Kobuk Valley National Park is among America’s least visited. Here’s why it’s worth going.

Kobuk Valley National Park doesn’t get many tourists.

The park saw just under 17,000 recreational visits in 2022, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less worthy of a trip.

“Kobuk Valley is one of the most unique and least visited national parks in the entire system,”  said Peter Christian, chief spokesperson for Public Affairs for the National Park Service’s Alaska region. “It’s hard to get to because it is so remote, but once you do, the reward is sand dunes and snow-capped peaks and, if you’re lucky, thousands of caribou.” 

He said the park also protects the traditional way of living for Alaska Natives whose ancestors have lived on the land since time immemorial.

Here’s what travelers should know about Kobuk Valley, the latest national park in USA TODAY’s yearlong series.  

What is Kobuk Valley National Park famous for?

Kobuk Valley is known for its striking sand dunes.

“Sand dunes in the Arctic landscape are not what you would expect. Since most people associate sand dunes with a hot desert environment, it is a visually unusual thing to see,” said Christian, who worked at Kobuk Valley for four years. “In fact, what most people don't realize is that the Arctic is also a desert, with very low levels of rainfall.”

The park’s sand dunes date back to the Ice Age.

“Over time, the slow, grinding advance and retreat of the glaciers ground the rocks beneath them into a fine sand which was blown by the wind into the sheltered, ice free Kobuk Valley,” explains the park’s website, which notes the park’s Great Kobuk Sand Dunes are “the largest active, high-latitude, dune field on Earth.”

The park is also widely associated with caribou, which migrate through the park in the spring and fall.

“The spectacle of tens of thousands of caribou crossing the Kobuk River is unparalleled,” Christian said. 

How big is Kobuk Valley?

Kobuk Valley National Park spans 1.75 million acres of northwest Alaska. 

Can you visit Kobuk Valley National Park?

Yes. Kobuk Valley is open all year round.

Joe Dallemolle, district ranger for Western Arctic National Parklands, said the vast majority of visitors are local, Native residents who “highly rely on the park's protected resources for subsistence activities, such as hunting, fishing, berry picking, wood gathering, etc., much like they have for thousands of years.”

Who are the Native people of Kobuk Valley?

The park lies within the traditional homelands of the Inupiat people, who still live in the area.

“Part of the motive for Congress to establish the park, which is still true today, is its rich cultural and archeological history dating to around 10,000 years ago by the ancestors of the Inupiat people,” Dallemolle said.

What does Kobuk mean?

"’Kobuk’ is an Inupiaq Eskimo word meaning ‘big river,’ ” according to the park’s website, which notes that past spellings have included Kowak, Kowuk, Ku-buck, Koowak, Kooak, Kopak, Kubuk and Kuvuk.

How much does it cost for one vehicle to enter Kobuk Valley National Park?

Kobuk Valley National Park is free to enter, but forget about driving. 

“As there are no roads, visitation to the park requires some planning, and transport is conducted via bush plane, boat, snowmobile, and dog sled,” Dallemolle said. “Most visitors are local area subsistence users, with a much smaller portion of tourists that fly to the Sand Dunes to hike, camp, or just take photos in the summer and others that may float the Kobuk River and its tributaries. World-class guided fishing also attracts a small number of visitors in the summer.”

Travelers can take an authorized air taxi from Anchorage or Fairbanks to the park. 

What animals live in Kobuk Valley? 

Kobuk Valley is home to a wide array of wildlife.

In addition to caribou, the park’s many mammal species include moose, grey wolves, brown bears, wolverines, arctic foxes, snowshoe hares and muskox, which are native to Alaska. There are also all kinds of migratory birds and fish.