Unit 22B

Mount Bendeleben and Mount Boyan dominate the central plateau as reliable navigation anchors visible from distance. Limestone and Marble Cliffs provide conspicuous landmarks along certain ridgelines. The Bendeleben Mountains form a natural barrier across the unit's interior.

Coastal features—Golovnin Sound, Koyuk Inlet, Cape Darby, and Norton Bay—serve as geographic references and potential water-access routes. Rock Creek, Sourdough Creek, and Ridgeway Creek are major drainage systems useful for navigation and travel. Priest Rock and Square Rock provide additional reference points on the lower plateaus.

Nearly the entire unit sits below 5,000 feet, with most country in the 500-foot median range across open tundra and grassland plains. The Bendeleben, Darby, and Kwiktalik Mountains reach into mid-elevations, providing local relief and varied habitat. Forests are sparse overall—roughly 12-13% of the terrain, concentrated in river bottoms and protected drainages rather than hillsides.

The dominant landscape is open tundra, grassland, and barren rock, creating wide-open country with excellent glassing potential. Coastal marshes and meadows transition upslope to drier tundra, while mountain slopes support scattered willow, dwarf birch, and alpine terrain.

Access is the defining challenge—only 241 miles of roads across 7,800 square miles creates a density of 0.03 miles per square mile, among the sparsest in Alaska. Most roads cluster near settlements like Koyuk, Council, and White Mountain. Bush plane or boat access to remote drainages is essential for serious hunting.

The extreme remoteness and access difficulty mean minimal hunting pressure in most country, but reaching that country requires expertise, logistics, and often float-plane services. This is not a walk-in proposition; it's expedition hunting.

Unit 22B encompasses the upper Seward Peninsula, bordered by Norton Sound to the south and east with major coastal features including Golovnin Sound, Kwiniuk Inlet, and Koyuk Inlet. The unit stretches north and west across roughly 7,800 square miles of relatively low-elevation terrain punctuated by isolated mountain ranges. Scattered settlements like Koyuk, Council, Elim, and White Mountain mark human presence on the fringes.

The landscape transitions from coastal flats and river deltas to rolling tundra plateau, with granite ranges like the Bendeleben and Darby Mountains rising as the dominant topographic breaks. This is remote Alaska with minimal road infrastructure.

Moderate water throughout, with perennial streams and creeks carving the plateau in multiple directions. Rock Creek, Sourdough Creek, Ridgeway Creek, Quartz Creek, and numerous smaller streams provide reliable water access and travel corridors. McCarthy Marsh and Omiaktalik Lake offer larger water features.

Coastal bays and inlets surround much of the unit. Seasonal water in the form of snowmelt and tundra ponds supplements stream systems. This water availability significantly aids hunters in accessing remote valleys and ridges without extended dry-country logistics.

The unit holds moose, caribou, deer, goat, sheep, bear, bison, and muskox—substantial variety across diverse terrain. Lower elevations and coastal plains support caribou migration corridors and moose habitat in creek bottoms and willow areas. The Bendeleben and Darby Mountains provide mountain goat and sheep country on exposed ridges and cliff systems—glass extensively from distance given sparse timber.

Deer favor lower drainages and willows. Early season requires focus on higher ground and cool, windswept ridges; mid-season hunting follows water and migration patterns; late season concentrates on lower drainages as animals move downslope. The high terrain complexity and minimal road access demand solid navigation skills and self-sufficiency.