Hiking the Gates of the Arctic Oolah Traverse
- 9 Days
- Accommodation: Camping
Most people think of Alaska as a place to visit, to take in from a safe distance—standing on the deck of a cruise ship or from the window of a tour bus. But you’re not most people. If you’re here, you’re looking for something more.
Twice a year, you can embark on a 10-day expedition designed for those who crave true immersion in the wild. Wrangell’s Wild Magic Basecamp takes you deep into the heart of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park—America’s largest and least explored wilderness.
Dropped by bush plane into remote backcountry, you'll spend three days in one basecamp before moving to another, each offering a fresh perspective of this vast, untamed landscape. This is an opportunity for those looking to disconnect from the ordinary and step into the wild on nature’s terms.
Use the coupon ADVENTUREFIX at checkout, and get 10% off this trip.
Welcome to Anchorage, where the mountains and oceans meet and (this time of year) the sun never sets. This is the hub of Alaska and where many a wild adventure have started!
Join us at our gorgeous Air Bnb anytime after 3pm and make yourself at home. We’re staying at one of the most beautiful places in the heart of Anchorage away from the hotel and cruise ship crowds. We’ll meet up at 5:30 to get to know each other, talk about our upcoming adventure, share goals for the trip, go over gear, and share a great meal complete with local Alaskan beer.
In the morning we’ll have a delicious breakfast before a short 15 minute drive to Merrill Field. As the Alaskan saying goes, walk a month or fly an hour. In this case, flying turns an 8 hour drive into a 2 hour stunning flight across the Chugach mountains. If you’ve never flown in a bush plane you’re missing out on one of the greatest experiences in life, really. There’s nothing quite like seeing Alaska from the sky — breezing over tundra; spotting moose and grizzly; floating through massive glacial gorges with mile high walls of granite; watching the sun glint off rivers braided like lungs; seeing the tallest mountains in North America at eye level — it’s truly special.
Our skilled pilots will put us down in the small historic town of McCarthy where we’ll change to smaller planes and head deeper into the mountains. The pilots will fly off, leaving us in the bewildering silence and the awe of remoteness. We’ll hike a mile or less to our chosen basecamp and setup for our next 3 nights. That evening we’ll just rest and absorb the magnitude of the place. It may be sunny or pouring rain… but it’s always beautiful.
Basecamp hikes, delicious shared meals, relaxing evenings, cards, and campfires. When people ask me to explain the Wrangells I tell them this: imagine a valley where the lower 3,000 feet are like the rich green Scottish hills blooming with wildflowers, the middle 10,000 feet rivals the Grand Canyon with deep red towering cliffs, and the upper 3,000 feet is these massive snow capped mountains pouring glaciers down over the walls of the Grand Canyon.
Each day will be an opportunity to explore a new place. Our hikes won’t be pre-planned and they’ll all be off trail. The alpine nature of the place means we’ll be able to avoid most bugs and bushwhacking, but not all. This is true adventure. If our group is bigger than six, we’ll have two guides and can hike in two groups each day. Some might chose a slow meditative saunter near camp while others may chose to go as far as their legs can take them. Each day will be a new co-creation with each other, the terrain, and the weather.
After lunch, bush planes with bulbous tundra tires will come to pick us up from our remote basecamp and whisk us to our next home. We’ll set up again and settle in for a relaxing evening taking in our new view. The flights spook some and exhilarate others. But everyone remembers them as a highlight. Not to mention that AK bush pilots are some of the wildest and most competent characters you’ll ever meet.
We’ll spend our days on long hikes exploring our new surrounding, sharing hot meals around a fire and possibly in the tents on a weather day. If you find yourself exhausted, you’ll have the option to spend some time in camp resting, reading, making art, playing the camp guitar — whatever suits you.
On basecamping trips we have a giant dome tent and camp chairs, so even if its a torrential downpour outside you can be cozy and laughing under the protection of the dome drinking a delicious hot drink. Because planes bring us in and out of these mountains, we still have to be very weight conscious. So other than the dome tent, chairs, and plenty of fuel for endless hot drinks, we still pack light like we’re out for backpacking.
Today is a bittersweet day. You’ll likely be really ready for showers. And you’ll be sad to say goodbye to the wild land that you’ve begun to call home. After breakfast the distant sound of engines will filter in. We’ll pack up camp and fly to McCarthy — a small mining town about 40 minutes away. Then we’ll have either two more flights or a flight a drive to get us back to Anchorage by mid to late afternoon.
From our drop off spot, you’re on your own to Uber back to wherever you’ve chosen to stay for the night. That night (after showers and clean clothes and hopefully not checking your email) we’ll have a group celebratory dinner at one of Anchorage’s coolest restaurants and say our goodbyes.
Genevieve T.
Being in a place like that without having to cary heavy packs was an incredible treat. I was so impressed by how seamless the logistics were! Jack truly went above and beyond at every turn to make this trip special.
Diana W.
I recommend this trip to all my friends. Hands down the greatest wilderness experience of my life! Oh and the food was beyond awesome!
Jamey L.
The food was excellent! I’ve never been in such a remote place and eaten so well. And the views from camp were truly astounding.