Gates of the Artic National Park Alaska – August

Assuming you don't have anything left to gain fitness and skin toughness-wise, I would start by getting rid of the toilet paper and using moss, which simplifies things a lot. The down mat also seems heavy. I don't think you need such a big pad. So there's about a half pound saved.

If you have the Houdini, you don't need the nylon shirt nor the neck flap of the OR hat; you could bring a visor instead, like their Radar Visor, which folds up.

What about gaiters for keeping debris out of your shoes, esp. when crossing rivers and streams? OR Sparkplug gaiters are 1 oz.

I wouldn't worry about shreding your light rain pants because you'll get wet anyway, and your pants will get shredded eventually, so just go for it.

I would bring the fleece over the down for warmth when going through the car wash ( wet willows), and take the heavier hooded synthetic jacket for drying your clothes on the move.

If you already own it, I would take the Ultamid for interior gear explosion space and ease of setup.

I think you can skip the bug tent due to cold temperatures.

https://youtu.be/7MOQj49jcPM

Have fun and post pictures!

I do have a couple of pairs of gaiters, an old pair of Integral Designs eVent Shortie gaiters and a pair of Simblissity Levagaiters. I don't normally wear gaiters but I could bring them if needed.

Does the bearikade hold all your food? The Bears there aren't habitated to getting food from humans. You're not wrong to bring it, but I wouldn't. Likewise the bear spray. I prefer making noise – it's more effective with better outcomes for both species.

Too cold for Mosquitos in the Brooks Range in August ?!?
No! Be prepared to sleep and to hike with potentially dense clouds of Mosquitos and white socks. When it's windy, you may not need a head net and bug shelter, but when it's calm, you will.

Look up Manfred's trip report from last August. I hiked in with them the first day and it was spectacular, remote wilderness.

No GPS? No PLB? Certainly can be done. Everyone did that 25 years ago. Much less common now.

Half an ounce of DEET isn't much for 10 days continuously outside in Alaska in Summer.

I am not sure if the bearikade can fit all my food but it should if I pack carefully. I packed 6 days worth of food in a bearvault solo a few years ago before I got the bearikade. I will be above treeline much of the trip what would you do with your food?

If I can get by without bear spray I will but don't want to do anything.

Good to know about the Mosquitos. I will have to use my Ultamid and inner I guess. It's not much heavier than my Golite but it just seems like overkill for one person and is a little harder to find a good spot to pitch.

I am going with a group and will have a sat phone and a few maps and compass between us. I am just not sure who is going to carry what at this point.

I will probably get my clothes permithian treated before the trip in that case as well.

I have a new cog to add to the shelter insert wheel – I have a 7.2oz SMD Meteor Bivy I forgot I had. I think it could be used with the Golite or the HMG Mid. I have never used it with the golite, but did use it a few times with tarps in the past.

Do you think I would have condensation problems at the foot end of the bivy with my quilt?

Due to work my trip is being pushed to late August. I tintitively will be going August 24-Sept 4. How will that change conditions with bugs? Will I need to bring warmer gear?

Cool trip! We were South of there same time frame. I never took off my wool Indy hoody It was comfortable wet/dry.Also nice to have a 100wt fleece top or vest.With a down bag I'd lean toward the Cocoon hoody Apex.Fires are nice to keep bugs away and fix your feet,dry socks,boost moral,ect.Good to have a closed cell sit pad for that and a cook pot you can fire cook with,group gallon or short flat 1.3 ltr. with top bail.Nice to have some foot lube if you think feet will stay wet.I'd put the bivy weight into more insulation.You are as strong as anyone I've hiked with!You have the motor….just be sure to have ankles ready for sidehilling/offtrail travel.
Great fall colors up there!Have a super trip!!

Hey Alan, thanks for the input. I have a 100 fleece top on my list. I could add a 3.3oz 1/8 thick pad to put under the exped and use as a sit pad.

The bivy would be for bug protection not warmth. I am not a bivy fan, but dont have a ton of options for bug protection and am looking for a light option.

I am trying to pick a baselayer for this 11 day trek through the Gates of the Arctic National Park. I am going the last week of August and the first few days of September. I know that it very well be cool and wet the whole trip.

