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 TRIP
DETAILS
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Trip Highlights
| Day 1: |
| The day before: Please arrive in Dawson City in time for an orientation meeting at 8:30 pm the night before our departure. Guests are responsible for accommodation and meals while in Dawson.
Day 1: Staff will pick you up from your hotels starting at 8:00 am. Participants need to have finished their breakfast by this time. Any final details will be dealt with and we will depart Dawson by 9:00 am. We will travel southeast along the Klondike Highway before turning northeast on to the Dempster Highway, the northernmost reaching highway in Canada. As we travel northward we will climb in elevation into the Ogilvie Mountains and the Tombstone Range. We will pass from boreal forests into sub-alpine forest. We will reach Tombstone Territorial Park and set up our camp for latter that evening. Next we will depart on a birding day trip. We will start in the sub-alpine surroundings of the campground on foot. This area, which is a mixture of elevation-hardy spruce trees and large willow, dwarf birch and alders shrubs, is home during the summer months to two overlapping groups of birds. Tombstone Park represents the local northern extent of boreal breeding species, and the southern extent of arctic breeding birds. In total. over 137 species of birds inhabit the park. Click here to see the list. After a picnic lunch, we will load into our van and head higher, going over North Fork Pass, with stunning views of Tombstone and Monolith Mountains to the west. Now we enter a area of sub-arctic tundra known as the Blackstone Uplands. The area is a wide-open treeless expanse of scrubs, mosses, tussocks, treeless mountains and wetlands. We will spend the afternoon exploring the numerous riparian zones which are accessible along the highway which skirt the Blackstone River and tundra lakes. We will return to the campground for dinner, a campfire and shared stories of the day best sightings. |
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| Day 2: |
| After breakfast we will leave Tombstone Park, heading north again through the Blackstone Uplands where if we are lucky we may spot a moose, or a mountain caribou. As we travel north we will follow the Ogilvie River, as flows northward, to eventually join the Mackenzie River. We will then Climb through Windy Pass, a treeless landscape of bare slopes and scree covered hillsides. If we are lucky, hear we might see Gyrfalcons hunting for Ptarmigan, who with the use of thermal updrafts and strong winds in the pass can hover high in the air, and then swoop down for a surprise attack. We will travel northward for the majority of the day, coming stopping for short birding breaks in promising areas, until we stop for a special occasion at a special place on the earth. Here we are crossing the Arctic Circle, and to celebrate we stop, and partake in a toast of Champagne, to commemorate the moment. Here on the 21 of June each year, the sun will not set, and as you go north from this place the number of days in which the sun stays above the horizon increases. reach the Rock River Campground, on the eastern edge of the Richardson Mountains, a north south running change of softly rounded, lonely and hauntingly baren-looking mountains, that straddle the border between the Yukon and the North West Territories. At the campground we will set our camp for the night. After dinner we can either rest, bird in the riparian zones created near the river, or a short drive takes us to locations where we can walk out on to the tundra. Put be prepared walking on tundra is much harder than you might guess! |
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| Day 3: |
| After breakfast we will continue north, crossing over the Richardson Mountains, and entering the North West Territories. Depending on the weather, we may stop in the Richardsons and go on a short hike. After returning to our vehicle, we start our long 853 meter descent to the Peel River, which marks the western edge of the Mackenzie River Lowlands. We will cross the Peel River on a barge ferry, and a short distance latter, the Mackenzie River itself, passing the village of Tsiigehtchic, at small First Nation community situated at the confluence of the Mackenzie and Arctic Red Rivers. After we ride the ferry across the Mackenzie, we turn north, traveling on the eastern edge of the Mackenzie River Delta, on of the largest wetlands in North America. We will arrive to the town of Inuvik, by mid afternoon, and check into our accommodations at the Arctic Chalet. Our hosts, Judi and Olav Falsnes are true northerners, and Olav enjoys telling us stories from his four decades of flying bush planes in the north. If you enjoy animals, you are welcome to meet the man pure white husky sled dogs that call this charismatic northern homestead lodge, their home. After dinner we can go for a short birding walk on a trail that takes us through scraggy taiga forest. Here we are on the very edge of the tree line, with the hearty conifers only managing to survive in the better drained soils and tree-less areas of tundra mixed in with the patches of taiga forest, creating a patchwork quilt appearance to the landscape. |
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| Day 4: |
| Today we have the entire day to bird in the Mackenzie Delta area. In the morning we will travel by boat out on to the East Channel of the Mackenzie River, and explore this land of flowing channels, interconnected lakes and oxbows, that dominate the character of the Delta. In the afternoon, we will travel by vehicle a short distance south of Inuvik and bird near Campbell Lake. We will return in the evening to The Arctic Chalet and enjoy our last indoor dinner, before our wilderness camping experience on Herschel Island begins. |
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| Day 5: |
| This morning we embark on an exciting Arctic adventure. We will load our camping gear aboard our plane, and travel by air more the 250 km before landing on a gravel beach at Herschel Island Territorial Park. Please note, that we will likely require two flights to move our group to Herschel Island, so some clients will have the morning in Inuvik and arrive on the second flight. Our flight will travel first over the huge expanse of the Mackenzie Delta, with untold thousands of small lakes, and hundreds of individuals channels spreading out below us, with views of the Richardson Mountains in the distance to the southwest. Once we cross the Delta, we will fly along the edge of an area known as the North Slope, which continues westward into the northern coast of Alaska. The North Slope and the coastal plane at its feet is a major breeding destination for many migratory species. The North Slope begins at the western edge of the Mackenzie Delta and continues westward through Alaska a distance of more than 1200km. As we approach Herschel Island, we will see the larger and more dramatic British Mountains to the Southwest, whose peaks create the southern boundary of the North Slope Region of the Yukon. Once safely on the ground, we will spend the remainder of the day, setting our camp, and in the evening after dinner, we should be able to go on our first hiking foray along the beaches of this magnificent arctic island. |
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| Day 6 to 9: |
| Over the next four full days, we will wilderness camp and explore Herschel Island. This Island is rich in natural history and human history, having served as a whaling station and traditional meeting area for coastal Inuvialuit Peoples. Please see the detailed write up in our “About this Wilderness Area” section of the trip information. Based on weather, energy levels and the goals of our group, we will utilize our time on Herschel Island o see and do as much as possible. One of the bonuses of this marine island is that we may be lucky enough to have sightings of Bowhead Whales, beluga whales or Ringed Seals. The Mackenzie River brings huge amounts of nutrients into the Beaufort Sea which creates ideal habitat for planktons and fish and even feed for larger marine mammals like seals and whales. Caribou, muskoxen and grizzly bears are sometimes seen on the island, having swum over from the mainland, but we would consider ourselves most fortunate to have seen one of these large terrestrial mammals. |
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| Day 10: |
| Today our exploration of Herschel Island comes to an end. We will be both happy and sad, to hear the sounds of the plane approaching from the east. Once again, two flights will be necessary to return our group and gear to Inuvik. Once back on the ground in Inuvik we will be shuttled to our accommodations at the Arctic Chalet and have the remainder of the day to relax and freshen up. That evening we will go out to dinner at a local Inuvik restaurant for a final celebratory feast. Dinner is not included, so guests can order as they wish from the menu. |
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| Day 11: |
| This morning after breakfast, our itinerary ends. Hopefully we are all going our way with a treasure trove of memories from this birding trip-of-a-lifetime. From Inuvik you can fly through three separate airlines and can fly home by returning to Dawson or Whitehorse, or make connections across Canada with flight to Edmonton Alberta, or Yellowknife, NWT. A transfer from Inuvik to the airport is included in your package. |
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