Nahanni River

The paddle from First Canyon through the Splits, Nahanii Butte, and finally to Blackstone Landing was said to be rather tedious, but we found it enjoyable and interesting. After spedning a couple hours at Kraus Hot Springs, we started the long paddle through the Splits. We found the Splits to be very interesting. Sometimes we didn't know exactly which way was upstream, and never knew where we were on the map.

The Splits were full of strainers and sweepers. Some of the logjams were 40 feet high and 100 yards long! At one point, to make things a little more exciting we paddled to close to the bank to get across the current at a split. We ended up going backwards over a sweeper and then hitting a logjam. Fortunately we didn't tip although I thought it was inevitable.

Logjams (above) Twisted Mountain (below)

We ended up paddling like madmen from Kraus Hopsprings to Nahanni Butte Village. We started paddling at 4:30 p.m., at 11:30 p.m. we rolled into Nahanni Butte. We made about 105 km day, 70 km that evening through some horrendously slow water and even worse mosquitoes. By the time we made it to Nahanni Butte we were rather tired. The next morning we had the biggest breakfast I've ever had at Nahanni Butte Coffee Shop. We called our ride in Ft Liard and told them to pick us up at 5 p.m., which ended up a little optimistic as we had to paddle like madmen since we didn't leave Nahanni Butte until about 1 pm.

Rock glacier along the Splits (above) Kylir near Nahanni Butte (below)

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