• 
• 
• 

Features

From as far apart as 200 km east of Great Slave Lake and the northern Saskatchewan border, waters of the Thelon collect to flow for 900 km across the NWT's Mackenzie district, then through Nunavut into Baker Lake and Chesterfield Inlet. This 142,400 sq. km watershed is the largest unaltered drainage basin emptying into Hudson Bay.

The section designated a Canadian Heritage River includes the river's entire middle and lower reaches, consisting of the 545 km from Warden's Grove, 50 km from the river's junction with the Hanbury, to Baker Lake. The 1-2 km wide, meandering, river channel contains considerable fast water but requires no portages from the Hanbury junction to the lower reaches where the Thelon widens into three vast lakes: Beverly, Aberdeen and Schultz. From Schultz Lake, the river narrows and a 100 km stretch of fast water leads to the river's mouth at Baker Lake.

The pristine wilderness of the Thelon provides abundant and diverse wildlife habitat and many areas of exceptional natural beauty. Its forest-tundra supports a unique assemblage of boreal and arctic species and some of Canada's most important northern ecosystems.

Among its more significant features are:

• 500,000 migrating caribou, following the river to calve north of Beverly Lake, sometimes swimming across in a kilometre-wide band;
• the largest flock in Nunavut of the large species of Canada geese, between Beverly and Aberdeen lakes ; and one of few inland colonies of lesser snow geese;
• breeding grounds for the endangered peregrine, gyrfalcon and rough-legged hawk and habitat for the rare wolverine, and for arctic fox and wolf;
• 75-100 moose and more than 2,000 muskox between Warden's Grove and Lookout Point. Muskox have thrived under protection of the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary. European demand for muskox robes at the turn of the century decimated the population to only a few hundred animals
• important denning grounds for barren-ground grizzly preying on geese and eggs in spring and summer;
  an uncommon mix of boreal and arctic fish species in Beverly Lake; and,
• impressive scenic features: extensive flats of pure white sand at the Thelon-Hanbury junction and Lookout Point; 15m high sand embankments fringed by boulder beaches at Thelon Bluffs, where rapids course through sandstone cliffs; seven terraces 20-100 m high - old lake and marine beaches, at West Aberdeen; and, the spectacular Aleksektok Rapids, 70 km from Baker Lake.

The Thelon barrenlands, long-time home to the Inuit, have been undisturbed for centuries. A trip on the river is truly a voyage back in time. Perhaps the most dramatic glimpse of past and present Inuit culture is an inukshuk - a pile of rocks standing quite visibly as markers on the landscape. The inukshuk marks almost every vital aspect of Inuit life land and water routes, caribou migratory paths and river crossings, fishing spots, campsites, lookouts, and food caches. Archaeological sites, structures and artifacts which include tent rings, stone fox traps, kayak stands, graves, hunting blinds and quartzite flakes used as scrapers, are plentiful and are protected under federal and Nunavut laws and must be left undisturbed. Much of the area's prehistory can be learned from these sites, and, if disturbed, that opportunity may be lost forever. The best sites are at Schultz and Aberdeen Lakes, Peqetuaq, and Isarurjuaq Peninsula.

The journals of northern explorers who travelled the Thelon can add immeasurably to a trip here:

• Samuel Hearne crossed the Thelon on his overland walking expedition from Churchill to the unknown interior, recording it in his 1770-71 "Journey from Prince of Wales Fort to the Northern Ocean".
• In 1893, J.B. Tyrrell, one of the great pioneers of the Geological Survey of Canada, explored the Thelon and Dubawnt. His brother, J.W., described the journey in "Across the Sub-Arctics of Canada"
• David Hanbury travelled the Thelon in 1889 and returned 2 years later. The detailed journal of his explorations entitled "Life and Sport in the Northland of Canada" is considered, even today, the best written account of a trip on the river.

In 1927, the federal government established the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary inspired by the 1924-25 explorations of naturalist John Hornby. Although a veteran northern traveler, Hornby tragically starved to death with his companions on the banks of the Thelon, as he waited for caribou which never came. The ruins of Hornby's cabin and the graves lie beside the river.

Cabins still stand at Warden's Grove. Here the finest stand of spruce trees on the river shelter three cabins one built in 1928 by the park's first warden, W.B. Hoare and another in the 1960's by the Canadian Wildlife Service for wildlife research. Ernie Kuyt, famous for his work with sandhill cranes, was one of the first biologists stationed here.

Designation of the Thelon as a Canadian Heritage River was based, in part, on the unique wilderness recreation experience which it offers. It is virtually impossible to travel the Thelon without encountering wildlife especially the shaggy muskox, often seen foraging in groups of 20 or more. Rough-legged hawks soar and peregrine falcons dart and dive overhead, while tundra swans paddle peacefully along the river.

Although the canoeing season is short, only 8–10 weeks from late June to mid-August, the Thelon offers a first- class experience that is well known to pioneers of wilderness canoeing. Eric Morse, whose northern voyages marked the beginning of recreational canoeing in the Keewatin, paddled the Hanbury Thelon route in 1962. Now more than 100 canoeists travel down the Thelon each year, most on the Hanbury-Thelon route. The first stretch on the Hanbury, however, is extremely arduous: spectacular waterfalls at Dickson Canyon and Helen Falls, require strenuous portages. The alternative approach, from the upper Thelon, is also arduous, with numerous rapids and an excruciating portage of several kilometres around the Thelon Canyon. From the Hanbury-Thelon junction, however, the 300 km to Beverly Lake is generally free of portages. The current carries canoeists through the boreal forest of the Thelon Game Sanctuary, past impressive sand flats and tundra hills rising 160m, to Beverly Lake. Here and on Aberdeen and Schultz lakes caution and patience are required: sudden storms and frigid waters can be life-threatening. The final 100 km stretch is a stimulating paddle through high-walled banks enclosing a swift current, past the 200m high Halfway Hills and on toward Baker Lake.

Beaches along the shores of the ‘great lakes' section of the Thelon make excellent campsites, as do the eskers overlooking the river and lakes. The eskers also offer exceptional, mosquito-free hiking, with 360 degree vistas over the tundra.

The Thelon is prime habitat for trophy lake trout, arctic char and grayling. Humpback and round whitefish, cisco, slimy and spoonhead sculpin, and lake chub are also common. A Nunavut Territory fishing license, available at stores and government offices in Iqaluit, is required.