Brooks Range Hiking

The Brooks Range stretches about 700 miles along northern Alaska and into Canada. It may once have been as tall as the Himalayas, but 126 million years of erosion have worn it down considerably. Now, its highest point, Mount Chamberlain, is just over 9,000 feet.

It is the remote location and lack of inhabitants that makes the Brooks Range an incomparable expanse of geography. Hiking from the Main Lodge at Iniakuk Lake starts about 700 feet above sea level and tops out 4,000 feet later. It is as strenuous as you want it to be, we have a few established trails for comfortable day hikes and recommend 15 minutes in a dense alder thicket to experience true exhaustion.

Latitude rather than altitude makes the difference in the Brooks Range where a few thousand feet can bring huge temperature differentials and changes in weather. Hiking at the Arrigetch Peaks Cabin in Gates of the Arctic National Park starts at about 1,000 feet above sea level and tops out at 7,000 feet for some of the most rewarding hiking in the range. The lowlands are heavily forested with few trails.

The Caribou Cabin, on the Continental Divide, sits atop the range at 3,000 feet above sea level, but the surrounding peaks are only 2,000 feet above. Hiking here is all above tree line, so the views are endless and the hardest part is deciding when to return home to the cabin. In this area prepare to share the mountain tops with caribou and Dall sheep.

Whatever your hiking interests and fitness level, the Brooks Range has something to offer and it’s our pleasure to help you discover it.