South Nahanni River

FLOW

• South Nahanni Above Virginia Falls
• Flat River Near the Mouth
• Liard River at Fort Liard
• Parks Canada River Information gives general guidance:  June has high and sometimes dangerous flows which taper off through July and August.  

Overview

The Nahanni River is one of the classic canoe trips of the arctic.  From the headwater to the Liard, it flows for 560km through the Mackenzie mountains, traversing tundra, boreal forests, and canyons.  Traveling the whole length requires about 3 weeks, providing an opportunity for an extended wilderness trip.  Shorter trips can be done by access the river at other points.  

The Nááts'įhch'oh National Park Reserve holds the upper Nahanni down to river kilometer (RK) 120.  The Nahanni National Park Reserve holds the river from RK 120 to RK 520.  The latter contains all sites that require reservations and is the entity through which you will get permits and briefings.  Much that can be said about the river is covered on the parks’ web sites.

The park keeps track of parties within the park.  When entering you must register and when departing you must deregister.  While in the park you may communicate with the park Duty Officer, available 24 hours a day.  The Duty Officer may also send messages to you about fires, wildlife, or area closures.  You should plan to bring a satellite communicator such as an InReach.

Most other river travelers will be in canoes.  For most of the river, canoes are an excellent choice.  They are faster than packrafts, easy to load, and comfortable to sit in.  Canoes require more skill and practice.  Rapids in the lower river, easy for packrafters, challenge canoeists.  Few canoeists have the skills to paddle from the Moose Ponds through the boulder gardens.  Canoes are more expensive to transport.  So, while packrafts are not ideal for this river, they have some advantages.  

Traveling this river in packrafts is less common.  For 80% of the trip, packrafts will move along quite pleasantly.  For 20% of the trip in slower waters, progress will be slower and paddling a significant factor in progress.  That is to say, this is a paddle and not a float.  All times and durations given assume travelers are paddling down river most of the time.  

Historically, flows on the Nahanni (above Virginia Falls) in June can spike to 750-1250 cms and may be dangerous.  July is more moderate with flows ranging from 400 to 800 but may spike higher.  August flows are typically 300-500.  Speeds and durations in this route description are based on a 2024 trip when the river flow above Virginia Falls was about 300 cubic meters/second.   At higher flows, the river will flow somewhat faster and durations will be somewhat shorter.  The winter of 2024 had little snow.  You may be able to get some prediction of summer river flows from winter snow levels.  However, river flow is also significantly affected by rain fall.  Historical data shows August and September spikes in river flow driven by rain.  

Bugs vary from year to year.  Typically worse in June and July then less so in August and September.  In August 2024 we had minimal bugs.  At some camps they were a bit of a nuisance while many others were bug-free.  

PUT-INS AND TAKE-OUTS

Getting to and away from the South Nahanni is logistically complex.  The greatest expense is the charter flight so significant savings comes from making that as short as possible.  In 2024, to paddle the whole river, used this itinerary: 

• The Moose Ponds:  Fly Vancouver to Whitehorse. Overland shuttle to Kluane Airways. Overnight. Charter flight to the Moose Ponds.
• Lindberg Landing: Nahanni River Adventures provides a car shuttle to Fort Simpson. From there fly schedule service (often via Yellowknife) to Vancouver.

There are several landing sites along the river which would allow you to paddle a section of the river.  See the park’s river information.

A resupply may be dropped off at Virginia falls where there are secure lockers for storage.

Maps and Guides

The Park publishes Nah?a Dehé - South Nahanni River Touring Guide that contains park information, hikes, and river sections.   A PDF of this may be obtained by request to the park.  A printed version may be ordered from Go Trekkers.  The maps of the river are quite good and it is worth brining a printed set for reference.  However, representation of wide sections often don’t match the present river, making it difficult to find your location.

Go Trekkers publishes a set of 5 maps (waterproof available) that cover the whole river.  These are generally good, and can serve as your primary navigation reference.  Depiction of the river shape correlates to the current river.  However, these maps lack some useful features:  river kilometers aren’t given, magnetic variation is not given, contour interval is not given, elevation of some peaks are labeled but contour lines are not.  

CalTopo generally provided good detail of the water ways.  GaiaGPS base topo map did not provide detail of the water way until the Broken Skull river (180km).

The Nahanni River Guide provides good historical and geological information on the park.  River distances vary somewhat from the official park maps.  Times given are for canoe travel.  There are some errors in the maps.  

Water

The Nahanni river water can be drunk, but is silty.  More so in some sections than in others.  Bring a pre-filter to remove some of the grit before filtering.

Clearer water may be obtained from:

• Clear side creeks.  Those on the left tend to be clear while those on river right are more often muddy.
• Settling ponds in gravel bars.  Anywhere the water is filtered through sand and/or slows significantly the silt will settle out.  Many gravel bars have such pools, more so at lower water.

It will be convenient to have the ability to carry enough water for overnight.  This allows you to fill up when you find a good source of water and then camp when you find a good site.  Recommend the capacity to carry 4 liters raw water per person.  Also recommend that each person have the capacity to carry 2-4 liters filtered drinking water.

ON THE RIVER

Current in the S Nahannie river, at a flow rate of 300 cubic meters/second above Virginia Falls, flows at a speed between 3km/hr and 7km/hr.  At a comfortable paddling pace, packrafts move along at 4.5km/hr.  Thus, your traveling speed will vary from about 7km/hr to 12km/hr.  Much of the river will give you average speeds of 9-10 km/hr.  Current speed may be faster at higher water levels.

The complete river from Moose Ponds to a takeout on the Liard can be traversed in packraft in about 17 paddling days.  21 trip days allows for some layover days and exploration

Distances and river positions are given in kilometers.  

