50 free Gates of the Arctic National Park trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Gates of the Arctic National Park trivia quiz covers the vast, roadless park that sits entirely north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska's Brooks Range, the northernmost and least-visited national park in the United States. Questions cover the geography (eight and a half million acres, six wild rivers, Walker Lake, Mount Igikpak, the Arrigetch Peaks), the climate that swings from −75 °F to 90 °F, the tundra and boreal forest, and the caribou herds that stream through twice a year. History covers 12,500 years of nomadic hunters, the Nunamiut and the founding of Anaktuvuk Pass, forester Bob Marshall's 1929 naming of the 'Gates', his bestselling Arctic Village and his Wilderness Society, the Park Service's 1968 proposal, Jimmy Carter's 1978 monument and the 1980 Alaska lands act, plus the Dalton Highway, the pipeline and the proposed Ambler Road. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. If you enjoy this one, try our Denali and US National Parks quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The park lies entirely north of which line of latitude?
The Arctic Circle
It protects the central Brooks Range of northern Alaska and is the northernmost national park in the United States, as well as the least visited.
Q 02How many recreation visitors did the park record in 2021?
7,362
Its remoteness and total lack of infrastructure make it the least visited national park in the country.
Q 03Roughly how long is the Brooks Range, which the park protects the centre of?
About 700 miles
It stretches across northern Alaska into the Yukon and is thought to be about 126 million years old; its high point is Mount Isto at 8,976 feet.
Q 04Who named the 'Gates of the Arctic' in 1929, and what were the gates?
Bob Marshall; two peaks flanking the North Fork of the Koyukuk
The forester and wilderness activist named the two peaks flanking the river as the portal to the Arctic.
Q 05What is the name of the two mountains that form the 'Gates'?
Frigid Crags and Boreal Mountain
Boreal Mountain stands 6,375 feet and Frigid Crags 5,501 feet, facing each other across the North Fork of the Koyukuk.
Q 06Bob Marshall's bestselling 1933 book about the tiny Koyukuk settlement where he lived was called what?
Arctic Village
He called Wiseman 'the happiest civilization of which I have knowledge', recorded thousands of hours of conversation, and shared the royalties with the villagers.
Q 07Which conservation organisation did Bob Marshall spearhead and largely bankroll from 1935?
The Wilderness Society
He died of heart failure at 38 in 1939; 25 years later the society helped pass the Wilderness Act, and Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness bears his name.
Q 08Which president proclaimed Gates of the Arctic National Monument on 1 December 1978?
Jimmy Carter
He used the Antiquities Act because the Alaska lands bill was stuck in Congress; Johnson had declined Stewart Udall's request to do the same in 1968.
Q 09Which 1980 law turned the monument into today's park and preserve?
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
ANILCA passed on 2 December 1980; the earlier 1971 Native Claims Settlement Act had forced the review of federal lands that led to it.
Q 10How large are the park and preserve combined?
About 8.5 million acres
That makes it the second-largest park unit in the country after Wrangell–St. Elias; about 85 percent is designated wilderness.
Q 11Together with the adjoining Noatak backcountry, the park's protected core forms what?
The largest contiguous wilderness in the United States
The Noatak basin next door is also the largest undisturbed river watershed in the country.
Q 12How many roads, trails, campgrounds and visitor centres are inside the park?
None at all
Visitors arrive by bush plane or hike in from the highway to the east; a few informal ATV tracks lead out of the one settlement, but that is all.
Q 13Which road passes within about five miles of the park's eastern boundary?
The Dalton Highway
Q 21The boreal forest of black and white spruce gives way to tundra at roughly what latitude in the park?
About 68 degrees north
That line coincides with the spine of the Brooks Range; north of it mosses, lichens and shrubby willows take over.
Q 22What is the largest lake in the park?
Walker
It lies on the south slope of the range, 14 miles long and a mile wide; many park lakes sit in glacier-scoured basins or behind moraines.
Q 23How many Wild and Scenic Rivers does the park contain?
Six
The Alatna, John, Kobuk, North Fork Koyukuk, Tinayguk and part of the Noatak; the Kobuk stretch is the longest at 110 miles.
Built in 1974 as the haul road for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, it runs 414 mostly unpaved miles to Deadhorse; reaching the park from it still means fording a river.
Q 14Which Iñupiat settlement sits in the middle of the park, outside the wilderness designation?
Anaktuvuk Pass
Its 400-odd residents are the last Nunamiut community.
Q 15What does 'Nunamiut' mean?
People of the land
Unlike coastal Iñupiat who hunted whales and seals, they lived inland on caribou; the last two nomadic bands came together in 1949 to found the settlement.
Q 16What does the name Anaktuvuk mean in Inupiaq?
Place of caribou droppings
The 1949 trek of Nunamiut families 100 miles to Tulugak Lake and then to the John River headwaters is remembered as 'the Long Walk'.
Q 17Roughly how many caribou migrate through the central Brooks Range twice a year?
More than half a million
The Central Arctic, Western Arctic, Teshekpuk and Porcupine herds head north in summer and south in winter; shrinking snowfields may reduce their numbers.
Q 18How many brown bears live in the park and preserve?
About 132
That works out to roughly one bear per 100 square miles; black bears, wolves, wolverines and muskoxen share the range.
Q 19The park is the northernmost range limit for which animal?
Dall sheep
The white sheep cling to the crags; collared pikas, marmots and Arctic ground squirrels live lower down.
Q 20What temperature extremes can the park experience?
From −75 °F in winter to 90 °F in summer
The plant hardiness zone at the settlement's ranger station is 2b, with an average annual extreme minimum of about −43 °F.
Q 24The Noatak River rises in the park's Schwatka Mountains and flows how far to the Chukchi Sea?
About 425 miles
Its entire course lies in the far north and its whole basin is protected, making it the largest undisturbed watershed in the United States.
Q 25What is the tallest mountain in the park?
Mount Igikpak
Its Iñupiaq name means 'big mountain'; some sources give it 8,510 feet, and it was first climbed on 9 August 1968.
Q 26What does 'Arrigetch', the name of the park's famous cluster of granite spires, mean in Iñupiaq?
Fingers of the outstretched hand
The peaks were made a National Natural Landmark in 1968; the first successful climbing expedition reached them in 1964.
Q 27The range is named for Alfred Hulse Brooks. What was he?
Chief USGS geologist for Alaska
The Board on Geographic Names chose the name in 1925.
Q 28The park straddles a continental divide separating the drainages of which two oceans?
The Pacific and the Arctic
Rivers on the south slope run to the Yukon and the Bering Sea; those on the north slope run to the Arctic Ocean.
Q 29For how long have nomadic peoples lived in the Brooks Range?
As many as 12,500 years
The Mesa site at Iteriak Creek shows occupation between 11,500 and 10,300 years ago; the Arctic small tool tradition appears about 4,500 years ago.
Q 30Which Northern Athabaskan people fought the Iñupiat in a great 19th-century battle and retreated south of the range?
The Gwich'in
They had lived in the area for the previous thousand years; the Gwich'in name for the Brooks Range is Gwazhał.