Jagged peaks, countless rivers, secret canyons and pristine lakes all contribute to the haunting beauty of the Brooks Range, spreading 600 miles across Alaska and northern Canada. Here is one the world's premier wilderness areas. Austere and forbidding one moment, soft and compelling with the subtle play of light and shadow the next, the Range offers a vastness not easily described. Twenty-four-hour summer days create a palette of golden light that suffuses the land, and we find that we rearrange our own rhythms in response to the explosion of light and life before us. Join Equinox Wilderness Expeditions to explore the arctic, observing the caribou migration on our spring and fall caribou base camps. We establish a temporary camp from which we take daily hikes into the surrounding country to observe caribou and other wildlife. This a a great way for photographers to enjoy the arctic, and for those who want to stay in one place for awhile.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), largest and farthest north refuge in the US, encompasses a huge swath of the Eastern Brooks Range, and contains the complete spectrum of arctic ecosystems, from boreal forest, glacier-carved valleys, glaciated peaks, crystal-clear rivers to the vast rolling coastal plain, and barrier islands of the Beaufort Sea. Within its 19.6 million acres, wildlife populations flourish in their natural habitat-- musk oxen, wolves, grizzly bears, polar bears, wolverines, Dall sheep, moose, arctic foxes, and the 120,000-strong Porcupine caribou herd.

Gates of the Arctic National Park encompasses much of the Central Brooks Range. Habitats and wildlife species are similar, with more moisture, and without the coast ecology, and with 400,000 caribou of the Western Arctic herd crisscrossing the land. Kobuk Valley National Park and Noatak National Preserve protect the Western Brooks Range. We time our trips to take advantage of annual wildlife migrations. Our trips to Gates of the Arctic and Noatak National Preserve begin in the small frontier outpost of Bettles, or Kotzebue, and from there we fly by bush floatplane to our wilderness destination.

We keep trip size small, so that we can more easily observe wildlife. Generally, a group consists of 2-5 participants and a guide-naturalist. Each of our trips begins with a spectacular 300-mile flight over interior and northern Alaska, crossing over the Brooks Range. From the seat of a small bush plane, you can begin to experience the vastness of this region. Trips to the Arctic Refuge begin in Fairbanks, then we travel to the Gwich'in Athabascan community of Arctic Village, where people still rely upon the land for subsistence needs. Trips may also begin or end in the Inupiat village of Kaktovik, at the edge of the Beaufort Sea.

Our trips coincide with the spring (early summer) and fall caribou migrations. If you enjoy day hiking and photography, moving at your own pace, with time to observe and photograph birds and wildlife, you will enjoy our base camps. We fly to remote locations, everyone sets up their tent, and the magic of 24-hour sunlight in our farthest north wilderness unfolds.