:
We should reach the main Noatak valley.
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Day 9:
Fairly easy hike to our pick-up lake.
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Day 10:
We meet the pilot today and begin to retrace our journey, this time south bound. The flight back up the river will be a pleasant reminder of the trip and probably will make much more sense then when you flew in. In Bettles, we'll catch the mail plane back to Fairbanks and generally arrive in the late afternoon.
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