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Canoe Arctic Inc.

For more than 40 years, Canoe Arctic Inc. has operated guided canoe trips on the most remote wild rivers left on our planet. With chartered amphibian aircraft based in Fort Smith, we fly our clientele in to the Thelon River and other remote tundra rivers in the Barren Lands east of Great Slave Lake. Here in the heart of the mainland Arctic lies a roadless wilderness that is twice the size of Alberta or Texas. All of our canoe trips are guided by Alex Hall, wildlife biologist and the Canadian Arctic's first and most experienced canoeing guide. Alex has paddled more miles in the Barren Lands than anyone else.

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Birding

Summer

Our canoe trips pass through the nesting grounds of an impressive mixture of boreal and tundra birds, including a number of species that have expanded their breeding ranges northward in recent years into the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary. To date, we have recorded 104 bird species in this sanctuary and have confirmed 63 species breeding there. Canoe Arctic's guide, Alex Hall, has co-authored a scientific paper on these breeding range expansions into the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary caused by climate warming. Birds of note on our trips include peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons, bald and golden eagles, merlins, tundra swans, four species of loons, jaegers, arctic terns and large numbers of ducks and geese.

Paddling

Summer

Since 1975, Canoe Arctic Inc. has operated guided canoe trips on a dozen remote tundra rivers in the Barren Lands east of Great Slave Lake. Our rivers lie hundreds of miles from the nearest road or community and are only accessible by chartered amphibian aircraft. At least half of our canoe trips each summer are routed on the Thelon River, the largest and easily the most magnificent of all the arctic rivers. Every one of our canoe trips is guided by Alex Hall, wolf biologist and the first canoeing guide to operate in the Northwest Territories. Canoe Arctic's trips place a special emphasis on wildlife with unprecedented opportunities to see and photograph muskoxen, caribou, tundra wolves, grizzlies, moose and rich bird life. Experience the trip of a lifetime in an untouched Eden that looks and feels much the way it must have centuries, even millennia ago. Almost half of this pristine, uninhabited wilderness is covered by water. During the brief but intense arctic summer this incredible maze of lakes and rivers is transformed into canoe country unparalleled anywhere else on Earth. And our warm, arid summers may surprise you. Our canoe routes offer a wide range of choices from flat-water routes to whitewater rivers. In essence, we can accommodate all levels of canoeing experience. Over 30% of our clients each summer have taken trips with us before. Visit our website for complete details, and please don't hesitate to telephone or email Alex at Canoe Arctic Inc. if you have any questions regarding our canoe trips.

Fishing

Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike, Lake Trout

Summer

The Barren Lands east of Great Slave Lake have some of the best freshwater fishing left in the world. Most lakes have never been fished. Our best fishing occurs in June and after mid August when water temperatures are cooler. Our mid June canoe trip offers superb fishing for large lake trout and northern pike with many in the 10 to 30 pound class. Our August canoe trips provide excellent grayling and lake trout fishing.

Nature & Wildlife

Summer

All of Canoe Arctic's canoe trips place a special emphasis on wildlife and offer unprecedented opportunities to view and photograph the large mammals of the Barren Lands, including caribou, muskoxen, tundra wolves, moose and grizzlies. Alex Hall, who guides every one of Canoe Arctic's trips, is a wildlife biologist who has decades of intimate experience with arctic wildlife. Alex completed his Master's degree on wolves and has been a life-long student of tundra wolves ever since. We visit up to ten wolf dens on some of our canoe trips. Alex has recently co-authored scientific papers with other Northwest Territories biologists on tundra wolves and on the population dynamics of the Beverly Caribou Herd.

To order your copy of the latest Spectacular Northwest Territories Explorers’ Guide, or to download a PDF of the guide, click the cover image on the right.

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