I have the following baselayers I am considering:
Patagonia Merino 1 L/S Crew (120g/m merino/poly blend)
Smartwool Lightweight L/S Crew (190g/m merino)
Railriders Adventure Shirt (supplex nylon)

I have also considered purchasing the following baselayers:
Patagonia Capiline 4 Hoody – would this be too hot in this time of year?
Ibex Indie Hoody

Any suggestions?

So in this sense you mean your standard next-to-skin layer? If so the Patagonia Capiline 4 Hoody would be too warm when hiking on warm days.

I think any of the baselayers you already have will work as long as it compliments the rest of your gear. I'd bring the nylon shirt if I had good sleeping clothes and a warm fleece for during the day if needed.

Another thing is that you don't need to sweat minor differences in your gear list too much. You'll be fine and it looks like you are making very sensible choices. Thirty years ago I used to parachute to remote Alaska forest fires with a cotton hooded sweatshirt and a garbage bag for rain gear!

>"I tentatively will be going August 24-Sept 4. How will that change conditions with bugs?"

It might. Around my area in Kenai, by mid September, we've often gotten our first two consecutive clear, calm, cold nights and a decent freeze. That knocks the bugs down 90-95%. Winter comes sooner further north where you will be is late August might be a lot better than Summer, but climate change is really happening! We didn't get a winter last Winter, just an extended fall. So you could have no-freezing-nights and a frost-has-come plans and track the actually temps as you pack up. But bug-proof clothes and tent add so little to your weight (maybe a pound?). If they're bad, you'd happily carry another 5 pounds for good protective clothing and shelter.

Until there is snow on the ground, I wouldn't trim weight hoping for no bugs.

>"Will I need to bring warmer gear?"

I've been snowed on while on the North Slope (on the Canadian side) on July 4th. So it can happen. Rather than low temps (which are often clear, dry nights), I worry more about mishaps – dumping in the river, getting all sweaty, etc. So synthetics that can dry as I wear them and head to toe wind and rain protection, even if it is a Hefty trash bag, are along with me in a setting like that.

Thanks for the replies Buck and David. I have already decided to send whatever hiking clothes I am going to wear to insect shield for a permanent (70 washing) permithian treatment. It's about $8 per garment but weighs nothing and will be well worth it if Mosquitos are still around.

I have also pretty much decided on picking up an MLD Bug bivy to put inside my Golite. I had thought about taking the MYOG SMD Meteor Bivy I have for bugs but I have gotten some condensation in it the few times I used it and know I may not get the chance to dry anything out this trip.

I will also have a head net and some 100% DEET if needed.

As far as base layers go I thought the cap 4 might be too much. I have just watched a few videos and read trip reports where people were cold and wet. Hopefully the sun will be out and we will get some decent weather.

I am not sure why I am fretting about gear this much, I actually think conditions will be similar to what I see here in the southeast in late fall, early spring, and milder winters: Rainy, humid, cool temps, little sun, and no chance to dry.

Updated gear list

Question on stakes: I am planning on using the 6" blue tubular Easton's. I also have 4 of the 9" gold Easton's that I can use for the corners if needed. Are the clue Easton's supplemented with rocks if need be enough or should I add the beefier good Easton's?

I'm sure I'm not the one you want answering, or should be answering, but I'm pretty sure you should expect soggy, saturated, loose, gunky sphagnum moss in a lot of areas. Others would probably be quite rocky. So take what you would use for the loose, rotten leaf ground we have here in the southeast, and expect to use counter measures such as rocks on top as well.

the weight difference can't be much, so I would suggest just taking four of the long ones. Definitely won't hurt to have the added holding power. Also, on rocky ground where you may not be able to sink the stake, you can tie the line around the center of the shaft and lie the stake flat on the ground and then stack rocks or logs on either end of it. (I'm sure I could have just said make dead mans with them) the extra length will help in that regard.

And you're list looks great btw. You made some really nice upgrades since the initial list. I bet you'll be looking forward to that nice dry set of cap 4's each night. ;^)

Have a fantastic trip Mr. Rogers. I hear Alaska draws you in and never lets you leave. Or maybe people just don't want to leave. :^)

>" I hear Alaska draws you in and never lets you leave. "

When I'd gotten to all 50 states, Alaska was the one I went back to the most often. And not I live here. So, yeah, it happens.

