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Yukon Territory - North/Black/Liard River Canoe Trip, Maps Recommended

Topographical and Other Maps

To my knowledge there are no maps published other than the Canadian topographical series that would cover this canoe route in enough detail to do potential paddlers any good.

To save a little money, you could probably do the trip using just the three 250K topo series maps, but figuring out exactly where you are might be difficult sometimes. It would also be hard to pinpoint campsites, hikes, waterfalls, and other points of interest. If you plan to use any of the UTM info provided on this Web site, at least without a GPS, the 50K topos would be necessary to figure placement with any accuracy. The larger scale maps are nice for finding potential hiking areas so do get those if you order the 50K series quads.

Warning:

The Finlayson Lake 250K topo map has a contour line printing error on it that can affect how you perceive gradient on this run. The 3,500 foot contour line is shown as crossing the North River just below the falls, which would indicate over 500 feet (150 m) of drop in the braids area. That section actually drops only about 50 feet or 15 meters. In reality, the 3500 foot contour crosses way upstream, near the bottom of the big set of rapids below Fire Lake. The 50K topo maps portray all of this correctly.

Hopefully soon I'll have several small sections of the 50K topo series maps scanned and uploaded to this server. They will be linked from the Trip Report and Photo Gallery sections. These are not enough to navigate the river. I am purposely not including more than I have to keep from incurring the wrath of the Canadian government, who copyrights their maps and wants to sell you copies. The small sections I have up are basically to show you points of interest, like some of the campsites we used; and some dangers, like the waterfall that Canada didn't mark on the map. The two portages we did will be indicated.

The dates below are the copyright and printing dates for that map. The second date given for a map would be the copyright for any revisions done to that map. The 'mono' refers to monochrome, with no color. Lines on monochrome maps are all black, or shades of gray, with no green woodland overprint. All other maps are colored, with green woodland, blue water, brown contours, red and orange roads, etc.. Downstream order is the order in which they would be used on the river, alphanumeric is the way they should be listed when purchasing them.

Downstream Order                    Alphanumeric Order

250:000 series
105G  Finlayson Lake                    105A  Watson Lake (1988)
105B  Wolf Lake                         105B  Wolf Lake (1952, 1979)
105A  Watson Lake                       105G  Finlayson Lake (1992)

50:000 series
105G/7  Grass Lakes (mono)              105A/2  Watson Lake (1985)
105G/2  Fire Lake (mono)                105A/3  Dodo Lakes (1985)
105G/1  Waters Creek (mono)             105A/5  False Pass Creek (1970)
105B/16 Black River                     105A/6  Middle Canyon (1970)
105B/9  Allan Creek                     105A/12 Sambo Creek (1970)
105A/12 Sambo Creek                     105B/9  Allan Creek (1970)
105A/5  False Pass Creek                105B/16 Black River (1970)
105A/6  Middle Canyon                   105G/1  Waters Creek (1984)
105A/3  Dodo Lakes                      105G/2  Fire Lake (1984)
105A/2  Watson Lake                     105G/7  Grass Lakes (1984)

In late 2002 topo sheets were about $10.50 Canadian each, probably plus shipping and handling. The Canada Map Office in Ottawa, who I've gotten most of my maps from in the past, now only sells directly to distributors. Mac's Fireweed Bookstore in Whitehorse is probably the best supplier for topo maps covering the Yukon and northern British Columbia.

Above maps are available from:
Maximilian's Corporation (Owns Mac's Fireweed Books and Maximilian's Gold Rush Emporium)
203 Main Street
Whitehorse, YT Y1A 2B2
CANADA
Phone (867) 668-6104
Toll-Free (800) 661-0508
Fax (867) 668-5548
E-mail: sales@yukonbooks.com (Sales/Customer Service)
E-mail: maps@yukonbooks.com (Maps)
Web site: http://www.yukonbooks.com/
Maps page: http://www.yukonbooks.com/_Northern/maps.html

On your first order I also recommend getting the indexes you are interested in -- indexes 1, 2, and 3 of the National Topographic System of Canada. I think they are still free but check. Index 1 covers Ontario eastward. Index 2 covers provinces west of Ontario, plus all but the most northern parts of mainland Yukon and Northwest Territories. Index 3 covers northern mainland YT and NWT, plus all the islands north of there, including Baffin Island.

Here's the lowdown on the Canadian Topo Map series from the people who draw and print them: http://maps.nrcan.gc.ca/
Remember these folks do not sell direct, though they do have links to their offices and independent dealers.

To GPS waypoint and magnetic declination info

Other Recommended Maps

A copy of MILEPOST® will be very helpful if you are driving up, especially if you have not driven the Alaska or Cassiar Highways before. It is updated annually, and at $25-$30 US, it could still be worth every penny, even if you never get within a thousand miles of Alaska. It should be available from larger bookstores, or the company that publishes it has a Web site at: http://www.themilepost.com/
Address and phone numbers are in the Contacts Page.

An official Yukon road map (and one for any other provinces and territories you drive through). They should be available free through the tourism bureau of the individual provinces. Bureau addresses were available on this government server page when I last checked: http:// URL 404s
You can usually pick provincial maps up at the information centers as you drive through that province or territory. Some gas stations and tourist gift and book shops may have them. They are for free distribution, only, so don't pay for them.

The Yukon road map does show the North/Black/Liard run somewhat, but Fire Lake is misnamed Black Lake on it, and North and Black Lakes are not shown.

Watson Lake area map. Contact the town of Watson Lake (Contacts Page has address) for the little tourist booklet they have published every year. It's free. Similar little booklets are available for other major towns in the Yukon, certainly for Whitehorse and Dawson, plus maybe also for touristy areas in other provinces and the Northwest Territories.

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