Northwest Arctic Basecamp - Bering Land Bridge & Cape Krusenstern

Trip Details

$4,595 /person - 5-Days

Your trip begins in Anchorage or Kotzebue, Alaska. Those joining the trip from Kotzebue will meet the group there after coming out of Kobuk Valley National Park on Day 1 of this itinerary. Those starting the trip from Anchorage will meet one of our team members early on the morning of Day 1 for a group orientation & gear check before boarding Alaska Airlines flight to Kotzebue – the largest city and central hub in the Northwest Arctic Borough. Kotzebue (AKA – Kotz) is located on a spit of land on the Baldwin Peninsula along Kotzebue Sound. It sits 33 miles north of the Arctic Circle and is primarily inhabited by Inupiat people, and indigenous group of Alaska Natives who have called the area home for thousands of years. Its rich cultural history highlights the Inupiat people’s subsistence lifestyle that relies heavily on fish, berries, and terrestrial and aquatic mammals.

The adventure will start with a 2-night camping adventure at the Serpentine Hot Springs deep in the heart of Bering Land Bridge National Monument. Accessible solely by bush plane, Serpentine offers an amazing hot spring and fantastic hiking through a landscape of rolling tundra hills and granite tors. You’ll then move by bush plane to Cape Krusenstern National Monument for another 2-night basecamp hiking adventure for more spectacular hiking, remote camping, and abundant wildlife viewing opportunities.

Whether the perfect add-on to our Noatak/Kobuk rafting & hiking adventure or an incredible adventure in the northwest arctic, this amazing trip will pay visits to Bering Land Bridge & Cape Krusenstern National Monuments – two of the most remote and certainly the least visited park units in the entire system. With world class birding, abundant wildlife, and remote access, these areas offer ample solitude, fantastic camping, and a window into 5000 + years of human history layered within the landscape.

Itinerary

Day 1

All meals included

If you’re starting this trip in Anchorage, a representative from Alaska Alpine Adventures will pick you up at your hotel early this morning. After an orientation and gear check, you’ll be taken to the airport for your morning flight to Kotzebue. If you’re finishing the Noatak/Kobuk expedition, your adventure continues! By afternoon, we’ll board bush plane for the flight from Kotzebue to Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and the airstrip at Serpentine Hot Springs. We’ll again set up our basecamp within close proximity of the hot springs, where we’ll spend the next 2 nights.

Day 2

All meals included, Hiking Distance: 7-10 miles, Elevation Gain: 500’-1000’

We’ll spend today exploring this remote and rarely visited conservation area on foot. The tundra covered hills are dotted with granite tors – weathered remnants of an ancient volcanic past – and the hiking in the area is outstanding. To finish each day with a soak in the hot springs is a treat like no other. Indigenous locals have used these hot springs for over 12000 years, and the springs themselves are purported to offer healing qualities as well as spectacular views of the tor studded hillsides.

Day 3

All melas included, Hiking Distance: 3-5 miles, Elevation Gain: 200’-500’

Today, after a healthy breakfast we’ll await our pilots for the next bush flight to Cape Krusenstern National Monument! A remnant of the Bering Land Bridge, Cape Krusenstern is a geologic wonder and offers a complex landscape beach ridges, mountains, rivers, lagoons, estuaries, and coastline along the Chuckchi Sea. After setting up camp, we’ll strike out on an afternoon hike to stretch our legs and survey the wonder of this park unit that sits entirely above the arctic circle.

Day 4

All Meals Included, Hiking Distance: 8-10 miles, Elevation Gain: 300’-800’

We’ll spend the entire day exploring this extremely remote and spectacular National Monument. We’ll scan the ridges, valleys, and creeks for muskoxen, caribou, bears, and wolves, and the skies for the countless species that summer and nest in the monument. The hiking in the monument can be challenging, but we’ll take our time and enjoy the solitude and splendor of this wilderness environment.

Day 5

Breakfast & lunch included

With the memories of this amazing experience still fresh in our minds, the sound of the bush plane will remind us of the civilized world we left behind. We’ll return to Kotzebue today, where we’ll transfer to commercial flights bound for Anchorage and the conclusion of our adventure by 11PM. We will transfer you from the airport to your local accommodations in Anchorage.

What's Included

All group gear: Expedition quality tents, group tarp, all cooking equipment & eating utensils
All toilet supplies including TP, trowel, and hand sanitizer.
Water treatment options.
Safety Equipment: Satellite phone, Garmin InReach, maps, and medical kit
Trekking poles
Roundtrip air transportation from Anchorage to Kotzebue
Roundtrip bush flight transportation from Kotzebue into the wilderness
Professional guide service at a maximum 4:1 client to guide ratio
All meals from lunch on day one through lunch on the final day of the itinerary

Alaska Factor: The Real Deal

While Alaska Alpine Adventures endeavors to follow our itineraries as written, odds are in fact slim that you actually will during the camping portion of this trip. The expeditionary factors at play quite often compel our guides to deviate from the written itinerary. Guide considerations could include weather conditions, group preference, individual ability, specific safety considerations, or unforeseeable circumstances; collectively what many have called “The Alaska Factor.” Flight times into and out of the wilderness may also vary based on any number of similar factors. Therefore we strongly suggest that you approach any adventure in Alaska with an open mind.