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The South Nahanni River is unique because over its length of 125 miles it can provide canoeing opportunities for novices, moderately experienced, and expert canoeists.
Originating in the icefields of the Selwyn Mountains, the river slices through the Mackenzie Mountains to empty into the Liaird River 540 kilometres to the southeast. Approximately 300 kilometres of the course have been designated a Canadian Heritage River and is within the Nahanni National Park Reserve, an official wilderness area since 1972.
Virginia Falls, about 120 kilometres into the Reserve is the South Nahanni's centerpiece. Virginia Falls has twice the vertical drop of Niagara Falls. Spectacular in its own right, the Fall's terrain provides a growing area for rare orchids as well, one of many exceptional sites to be found on the River.
For average and novice canoeists, the calmest run is the three-day 120 kilometres from the River's upper reaches at Rabbitkettle Lake to Virginia Falls. Nevertheless, for this and other runs, guides and outfitters are recommended.
Beyond the Falls is another 135 kilometre run with four sets of major rapids, any of which is a challenge for experienced whitewater enthusiasts, whether canoeist, kayaker, or rafter. Generally, this section is a three or four-day trip to an area known as the Splits.
The Splits itself is a 70 kilometre meander across flood plains, bars, and secondary channels, a relaxing run, especially if the canoeist has just come down from the Falls. On the other hand, if the weather turns, strong currents and high waves can make it treacherous.
The canoeist's trip anywhere on the River can be abruptly lengthened. Sudden storms are not uncommon. Campsites are regularly flooded; rapids can become impassable. Water volume during normal times ranges from 55 to 1500 cubic metres per second. River width is a factor in that regard. At the Splits the width broadens to several kilometres but upriver is the Gate with a width of only a few metres, this in a canyon with 450 metre vertical walls.
The South Nahanni River area is wilderness: no Airstream trailers here; no roads here, nor any on the drawing board. Access is by plane or boat. Visitors must check in and check out. Depending on their plans visitors are advised to check ahead because weather and river conditions play greater roles than vacation schedules or flight plans from the city. In any case, access to the area requires registration, statements of purpose, permits, all of which should be done well beforehand. Officials can provide detailed information regarding river conditions, camping, provisioning, even clothing. Survival is not taken for granted in this region. Nor is wilderness preservation.
No-trace camping is a requisite for river journeys. While some landings have become favored campgrounds over the years, the mood of the river actually dictates location. It could be a sand or gravel bar, a narrow cliff shelf, or a comfortably sheltered shore location providing some early evening hiking opportunities.
Some spots warrant brief stop-overs. The prevailing karst topography, which escaped the Wisconsin glaciation, provides land formations, caves, underground rivers, even hot springs. Dall sheep and a trumpeter swan breeding ground are other attractions. Anglers can fish for their supper. Dolly Varden and Arctic grayling are plentiful, but elusive. Up near Rabbitkettle Lake and along some of the River's tributaries northern pike and lake trout can be found, but sport fishing is not the major attraction here. That distinction is the River's.
Guides and outfitters make the River trips safer and more enjoyable. People vanish in the South Nahanni area, though not lately. Deadmen Valley has its mysterious history dating from the gold prospecting days of the early 1900's. The Slavey Indians, who travelled this area before the fur trade, have handed down their own legends, made more real by the primeval grandeur of the terrain and the sometimes mocking, always unforgiving strength of the River.
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