This is true wilderness. Gates of the Arctic National Park is the northernmost national park, has no park facilities, and unsurprisingly it’s the least visited of all US national parks with about 10,000 guests each year.

Seeing Frigid Crags Mountain on one side of the Koyukuk River and Boreal Mountain on the other, activist Bob Marshall proclaimed it to be the “Gates of the Arctic” in 1929- a name that stuck.

If you’re one of the few who make the expedition, you’ll have plenty to explore: it has everything from sandy-shored lakes to rugged arctic peaks and 7.5 million acres in between.