First thing I would nix would be baselayers. Do you really need them at night? Easy 10.5 oz lost.

Second the 52 oz Mc hale pack is heavy by a few pounds. But hyoh.

The McHale wasn't big enough for a Bearikade Expedition and my other associated gear so I am now looking at other packs. I am trying out an Exped Lightning 60 at 36.3oz and a Paradox Unaweep 4800 at 48oz. I am tempted by the Z-Packs Arc Haul but I wonder about its ability to carry 30+ pounds.

I have a couple of frameless packs and have about 1200 miles on my frameless SMD Swift (16.4oz). I could use that with a Zlite and maybe have enough room but it gets really uncomfortable once you get to 25lbs or so. I try to keep it at 21lbs or under.

Alaska tends to be very wet and humid and since the average high temps will be around 50*F in late August and the lows around 30*F, I will enjoy having warm dry clothes to change into at night. If I was going to the Sierras or Winds then I would be more willing to part with my camp clothes.

On a side note they just put a fire ban in effect for GoANP including stoves with no shut off valve. If that is still in effect, I will have to use my Snow Peak Gigapower. Who would have thought there would be a fire ban in Alaska of all places.

>" Who would have thought there would be a fire ban in Alaska of all places."

Anyone who lives at my house with all the smoke in the air and the fire bomber flying overhead. More so, anyone who drives through Interior Alaska like I did like week – constant hazy and rarely out of sight of a smoke plume. Last count I heard was 300 fires burning in the State.

Climate change is a settled question when all the glaciers around are receding quickly, trees are growing in places the oldest elders memories of the oldest tales don't include trees, and the tundra and taiga are drying out. There's a scary amount of carbon in our peaty soils waiting to be released slowly by decomposition or rapidly in "forest fires" (we can can "forest fires" without trees, bushes or grass, because our ground burns when dry).

Here is a totally cool map of all the fires burning in Alaska: Map tracking AK fires. Just look at all those red pins!

There are currently none burning north of the southern Brooks Range foothills, but the rest of the state is seemingly wholly ablaze (and this isn’t even a bad fire season, so far). A couple of years ago, 5 million acres burned.

The fire bans in the park are now lifted.

The early forecasts are pretty lousy though. Hopefully things look better then they are saying now: High temps in the high 30's and low 40's for the first five days of the trip. lows are in the low 20's along with some rain (and I guess snow with those temps).

When I was in Alaska in June, visiting all the National Parks, Preserves, Monuments, etc. up there, the temps were high, especially when we got to the northern portion of Gates of the Arctic (the Northern Preserve designated portion nearer to Anaktuvuk Pass) and the bugs were the worst of the trip.

I've got to say though, after landing in every park, Gates of the Arctic is the one I want to go back to explore. I really want to do a trip that includes Walker Lake. Are you going out of Bettles or Kotzebue, or somewhere else? Sounds like you have a fun trip planned. Even with the high temps, I lived out of my Ibex Inde Hoody whenever something more than shorts and t-shirts were needed. It went on every flight (all 41 of them) and worked for everything from sun protection to just keeping my ears warm.

Here are a few pics from the Western part of the park, Ambler River. This was the last stop after Bearing Land Bridge, Cape Krusenstern, Noatak, and Kobuk Valley, out of Kotzebue

Oolah Lake in Gates of the Arctic Preserve, out of Bettles, with a stop at Anaktuvuk Pass on the way back.

We have a few options we have discussed and will be finalizing the details next week. What is for sure is we are flying out of Bettles and landing at Circle Lake where we will head inland up Arrigetch Creek (also planning on spending one night in Aquarius Valley) and then if the weather is good, go over the pass into the Awlinyak Creek Drainage to the northwest and follow it back to the Alatna river.

We have also discussed going south out of the Arrigetch Creek drainage into an unnamed drainage (at least on the usgs maps) and then south again over another pass into the Takahula Creek Drainage and on to Takahula Lake for a floatplane pickup.