Raft or Canoe on the Coppermine River in Canada

We’ll meet up in the morning and take a charter plane to the north. We’ll fly over the tundra and land on the airstrip of the Great Bear Lake Lodge, from where we’ll take a float plane to the Coppermine River.

Between the flights, we’ll have a chance to explore the shores of the Great Bear Lake. Depending on the weather conditions, we’ll stay at the lodge overnight if needed.

If we take the charter flight in the morning, we’ll set up our camp by the Coppermine River as soon as we arrive.

After lunch, we’ll explore the area by hiking the surrounding hills. You’ll have a great opportunity to observe the local vegetation and wildlife.

We’ll start the day by inflating the rafts and rigging the canoes. We’ll paddle downstream and enjoy some spectacular views. This is moose country, and we keep a watch on the shore for these magnificent mammals. Tundra swans, shorebirds and ducks can be seen in this section of the Coppermine.

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 First Nation people to be resupplied on his 1821 expedition down the river. The absence of these supplies created his desperate bid for survival later that fall.

Today, we’ll reach the Rocky Defile Rapids. These formidable rapids run through a canyon that stretches 1,640 ft (500 m) long and 197 ft (60 m) high! Once we come to the majestic ravine, we’ll settle in for the day and explore the area. This is the start of some of the finest Arctic Char fishing found anywhere.

Today we’ll paddle past the Kendall River. This segment of the Coppermine River has several boulder flats and islands. Locals call this area “the Splits,” and it’s renowned for its breathtaking sights of the Coppermine and September Mountains.

We’ll camp near Stoney Creek, where we sometimes find remnants of winter ice on shore.

We’ll hike up the picturesque Coppermine Mountains and enjoy unimaginable hues of red. The area around our camp is full of eye-catching wildflowers, such as Western wood lily, Red paintbrush, and Pink wintergreen, so it’s a good day for a photo shoot!

We start a long section through the breathtaking river valley, 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 meters (460 feet) in 72 kilometers (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.

We drift downstream to Escape Rapids. Here the river flows through a high winding 50 meter (150 feet) gorge. The next 16 kilometers (10 miles) to Bloody Falls takes us through both marked and unmarked rapids on a fast downriver 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’ll 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.”

Only 16 kilometers (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. In the evening we will fly back to Great Bear Lake.

We’ll spend the day and relax at Great Bear Lake Lodge, where you’ll have a chance to enjoy hot showers and comfortable facilities.  This is a free day and is used as a buffer to ensure we connect with the flight back to Yellowknife the next day.

We will depart Great Bear Lake, and the charter aircraft will return us to Yellowknife by mid-afternoon. Because of the challenges of northern bush flying, we highly recommend you plan to overnight in Yellowknife and book your flights home for Sunday morning. This will also give you some time to explore the city of Yellowknife and learn more about the natural and human history of the capital of the Northwest Territories.

The meeting point is at the Explorer Hotel lobby after breakfast.

You will receive a detailed list of what to bring to the trip and what you can rent out from us.

Please note

You should plan to arrive in Yellowknife a day before the trip begins, as we’ll have a pre-trip orientation meeting at the Explorer Hotel.