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BEYOND THE LAST ROAD: NORTHERN ALASKA TOUR COMPANY

radiant rays of motion.
Meeting the Communities of the North
One of the most meaningful aspects of the
company’s tours is the opportunity to visit
remote Arctic communities.
In Fort Yukon, visitors meet members of the
Gwich’in Athabascan community. In Utqiagvik—
formerly Barrow, the most northerly community
in the U.S. —visitors glimpse Inupiat life along
the Arctic Ocean coastline. These are not staged
cultural demonstrations designed for tourists.
They are intimate conversations with people
who have a rich cultural heritage and happen to
live in some of the most remote communities in
America.
“It’s not a created tour experience where
someone is putting on a show,” Hughes
explained. “It’s a true local host sharing their
subsistence but modern lifestyle.
Flying Beside Denali
Among the company’s most extraordinary
offerings is the Denali Summit Flight, an aerial
adventure that climbs above 20,000 feet for
views of North America’s tallest mountain.
Passengers wear supplemental oxygen masks
as specially trained pilots navigate the massive
There are places in Alaska that feel almost echoing the existence of a land from time peaks and weather systems surrounding Denali.
mythical, landscapes so vast and remote they immemorial. “If the day is right, the pilots are going to try
seem to belong more to imagination than More Than a Tour to achieve a little bit higher than the summit
reality. For many travelers, the Arctic exists as What makes Northern Alaska Tour Company just to make sure there’s no question,” Hughes
an idea— inaccessible and mysterious. But with unique is not simply the destinations they reach, said. “It’s not landing on the summit, it’s flying,
the Northern Alaska Tour Company, that distant but the philosophy behind the experience. so you are going to have an eye-to-eye view
dream suddenly becomes reachable. “We don’t just say yes to booking a tour,” with the summit of the tallest mountain in North
Founded nearly 40 years ago by a group of Hughes said. “We want to make sure it’s the America.”
Fairbanks high school friends armed with little right fit. Our guests are like visiting friends and This is a tour that is breathtaking, exhilarating,
more than curiosity, ambition, and a borrowed family. We want to know what they want to see and completely unforgettable.
Suburban, the company has grown from a because we’re sharing the region with them.” A Different Alaska
summer side hustle into Alaska’s premier Arctic That personal approach is woven throughout What Northern Alaska Tour Company
adventure operators. Today, their tours include every itinerary. Some travelers choose a single- ultimately offers is perspective.
not only the original drive tour of the Arctic day Arctic Circle adventure, while others spend In a world shaped by crowds and screens
Circle but also fly-drive combinations for visitors multiple days journeying north to the Arctic clamoring for our attention, the Arctic reminds
who want to experience more. Ocean. Fly-drive combinations pair flights with travelers how vast the world really is.
From the Yukon River and remote Arctic overland exploration, allowing guests to see the And perhaps this is why many visitors who
villages to the summit of Denali and the Trans immense scale of the Arctic from both the sky book a tour beneath the midnight sun in one
Alaska Pipeline, Northern Alaska Tour Company and the ground. season return to experience the same tour in
offers visitors a rare opportunity to experience a The company remains the only operator the winter beneath the aurora skies.
side of Alaska many have never realized exists. offering fly-drive Arctic Circle experiences and Because once you have stood at the edge of
Chasing the Edge of the Map overnight adventures along the Dalton Highway. the world, your perspective is never quite the
For many visitors, simply crossing the Arctic Under the Aurora Oval same again.
Circle carries a sense of accomplishment. It is one Winter transforms Alaska’s Arctic into For more information and to book a tour, visit
of those places that exists almost symbolically in something otherworldly, like a scene out of a www.northernalaska.com
the imagination. Yet what Northern Alaska Tour fantasy novel.
Company offers is far more than a geographic On the company’s overnight aurora tours,
milestone. guests travel to Coldfoot Camp, an industrial-
“The northern part of the state does not look era outpost deep within the Brooks Range
anything like the southern part of the state,” foothills. The accommodations are simple, but
explained marketing coordinator Kathy Hughes, that is not why people come.
who has worked with the company for more “This time of year, it’s all about location,
than two decades. “It’s entering into a different location, location,” Hughes said. “Coldfoot is
environment and learning the unique story of directly under the center of the Aurora Oval.”
that region.” Far from city lights and protected by
That story unfolds along the Dalton Highway, surrounding mountain ranges that help create
the industrial road made famous by the show statistically clearer skies, Coldfoot offers some
“Ice Road Truckers.” Travelers pass through of the best northern lights viewing conditions
the boreal forest, cross the mighty Yukon River, in Alaska. Guests spend their nights watching
stand beneath the shadow of the Brooks Range, ribbons of green, pink, and violet dance across
and watch the landscape slowly transition into the Arctic sky, while daytime excursions might
Arctic tundra stretching endlessly toward the include dog sledding, snowshoeing, or deeper
horizon. exploration of the Brooks Range.
It is not the Alaska of cruise brochures and This is the kind of mesmerizing experience
postcard harbors. This is Alaska stripped down difficult to describe until you stand there
to a vastness that calls to visitors in the wind, yourself beneath a performing sky alive with

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