Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve
Alaska
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
Last quarter
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Entrance
Free entry
This vast landscape does not contain any roads or trails. Visitors discover intact ecosystems where people have lived with the land for over ten thousand years. Wild rivers meander through glacier-carved valleys, caribou migrate along age-old trails, endless summer light fades into aurora-lit night skies of winter. Virtually unchanged, except by the forces of nature.
Activities
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
No closed times or seasons for Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve. Visitor Center hours vary greatly by location and season. See Visitor Center Hours for more information!
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 907-459-3730
✉ fair_information@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ⛅ Partly cloudy, 48°F
🌦️ 55°/42°
🌦️ 50°/44°
🌦️ 50°/36°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
0%
Feb
0%
Mar
0%
Apr
0%
May
13%
Jun
78%
Jul
100%
Aug
85%
Sep
40%
Oct
0%
Nov
0%
Dec
0%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
Backpack the Brooks Range's Arctic Wilderness
Float a Wild & Scenic River
Visitor centers
Anaktuvuk Pass Ranger Station
Arctic Interagency Visitor Center
Bettles Ranger Station and Visitor Center
Fairbanks Alaska Public Lands Information Center
Accessibility
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve — each spans a cross-park journey.
Bob Marshall
— Alaska, Wilderness, Wilderness AlaskaPassport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Anaktuvuk Pass Ranger Station
🎫 Arctic Interagency Visitor Center
🎫 Bettles Ranger Station and Visitor Center
🎫 Fairbanks Alaska Public Lands Information Center
Places to see
Anaktuvuk Pass
Arrigetch Peaks
The Gates of the Arctic
Walker Lake
Audio & media
Learn more
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Microgrant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Microgrant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2013 Microgrant recipients and their outreach projects.
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Microgrant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Microgrant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2014 Microgrant recipients and their outreach projects.
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Microgrant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Microgrant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2015 Microgrant recipients and their outreach projects.
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Science Education Grant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Science Education grant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2016 Science Education Grant recipients and their outreach projects.
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Science Education Grant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Science Education grant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2018 Science Education Grant recipients and their outreach projects.
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Science Education Grant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Science Education grant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2019 Science Education Grant recipients and their outreach projects.
National park units in Alaska precede the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916. The first park unit, Sitka National Monument, was conceived in 1908, and by the mid-1920s four national monuments along with Alaska’s first national park were part of the growing park system. Discover how the early 1900s and observations of a few helped to establish the National Park Service in Alaska.
Read the abstract and get the link to a science review on the hydrological and water quality changes occurring in Arctic streams: Koch, J. C. and J. A. O'Donnell. 2025. Observing northern high-latitude river systems to understand changes in a warming Arctic. Current Climate Change Reports 11: 5.
Ranger School
Park-grounded courses you can learn with the Ranger.
How Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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