Nahanni River ... Virginia Falls

While I was living in the High Arctic, the opportunity to travel to remote places was made available to me on numerous occasions. There were a few special locations but the one that gave me the greatest thrill was my canoe trip on the South Nahanni. River. Landing on this magnificent river above Virginia Falls was absolutely spectacular. The view from the plane of this falls was worth the whole trip.

Virginia Falls is twice as high as Niagara Falls and has a spiracle in the centre which divides the water. At 318 feet high and almost a 1000 feet across it makes quite a picture. Its water comes from the McKenzie mountains and most of the clear water is glacial. This gives it a greenish colour. The roar from the waterfalls is deafening. I stayed for a day and a night at this site before continuing downstream by canoe.

This area was mainly unexplored except by air. The river and area is referred to as man eater because over forty men lost their lives trying to explore the river and run its course. Bill Mason was a great water person and his work in this region gave him the honour of having the rock at the falls named after him. Pierre Trudeau was responsible for having this region become a National Park and a world heritage site. Trudeau worked with the Dene of the Dehcho to make this possible.

Along this river more than 250 caverns are known and there were great geological value in the material found in these caves. Bears, wolves, caribou and Doll sheep abound in this region. The area is so remote that the only means of access is by plane. Only a few hundred people a year are treated to visit this park. I am sure this will change in the future.

For my part I call the Dehcho region and the Virginia Falls on the Nahanni my most thrilling visit while living up there.