Coppermine River

Following Franklin's Footsteps to the 'Polar Sea'.

Flowing to the Arctic Ocean, this river is famous for its nesting raptors: gyrfalcons, peregrine falcons, rough-legged hawks and golden and bald eagles. Experience the wildlife and the unequalled beauty of the "Land of the Midnight Sun". We will cross the Arctic Circle and paddle to Franklin's "Polar Sea". Names like Bloody Falls and Rocky Defile foreshadow the adventure that awaits and contrast the abundance of "showy" Arctic flowers. Spectacular Fishing!

Itinerary
The following is a tentative agenda and has been designed with much thought to capitalize on the most scenic and exciting parts of the river, while making time on other sections. Your guides will adjust the schedule to make the best use of river and weather conditions.

Route Description: High Arctic Tundra River - 12 river days, from Big Bend to the hamlet of Kugluktuk (formerly Coppermine). Approximately 215 kilometres (135 miles) with an elevation drop of 280 metres (900 feet). Region: NWT & Nunavut

Craft Description: Raft - Raft or 2-person canoe

Prerequisite: Raft - Beginner, Canoe - Class III Whitewater Skills.

Day 1: This is the arrival day and the first day listed for your trip. You should plan to arrive in Yellowknife, NWT for our pre-trip orientation meeting which will be held in the Explorer Hotel at 8:00 pm. Please note that hotel costs and meals while in Yellowknife are not included in the trip fee. VisitYukon lists Yellowknife hotels online and which can be booked with your trip.

Day 2: 8 am - meet in the hotel lobby after breakfast at hotel (not included). Weather permitting, we will take an early morning flight to the river. After setting up camp and lunch, there will be plenty of time for our first hike in the surrounding hills to look at the wild flowers and wildlife of the area.

Days 3 & 4: We inflate and rig the rafts and start downstream. This is moose country and we keep a watch on the shore for these magnificent mammals. Tundra swans and many shorebirds and ducks can be seen in this section. As we approach 'Big Bend', the river narrows in width and speeds up. We pass the Hook River and an old portage to Great Bear Lake. It was here that Franklin had arranged with the local Indians to be resupplied on his 1821 expedition down the river. The absence of these supplies created his desperate bid for survival later that fall.

Days 5 & 6: Back into the rafts to Rocky Defile Rapids. This rapid runs through a 500 metre (1, 640 feet) long , 60 metre (197 feet) high canyon. We stop here for the day. This is the start of some of the finest Arctic Char fishing found anywhere.

Day 7: Back on the river, we drift down past the Kendall River where the Coppermine widens into several boulder flats and islands. This area is locally known as 'the Splits'. From here, we get our first glance at the Coppermine and September Mountains. Our destination for the night is Stoney Creek where there is a small permanent ice field.

Day 8: Today we can look for copper in the Coppermine Mountains on a hike that will follow the footsteps of Franklin's party. You may decide to stay closer to camp to photograph and enjoy some of the many patches of abundant wild flowers.

Days 9 & 10: We start a long section that is sandwiched between the terraced hillsides of the Coppermine Mountains on one side and the barren sloping banks of the September Mountains on the other. At the Melville River, the Coppermine makes its final turn northward. It is here that the river makes its greatest drop, falling 152 metres (460 ft) in 72 kilometres (50 miles) over 30 sets of rapids. The thin cover of spruce that has been following the river finally dwindles away to be replaced by tundra vegetation. Steep cliffs and rock dominate the region, making excellent breeding grounds for hawks, falcons and eagles. We drift down through Muskox and Sandstone Rapids.

Days 11 & 12: We drift downstream to Escape Rapids. Here the river flows through a high winding 50 metre (150 ft) gorge. The next 16 kilometres (10 Miles) to Bloody Falls takes us through both marked and unmarked rapids on a fast down river run to the boulder fan above the falls. Bloody Falls was named for the massacre of an Inuit camp by the Indians that were guiding Samuel Hearne in 1771. A hiking day will be spent around the falls, and the portage will begin. You will get a chance for close up pictures of the golden eagles that nest here, as well as hike to a local peak for our first look at the 'Polar Sea.'

Day 13 : Only 16 kilometres (10 miles) of the Coppermine remain until it reaches the ocean. After finishing the portage around the falls, we will complete this remaining section of the river. We reach the town of Kugluktuk in the late afternoon and the rest of the day is yours to explore the town.

Day 14: You have the morning to pick up any last minute momentoes of Kugluktuk before boarding the scheduled airline flight south to Yellowknife and home. Note – this flight from Coppermine to Yellowknife is not included in the cost of your trip and you should plan to have it included with your airline tickets to / from home.