Point Barrow

Point Barrow - known to the Inupiat as Nuvuk - is a low, gravel spit on the Arctic coast of Alaska that marks the northernmost point of the United States, reaching to about 71.4 degrees north, more than 300 miles above the Arctic Circle. Here the Chukchi and Beaufort seas meet, and the land trails off into a frozen ocean that stays locked in sea ice for much of the year.

Just south of the point lies Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), the northernmost town in the U.S. and one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in North America, home to the Inupiat for well over a thousand years. The sun does not set here for about 80 days in summer and does not rise for some 65 days in winter. Bowhead whaling, polar bears, and a front-row view of a rapidly warming Arctic define this remote tip of the country.

• Alaska
  The largest U.S. state, a sub-Arctic giant related