Discover the millennia-old Alaska Native travel corridors, the 1908–1912 gold-rush trail blazed by the Alaska Road Commission, oral histories in UAF's Project Jukebox, and classroom programs for students and teachers.
Read the complete historical essay covering Indigenous trade networks, the 1908 Otter Creek gold strike, Walter L. Goodwin's reconnaissance, roadhouses, dog mushing, the 1925 Serum Run, and the 1978 National Historic Trail designation.
Listen to first-hand oral history interviews with elders, mushers, and trailblazers via the University of Alaska Fairbanks Project Jukebox, and explore Arne Erickson's 1920 diary.
Download the official 13 MB Junior Trailblazer Activity Booklet created with BLM and complete hands-on activities about Alaska wildlife, mushing, and historic trail life.
Iditarod Trail to Every Classroom (iTREC!) brings place-based service learning, Alaska Native cultural landscapes, and outdoor stewardship into schools across Alaska.
The Iditarod National Historic Trail was designated by Congress as a National Historic Trail in 1978 to commemorate the last great American gold rush. It is a part of the National Trails System, which includes National Historic and National Scenic Trails across America. The below documents give further information and details about the trail, including a link to the Comprehensive Management Plan.
The Iditarod National Historic Trail Comprehensive Management Plan (1986)
The Iditarod National Historic Trail Resource Inventory (1982)
These and additional documents are available from ARLIS (Alaska Resource Library and Information Services)
The Iditarod Trail, a symbol of frontier travel and once main artery of Alaska's winter commerce, served a string of mining camps, trading posts, and other settlements founded between 1880 and 1920, during Alaska's Gold Rush Era. The Alaska Gold Rush was an extension of the Western mining frontier that dates from the California gold discovery of 1848. The Iditarod Trail was developed as a response to gold rush era needs. Its antecedents were the Native trails. Read more
Learn about the designation and management of the Iditarod National Historic Trail through primary documents.
This overview map of the historic trail can be viewed
or downloaded here.
Follow Arne Erickson on his journey along the Iditarod Trail in 1922.
Visiting Alaska and want to include the Iditarod Trail in your trip?
