Grand Canyon of the North: South Nahanni River - NWT - Canada (part 1)

You filled me with a wild desire to know everything about life.

Oscar Wilde

Dryas, so wispy and whimsical
Fields of them on the river's edges

The Nahanni River became the very first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1978.  Others included the Galapagos Islands, Mesa Verde National Park and Yellowstone National Park.  It is considered an ‘antecedent’ river. While many rivers are created by mountains, the South Nahanni had carved its meandering path hundreds of millions of years before tectonic plates pushed up the mountains around it.

It became one of forty Canadian Heritage Rivers in 1987 and is filled with four canyon systems and some karst landforms.  Longer than the Firth River, it only has mild Class III rapids, so it can be canoed. 

Some of its canyon walls are as tall as 4,265 feet (1,300m).  During the most recent Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago, most of Nahanni National Park Reserve was not covered by ice, creating unique terrain within the park.  It is prone to flash floods due to its distinctive topography.  The sheer walls of its four towering canyons (Fourth, Third, Second, and First as we head East towards the Liard River), in place reaching 3,280 feet (1km) high, funnel rainfall directly into the river, with immediate results.

We start at the Virginia Falls, also called Na’ili (in Dene), meaning 'big water falling down'.  In an area where horseflies are called bulldogs, you can tell everything is bigger and more intense, the more remote you get.  

Stay aware of your environment.  Be present.  

Red line = South Nahanni River.  Flying from Fort Simpson to Virginia Falls
where the rafting/canoeing starts.
Will be traveling from the Mackenzie mountains (west to east ) to the Liard River

Beautiful birchbark basket with colored porcupine quill flowers.

Local First Nation folks still work with beads and furs.

Close up of birchbark basket with natural colors porcupine quills.

The Mackenzie river is too low for barging materials to the people on this side of the river,
its banks continue to erode.  Bringing material by plane is very costly. 
Not sure what the future holds.  May have to build a bridge.

Largest teepee.  First built in 1984 for an upcoming visit from Pope John II.
Rebuilt in 2017 with yellow cedar logs as old as 750 years.  Height 55 feet. 
The spiral at the top faces the setting sun. 
Can watch the building of it on HGTV 4/16/2017 program.

At forefront, a monument to the four corners, four elements.
Overlooking the junction of two large rivers: Mackenzie and Liard

Old barn built in 1920.  Last standing historical barn in the area.
Experimental farm closed in 1968 due to lack of potential.

Fort Simpson was 'built' (natives had been here forever) in 1822 by the Hudson Bay Company. 
This McPherson House was built in 1936 and housed a family with nine kids. 
They rented the land from the Hudson Bay Company. 
Overlooking two large rivers where it was really convenient to come to trade, especially fur.

As in the Yukon, the North West Territories only has 41,000 inhabitants, the majority of whom live in and around Yellowknife.  The NWT is 2.3 times the size of Spain, whereas the Yukon, with approximately the same amount of population is the same size as Spain.  All this to say - it is very sparsely inhabited.  There are definitely more animals living here than humans.  

Speaking of animals, we saw Dall sheep, wood bison, a lynx (I was the only lucky one who saw it), harlequin ducks, a moose, and wolverine tracks.  This area is also home to grizzly and black bears but we didn't get to see any.  

Often nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the north, it only gets between 800 and 1,300 visitors per year, many of whom only coming for a day or two, not going down the whole river.  Comparatively the Grand Canyon in the US gets five million visitors per year, again, not all going down into it or rafting it, just total visitors.  

It is a flagship river (most well-known and a bucket list item) for many Canadians.  Some of it is due to the vast collection of legendary characters, adventurers who visited here and were written about.  Some of it due to myths, tall tales, controversies and finely-crafted romances that have marked this storied river as a place of mystery and danger.  One for the manly man.

The whole valley came to the attention of the rest of the world (not just Canada) during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890's.  

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau visited this area in 1970.  With his influence, the park was created in 1976.  Famous singer Gordon Lightfoot wrecked his canoe here in 1980 and wrote a song about it: My Canary Yellow Canoe.  Another Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, expanded the park six folds in 2009 but he's barely ever mentioned in the history of the park.  

You can read the book The Dangerous River by Patterson one of the men who named many of the iconic landmarks of the river such as The Gate, Pulpit Rock, Lafferty's Creek, and Sheaf Creek.  

As Canada's 'Holy Grail' river of legend and literature, it is not the biggest river in the country but certainly its most famous.

Smokey sunrise over two rivers, the Liard and the Mackenzie

Twin Otter for the majority of the folks and supplies going to Virginia Falls. 
I went on a Cessna 185 with one other person. 
I prefer the smaller plane as we flew lower and slower and could see better. 
Our pilot was Jenny, she was the best. She flies planes in Antarctica during the winter...

Little Doctor Lake as you enter the Nahanni National Park Reserve. 
It cuts right through a mountain chain and is 800 feet deep. 
The white you see in background is smoke from a new fire.
Told by the pilot that a unique type of fish was discovered in that lake.

So much meandering of two rivers lined with greenery.

Rivers meeting from five directions

My first view of the Virginia Falls. 
At 315 feet (96m) , it is nearly twice as high as Niagara Falls. 
It is 850 feet (259m) wide.  The rock in the middle is called the Mason rock.

Rainbows are commonly seen - even from the plane.

Another rainbow view of Virginia Falls, above the fall are Sluice Box Rapids.
Considered the continent's most spectacular undeveloped waterfall.

The small Cessna I was on docked at the Virginia Falls campground in the
Nahanni National Park Reserve. 
The river is wider and straighter above the falls so this is where we 'landed'. 
We will need to portage to our departure point.

