Paddling the Hart River

In between working on the house and getting packed and ready to leave our home in Whitehorse for 9 months, we managed to fit in an 18 day canoe trip on the Hart River in the northern Yukon. For non-Yukoners, this involves a 4 hour drive north from Whitehorse to Mayo, then a 30 minute float plane trip north into Elliot Lake. The trip down the Hart to Canyon Creek on the Peel River is about 300 kms (mostly north), where a float plane takes you back to Mayo. By the time the float plane picks you up at Canyon Creek, you're not too far from the Arctic Circle.

Canoes are strapped on for the flight to Elliot Lake.

Rafting and hiking with Kate and Jordan

"The Nozzle" is the first drop on the Tutshi River. The river narrows between large rocks as it drops about 6 feet down. The nozzle isn't quite wide enough for a raft to fit through.

As we scouted from shore our guide explained that we would have to hit the chute on the exact right line and then lean hard right as we rode up onto the rock on the right side of the nozzle. Failure would almost certainly result in the raft flipping. My niece Kate took it all in and announced, "I think I'm going to poop myself."