I spent $1,750 to visit one of the US’s most remote national parks for a day: ‘I couldn’t stop crying’

Where we are going we do not need roads.

One of the most remote U.S. national parks is so far off the grid, the only way to get in is to fly or hike for miles—and once you’re near the 8.4 million-acre Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska, there are no trails or marked routes to guide you through the stunning terrain.

None of those obstacles stopped a Travel + Leisure reporter from taking the trip recently — a pricey caper that left her in tears, writes Emily Hart.

The avid landscape writer said the trip was the final stop on a one-off trip to visit all 63 national parks in the United States, which range from the most visited Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina to the Arctic Gateways of Alaska. attracted a paltry 11,045 visitors in 2023.

“This park is not the place where travelers stumble; it’s a place they have to look for,” Hart explained — saying there’s nothing to guide you there but your determination.

After arriving in Alaska — already a mess for most Americans — the intrepid traveler boarded another flight from Anchorage to the coastal town of Kotzebue, 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

From there, she had to book another flight to the park, on a local carrier. And forget sticking to a schedule, it seems – in the far north, weather delays are apparently the norm, with some travelers forced to cool their heels for days waiting, and there’s no guarantee the plane will to ever get up.

But finally, after earning $1,750 for her record-breaking day trip, her last flight made the quick trip — dropping her into “a world so untouched, it felt sacred,” the author wrote.

“The silence was almost overwhelming: just the faint sound of water beside me and the crunch of rocks under my hiking boots,” Hart said.

“I walked along the river. The water was so clear and blue that I could see every pebble on the riverbed and I couldn’t help but cry. Thinking back on the journey that brought me here—the 63rd national park I had visited alone—I felt calm.

The park tends to be busiest in late summer, while fall (mid-September, in the far north) means less competition for coveted space on the bush planes, along with stunning fall colors, the expert said. .

The tantalizing taste of tundra life comes as many of America’s national parks struggle with overcrowding — to the point where a growing number are forcing visitors to book their visits ahead of time.

This summer, travelers hoping for a glimpse of California’s Yosemite were expected to remember to make a reservation in advance — or risk being denied park entry upon arrival, The Post previously reported.

A similar system has become the norm for Montana’s über-popular Glacier National Park, which already required drivers of the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road to have a time-stamped entry permit, which can be hard to stumble upon during the peak. the season.

Without the system, say rangers at parks like Mount Rainier, which is easily accessible from Seattle and Portland by car, visitors would end up waiting hours to get in — clogging local roads and causing all kinds of traffic problems. others.