Anaktuvuk Pass

Anaktuvuk Pass is a village of around 300 in the North Slope region of Arctic Alaska.

Understand

Anaktuvuk Pass rests at an elevation of 2,200 feet on the divide between the Anaktuvuk and John Rivers in the central Brooks Range and is the last remaining settlement of the inland northern Inupiat Eskimo. Anaktuvuk is an Anglicized rendering of the Inupiat word for "place of caribou droppings," and the village and the Anaktuvuk River are so called because this is a place where huge caribou migrations used to take place.

Get in

Various air services and bush pilots will fly you for a price from the large cities like Fairbanks or Barrow.

Get around

The entire village is walkable. In summer, locals get around everywhere using ATVs; in winter they use snowmobiles ("snow machines" in Alaska). And of course, nothing beats the convenience of Alaska's "bush taxi", the single engine airplane equipped with floats, skis or wheels, as the season requires.

See

• Gates of the Arctic National Park HQ, near the air strip.
• Simon Paneak Memorial Museum (a short walk from the village airstrip), ☏ +1 907 661-3413. M-F 8:30AM-5PM. The town's small but noted museum. $10.00. (updated Sep 2016)

Go next

Various air services and bush pilots will fly out you for a price to the large cities like Fairbanks or Barrow.