Wooden boardwalk within the campground and part of the portage,
to preserve the fragile flora below.

Boschniakia - Northern Groundcone a parasite (mostly of alders).

Where the 1.5 km portage begins. 
Small wheelbarrow-like way to bring supplies over to bottom of the waterfalls. 
I did five loaded trips on departure day (4.7 miles or 7.5 km).

Caribou lichen, a type of Cladonia.  What feeds the caribou in the winter. 
Also used as fake trees when making miniature model cities/towns.

The back of Mason rock in the middle of Virginia Falls. 
Notice the two small Canada Park Adirondack red chairs (middle right)?
So powerful, the roar of the water thundering by shakes your every bone

Arctic bumblebees have withe-ish butts.

Bearberry - nearly translucent in the sun.

Thundering water near tall precipice - some waves as high as homes
Mountain across river is called Sunblood Mountain. 
I hiked to its peak with Aidan, one of the guides.

Legend Machine

In 1905, brothers Willie and Frank McLeod ventured from Edmonton to the Nahanni to prospect. A third man might have joined them. When no one heard from the group for several years, Charlie McLeod went looking for his brothers. In 1908, he found their bones by a creek at the edge of the Nahanni’s Second Canyon. In doing so, he set in motion the formidable Nahanni legend machine. That’s because Charlie only recovered his brothers’ bodies — their heads were reportedly nowhere to be found. Today, this place is known as Headless Creek, in Deadmen’s Valley, amid the Funeral Range.  That story of the McLeod brothers provided a captivating sense of intrigue and mystery about the Nahanni.

The mystery of the McLeod brothers quickly turned into a media gold mine. Newspapers across the country seized on the notion they’d been murdered to cover up a gold theft, possibly by that third man whose body was never found. And if so, their gold mine must still be there for the taking. This prompted more trips to the area, and more deaths.  But never gold.

The legend thus grew that the Nahanni was a place of lost riches and incalculable danger. These stories were often embellished with other outlandish details.  Few people were likely to visit the remote and mysterious valley, but everyone enjoyed reading about its wonders.

As for the McLeod boys, the most probable explanation is that they suffered an accident or starved to death. The Nahanni’s remoteness meant anyone who got themselves into trouble had to get themselves out of it, or die trying.  It was probably only a misfortune.  Scavenging animals like bears and wolves most likely took care of the heads. 

By the mid-1940’s the valley’s death toll had risen to an unlucky 13, at which point, it once again became a media sensation.  Even today, it is a river that demands respect.

Flattened, colored, porcupine quill design
on the top of a moccasin (in progress).

Moose hair tufting.  Moose hair is very stiff, not at all what I suspected.  
The art of tufting only started after WWI
Preferred hair comes from shoulder or rump of the moose.

From the top of Sunblood Peak - 4,757 feet (1,450m)
You can see smoke from a nearby fire and the very top of Virginia Falls.

The Nahanni River, above Virginia Falls viewed from Sunblood Peak.
A ten mile hike (roundtrip) - 16km

Northern  Club-moss

Hike through a mature spruce forest before you reach Sunblood Peak 
Then walk down an open scree slope along the ridge

Last Chance Harbor - last place to get off the river (if you are very talented)
before the Virginia Falls (on the left).

Many fossils are found at the Last Chance Harbor.

Sunrise at a quiet dock, water so calm.

Toilets - this small building slides from right to left (on rails)
when it's time to take away the full 55 gallon drums. 
All of it gets flown outside the park - imagine the cost.

Zoe, one of the guides, bringing some supplies to portage down below the waterfalls.

Zoe, leaving for another load.

Aidan with another heavy load.

We took personal items with us. 
Some of us did more trips to help out.  I did five trips. 
Lovely background of the Virginia Falls.

Zoe using one of the 'wheelbarrow' to portage more stuff than only on one's back. 
She is a 'beast' - so strong and coordinated.

Aidan heading out for another load.
The Virginia Falls have four times the water flow of the Niagara Falls.
Named after the daughter of 1928 surveyor of this area.

Three red rafts, a bit smaller than the ones used on my last trip. 
A bit older too but still in very good condition.

Arctic Fritillary butterfly.

Our first leg of the trip is through Class III rapids. 
Park's rules say you have to wear helmets in Class III and above.

Kyle, our team leader, describing the first day of our trip. 
Always with a map and good humor.

Look at the colors of these cliffs and the white caps on the water.
Past the Virginia Falls, the average gradient of the river is 7.4feet/mile (1.4m/km)

The part we are in is called Fourth Canyon, the river is very silty.

Still Class III rapids but soon we will be taking our helmets off.

Ochre and black - interesting formation.

It almost looks fake, the yellow being so intense.

Changing to grey - hoodoo like formations.

From grey to nearly black.

Trees growing to the very edge of the steep cliff. 
We are so small compare to this background.

First campsite and there is smoke and reddish clouds on the other side of the river. 
We are keeping an eye out.  Messages have been sent to the park for updates. 
We can float downriver to escape if needed.

We end up staying at this campsite.  The smoke made for interesting skies.

Pink yarrow.

Tents by pond in field of dryas.
Background of smoke

Dryas seem to be the first plant to take over after rivers recede in spring/summer.

So many patterns

Fun looking, pinkish, wonderful
I could spend hours looking at them, twisted shut or open...

Beach erosion from the last high water from a rain a few days ago.

Sunrise - still a bit of smoke.
We camp mostly on gravel or sand bars 

Hot water for coffee.  Custom made coffee pot. 
Unlike last trip on the Firth River, fires are allowed in this park. 
We are carrying a lot less propane for cooking, using collected wood instead.

More on part 2.  Thank you for coming along this amazing journey.