The Kobuk River begins in the central Brooks Range. The river's mid-section, as it passes through the Kobuk Valley, is wide, slow-moving and clear, and its banks and bottom are sandy. Three general landscape types exist within Kobuk Valley National Park: the Baird Mountains, the Waring Mountains, and the Kobuk Valley. The Baird Mountains, north and east of the river, are the western extension of the Brooks Range and separate the Kobuk and Noatak rivers. The Kobuk River runs through the lowland between these two sets of mountains. This area is largely covered by glacial drift and alluvial deposits, including clayey till, outwash gravel, sand, and silt. Kobuk Valley National Park is encircled by the Baird and Waring mountain ranges.

The Noatak River is classified as a national wild and Scenic River from its headwaters to the Kelly River.Kobuk Valley is not your ordinary national park. You'll find no roads, no snack shacks, and no parking facilities within the park. Kobuk Valley is a remarkable place to experience. An unexpected feature of the park are its vast and actively moving sand dunes, where in summer the temperature can climb above the 100s F. A rarity in the Artic, they are a relic of the last ice age, when glaciers deposited sand there.