Nahanni National Park Reserve

Nahanni National Park Reserve

Parks Directory of the United States / Canadian National Parks

Address: PO Box 348
Fort Simpson, NT X0E0N0
Phone: 867-695-3151;
Fax: 867-695-2446;
Web: www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nt/nahanni
Size: 4,766 sq. km.
Established: 1976.
Location: In the heart of the Mackenzie Mountains, centered on the river valleys of the South Nahanni and Flat rivers, in the southwest part of the Northwest Territories. Accessible by air charter services from Fort Simpson, Fort Liard, Fort Nelson, Yellowknife, Watson Lake, and Muncho Lake. Virginia Falls and Rabbitkettle Lake are the only designated aircraft landing sites within the park reserve.
Facilities: Visitor center, primitive campsites (Rabbitkettle Lake, Virginia Falls, and Kraus Hot Springs).
Activities: Regarded as a premier wilderness river national park, Nahanni affords multi-day whitewater canoeing, kayaking, and rafting trips by licensed outfitters, ranging from ten days to three weeks. Other activities include camping, hiking (including guided hikes), flight-seeing day trips, and wildlife viewing.
Special Features: In 1978, the park was designated the first ever UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of its spectacular scenery and unique geological features. It protects 200 miles of the 250-mile-long South Nahanni River, which originates as a small stream in the remote Mackenzie Mountains and grows dramatically in size and power as it winds its way through broad river valleys and steep-walled canyons. The river's spectacular scenery includes: Rabbitkettle Hotsprings, source of the largest known tufa mounds in Canada; Virginia Falls, with a vertical drop twice that of Niagara Falls; a series of canyons up to 1200 meters deep; and caves such as Grotte Valerie with its ancient skeletons of nearly a hundred Dall's sheep.

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See other parks in Northwest Territories.