Page 232 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Alaska

230  ALASK A AREA B Y AREA

6 Kotzebue in the US National Park Service.
(The parks themselves are very
550 miles (880 km) NW of Anchorage.
Transport map C2. * 3,200. ~ remote and require bush flights
n 258A 3rd Ave, 442- 3401. and total self-sufficiency for the
∑ cityofkotzebue.com duration of the trip.) The heritage
center also provides an interest-
Located on the shores of the ing introduction to Inupiat culture
Chukchi Sea, Kotzebue, with a and houses a bookstore and
75 percent Native population, gift shop. Educational programs
is the commercial, economic, are offered, along with occasional
and political center of the Native dance performances
Northwest Arctic Borough. and blanket tosses.
A gateway to the Kobuk Valley
National Park, the site, which E Northwest Arctic
has been occupied since at Heritage Center
least the 15th century, lies 171 3rd St. Tel 442-3890, (800) 478-
26 miles (43 km) north of An Inuit woman drying salmon 7252. Open Jun–Aug: 9am–6:30pm
the Arctic Circle on a 3-mile- near Kotzebue Mon–Fri, 10am–6:30pm Sat; Sep–May:
(5-km-) long sandspit at the 9am–noon & 1–6:30pm Mon–Fri. 7
end of the Baldwin Peninsula. are long and summers are brief = ∑ nps.gov/kova
Kikiktagruk, its Inupiat name, and intense. Take a walk along
simply means “the peninsula,” the shore south of town to 7 Kobuk Valley
and its modern name honors view local fish camps where
Otto von Kotzebue, a German fish, seal, and walrus meat are National Park
who arrived in 1816. smoked and dried. In the heart 125 miles (200 km) E of Kotzebue.
The economy of modern of town, the cemetery is well Transport map D2. ~ charter
Kotzebue depends largely worth a visit for its beauti fully plane from Kotzebue. g charter
on the Red Dog Mine, a lead decorated graves, or head out boat from Ambler. n 171 3rd Ave,
and zinc mine 100 miles on the dirt road east from Kotzebue; 442-3890, (800) 478-7252.
(160 km) north of town, which Kotzebue to explore the rolling ∑ nps.gov/kova
employs hundreds of workers tundra stretching to the
and provides a good income horizon. Be sure to pack head Situated between the Baird
for the North west Arctic nets and mosquito repellent, as and Waring Mountains, Kobuk
Native Association (NANA). well as a good supply of water. Valley National Park is a
Kotzebue also has Alaska’s The National Park Service’s sanctuary for the area’s range
only power grid that is Northwest Arctic Heritage of Arctic wildlife, including
supplemented by electricity Center has a wealth of exhibits caribou, grizzlies, and wolves.
gener ated by windmills. on Kobuk Valley National Park, The park’s most visited
Kotzebue is not a major Cape Krusenstern National attraction is the Great Kobuk
tourist destination, however Monument, Noatak National Sand Dunes which lie along
visitors to the area will get an Preserve, and Bering Land Bridge. Kavel Creek, a tributary of the
idea of what life is like in this These offer visitors a taste of Kobuk. Covering over 25 sq
harsh place where the winters some of the least-visited units miles (65 sq km), the dunes,

Fall migration of caribou through Kobuk Valley National Park

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