Firth River
Canada's Arctic Canyonlands
Departing Inuvik, Northwest Territories
Duration of Trip: 12 days
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"The Northern Yukon is an arctic and sub arctic wilderness of incredible beauty, a rich and varied ecosystem: nine million acres of land and animals... a place of contrasts, of an explosively productive but brief summer and of a long hard winter, of rugged mountains and stark plains. Its teeming marshes and shore lands give it a beauty equaled by few other places on Earth."
Justice Thomas Berger, 1977 |
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For a number of weeks each summer Canada’s Arctic explodes from a harsh white landscape into one brilliant with emerald greenery and brilliant wildflowers. Wetlands fill with Arctic grasses, rushes and sedges. Hillsides and ridges sweeten with blueberries, cranberries and cloudberries. Though above 66 Latitude, the weather is generally surprisingly hot and sunny. The annual precipitation is, in fact, low enough that the Arctic is actually classified as "desert."
The Firth River valley epitomizes the Canadian Arctic: It is celebrated within the protection of Ivvavik National Park, one of the most isolated national parks in the world. It boasts stunning scenery, deep cut canyons, exciting rapids, unlimited hiking opportunities, and a fascinating history of early exploration.
A vast array of birds congregate in a frenzy of feeding and nesting here in the 24 hour daylight. Arctic terns, golden plovers, bluethroats and other migrants from Patagonia, Antarctica and Siberia join year round residents such as the snowy owl, ptarmigan and hoary redpoll. Cubs and calves emerge with their bear sows and moose cows; seals and whales make use of open-water leads to whelp their young.
Grizzly bears, moose, wolves and wolverine are all found in Ivvavik Park, as are Dall’s sheep, marten and red foxes. Echoes of the singing vole serenade us throughout our duskless days, and comical Arctic ground squirrels share our campsites. Perhaps what draws most Arctic adventurers north, however, is the mystique of seeing shaggy muskoxen on the open tundra, and lithe Arctic foxes dashing after lemmings. And a spectacle that is unsurpassed in North America, is the flow of the Porcupine caribou herd – some 20,000 strong - migrating across mountains and tundra to the coastal plain fringing the Beaufort Sea.
Our first days of rafting are calm, as we slip through broad valleys with short sections of lightly choppy water. Halfway along our 130 km (80 mi) reach for the ocean, the Firth River cuts into a canyon that persists until we reach the coastal plain. Between these scenic walls, numerous class III and IV rapids lend a suspense and thrill to the overall serenity of the journey. The river slows and braids on the tundra plain, fanning into an expansive delta. Our rafting ends on the shores of the Beaufort Sea, in the realm of eiders, ringed seals, belugas and bowhead whales.
Join us for the Firth, a land of contrasts. Forest and tundra, craggy peaks and alpine meadows, wild coastline and ice-filled seas. A land of unexpected ambience and unbridled adventure.