Moose Ponds - RK 0 - 10

The moose ponds are several small lakes in a flat valley at 1,080meters.  Float plane drop-off is in the NW most pond, on a dry bank.  Follow a trail along the bank then up to an old landing strip (now a mossy trail) for camp sites.  Beavers and loons may be seen.  

Paddle through the first couple ponds then exit over a beaver dam to a small creek.  This is the S Nahanni river.  The river wonders through this flat river for a while then drops off the SE end of the valley at 10km.

Boulder Gardens - RK 10 - 64

The Boulder Gardens extends from 10km to 64km with nearly continuous class II to III rapids.  Initially, the river is quite small with modest rapids, tight bends, and near gravel bars.  Surprise encounters with bear or moose are possible.  At lower water (300cms), the river up to about RK 20 may be boney.  At RK 57, Hollywood Rapids and The Sequel are encountered.  Both are rated “class III++” and are worth scouting.  Depending on water level, some named rapids may be significantly easier than their rating while other un-named sections may be significantly trickier than expected.  The Sauk from Whitechuck and the Silly Still sections in Washington State are good practice for the boulder gardens.

Suggested: 3 days is a comfortable pace, allowing time to scout a few of the rapids and not rush as you get used to the river.  

End of Rock Gardens to Rabbitkettle - RK 64 - 225

At 64km the rock gardens ends.  The river is now generally class I and moves along at 4-6km/hr.  All rapids here and further down the river are mainly large wave trains and eddy lines and present far less of a challenge for packrafters.  Corner rapids (I/II) is a broad wave train to a pool which slides down into another wave train.

Honeymoon lake is a float plane landing site.  Reports are that there is a small creek which will float boats to the Nahanni.

Broken Skull is a large and clear flowing river that joins on river left.  The gravel bar is broad and provides good camping.  One can walk up the Broken Skull for several kilometers.  Bring your packraft and paddle back to camp.

The trail to Glacier lake starts with a small forest camp. 

At Rabbitkettle, the island camp is the most easily accessible.  However, the lake camp has more infrastructure and is more built up.  Consider packing camping gear to the lake camp.  Either way, it is a short walk to the lake, which is warmer and provides good swimming.  

You can hike to the Rabbitkettle River and a viewpoint of the hot springs on a good trail.  Access across the river to the springs themselves must be done with a park warden.  You can make a reservation for a guided trip. However, this may not ensure that a warden is actually present to take you to the hot springs.

Suggested:  4 days of paddling for this section.

Rabbitkettle to Virginia Falls - RK 225 - 345

The river slows as you reach Virginia Falls.  Current falls from 6 to 7k/hr down to 3k/hr.  The mountains are closer, offering more opportunities for hiking with out significant cross country bushwhacking to get above tree line.  

Suggested: 3 days of paddling.

Virginia Falls

The beating heart of the park.  Walk on boardwalks and pitch your tent on wood platforms (required).  A ranger program with banok bread and information on Dene art and culture is offered each evening.  

The portage to below Virginia falls is on boardwalk and good trail.  You will appreciate having a backpack to carry loads.  

Virginia Falls to Deadmen Valley - RK 345 - 443

Note that canyons are named from down river going up so the first canyon you encounter is Fourth Canyon.  The river again speeds up to 6-8km/hr through most of this section.  Rapids are wave trains and eddy lines and generally easy for packrafters.

Deadmen Valley - RK 443 - 460

The broad gravel bars at Prairie Creek provide great camping.  

Prairie creek is a significant clear flowing river.  Hike up to the canyon and continue up through the spectacular canyon for several bends, fording the river multiple times.  Bring your rafts and paddle back to camp.

Dry Canyon may also be reached as a hike from camp on Prairie Creek.  Dry Canyon is dry.

Deadmen Valley to Nahanni Butte - RK 460 - 560

First Canyon, the final canyon, is the deepest canyon in Canada.  

Lafferty Creek is a popular camp and hike.  Human waste must be carried out from this camp.

Below Lafferty, the river leaves the mountains and views open up.  

The river is said to slow at the splits.  We found it had a fast flowing channel through 530km.  From there to Nahanni Butte the river progressively slows to about 3km/hr.

Gravel bars become less frequent.  “Last Chance” gravel bar at about 540km is not the actual last bar, but the last plausibly appealing camp.

Nahanni Butte provides camping and some services.  The store may be closed on Mondays.  Check before you plan to use it.  

A water taxi may be hired from Nahanni Butte to transport you from anywhere outside the park down to takeouts on the Liard.

Nahanni Butte to the Liard - RK 560 - 600

4km down stream from Nahanni Butte the Nahanni joins the Liard river and the Empire of Sand.  In August, current speed may be about 3km/hr, giving you a travel rate of about 7.5km/hr.  Camping is plentiful on large sand banks and views are vast.  The Liard carries a heavy silt load.  Carry water from some clear pool or stream on the Nahanni.

Blackstone Territorial Park is reached first.  This may be the preferred take out as it offers camping and services.

Lindberg Landing is another 4km down river.  Take out at a small dirt road.  There is a grassy spot to organize gear but no other services.

Tributaries

Trips may be started on some tributaries of the Nahanni.  The Broken Skull River provides class II paddling on a beautiful, clear river.  The Little Nahanni River provides more challenging rapids than the boulder gardens.

• Suitable Activities: Packrafting
• Seasons: June, July, August
• Weather: View weather forecast

• Difficulty: Class III River
• Length: 367.0 mi
• High Point: 3,588 ft

• Land Manager: Land Manager Varies
• Parking Permit Required: see Land Manager
• Recommended Party Size: 6
• Maximum Party Size: 12
• Maximum Route/Place Capacity: 12