Kobuk Valley National Park

Established as a national monument in 1978, Kobuk Valley in northern Alaska was designated a national park in 1980. Its 1,750,421 acres lie entirely north of the Arctic Circle. An ice-free area during the last ice age, the valley was a haven for hunters migrating east from Asia. Ancient hunting camps have yielded the bones of caribou, bison, bear, and horse, stone tools, and weapons used to kill and skin the animals. Vast, active sand dunes contribute to the arid aspect of the land south of the river. The dunes are the windblown outwash of melting glaciers.