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canoebase.com: Wilderness Canoe Tripping
Yukon Territory - North/Black/Liard River Canoe Trip, Route Summary (Metric)Back to North/Black Contents List This summary is a short description in outline form of what the trip is like, what conditions are to be expected, and how much distance is covered before the travel conditions change. Portages are indicated, as are some other features, including prominant reference points. The format below is similar to that on some of the Canadian Web sites which offer canoe route information. This page was actually put together for one of the better ones, but the webmaster of that site deleted it when he decided to limit his offerings to just routes in Ontario. It's now here for those wilderness trippers who are used to this format. There is some info here you'll also find on other pages, but the classic route format dictates the redundancy. I don't plan on getting a US mile version of this up any time soon. You'll just have to learn metric.... <grin> Metric Route Summary
North / Black / Liard Rivers -
North Lakes to Upper Liard Village, Yukon
General Information:
Distance: 253 km
Duration: 12+ days recommended (7 minimum)
Portage Information:
No. of Portages: 2 (minimum)
Total Portage Distance: 1200 meters (approx)
Longest Portage: 800 meters (approx)
Shortest Portage: 400 meters (approx)
Ratings:
River Travel: Advanced (245 km total, many long,
tough, continuous, steep, rapids, very
fast current, log jams, sweepers)
Lake Travel: Novice (8 km total, four small, narrow
lakes)
Portaging: Advanced (trails start in heavy rapids,
no trails are cut or marked)
Remoteness: Advanced (fly-in trip, paddle back to
road)
Maps: (alphanumeric order) 50:000 series
Federal Topos 105A/2 Watson Lake (1985)
105A/3 Dodo Lakes (1985)
250:000 series 105A/5 False Pass Creek (1970)
105A Watson Lake (1988) 105A/6 Middle Canyon (1970)
105B Wolf Lake (1952, 1979) 105A/12 Sambo Creek (1970)
105G Finlayson Lake (1992) 105B/9 Allan Creek (1970)
105B/16 Black River (1970)
105G/1 Waters Creek (1984)
105G/2 Fire Lake (1984)
105G/7 Grass Lakes (1984)
Route Description:
Drive or fly to staging area (e.g. is Watson Lake, Yukon)
Fly from staging area (Watson Lake or Finlayson Lake)
Land on North Lake or Fire Lake
North Lake is 5.0 km long (best campsite is at south end,
west of lake outlet - the only 'cut' campsite on
the whole run as of '97)
North Lake to Fire Lake: (it's 22.8 km to Fire Lake)
Paddle south on the North River (on 250-500 cfs? = 7-14 cms)
1.2 km of shallow, rocky, continuous class 2 to
2+ rapids
800 meters on a shallow pond
600 meters of shallow, rocky, continuous class 2
rapids
400 meter long, very narrow (2m wide) channel, fast
current (river splits then rejoins)
Small tributary on right indicates start of 700 meter
long, wide rock sieve (paddle, walk, line,
lift boats)
(Below here are 3 major steep sections, long rapids to 3+,
separated by longer distances of lower gradient with - maybe -
easier rapids)
2.1 km of shallow, rocky, continuous class 2 to 2+
rapids to the 1220 m contour
1 km of class 2+ to 3+, shallow, rocky, continuous
rapids to the 1200 m contour
4.0 km of mostly calmer water, few rapids, maybe to
class 2 to the 1180 m contour
2.2 km of shallow, rocky, continuous rapids to class
2+ to the 1160 m contour
1.5 km class 2+ to 3+, shallow, rocky, continuous
rapids to the 1140 m contour
2.0 km of less intense water, up to class 2+ rapids,
to the 1120 m contour
1.5 km of class 2+ to 3+, shallow, rocky, continuous
rapids to the 1100 m contour
4.8 km of mostly calmer water, few rapids, maybe easy
class 2 to Fire Lake
5.2 km on Fire Lake
(Mining Company bush camp on left shore half way down,
and a set of four what looks like vacation cabins
near the lake outlet)
Fire Lake to Black Lake: (it's 32.3 km to Black Lake)
Reenter North River (18.2 km to start of Braids, on 750-1500
cfs? = 21-42.5 cms, both listed portages are in this section)
Paddle 1.5 km (approx) of class 2+ rapids before
steep drops start
800 m portage on right (then we camped on left bank
2.0 km after reentering river below here)
9.0 km of class 2 to 2+ rapids down to the 1000 m
contour (approx start of bigger, steeper
rapids)
4.6 km of class 2+ to 3 rapids, long and continuous,
big waves
Waters Creek enters on left
800 m of class 2+ to 3 rapids
Waterfall (heavy rapids to lip of 5+ meter falls,
scout right from top of island before it.
Very heavy water left of island)
400 m portage on right (after running/lining on right
to near the bottom of the island, or walk the
whole distance)
1.1 km of heavy class 2+ to 3 rapids below waterfall
Start of flatter, braided section (14.1 km to Black
Lake)
(Mostly flat water to Black Lake from here, still good current,
log jams, lift-overs, duck-unders, sweepers before Black River
confluence)
5.6 km to Black River on right, few rapids, lots of
logs (good campsite here, and on other big
gravel bars just below)
8.5 km good current, no significant rapids to Black
Lake, (now paddling on 1500-2500 cfs? =
42.5-71 cms)
Black Lake is 2.1 km long (best campsite on it we saw was a
sandy beach 100 m east of the Black River inlet.
There is a trapper's cabin on the south side of a
peninsula west of the river inlet with no tent sites)
Black Lake to Liard River:
Reenter Black River (41.4 km to Liard confl on 2,000-3,500
cfs? = 57-100 cms)
Paddle 14.6 km on good current, minimal rapids to
start, but get bigger just above a campsite
on right
16.3 km to a campsite on left (the first 8 km has
bigger class 2+ rapids, then they ease off
and start diminishing below here)
2.8 km with a few rapids to class 2 before campsite
on left
7.7 km on fast current with a few easy rapids to
start until Liard River on right
Enter Liard River (148.9 km to take-out bridge on 10,000 cfs =
283 cms at start, grows to 40,000 cfs = 1133 cms before
take-out. We camped three nights on the Liard, good
gravel bars all over. There are several cabins along
it's length, most of them marked on 50K topos)
Black/Liard River Confluence to Upper Liard Village: (84.5 km
to the Meister River confluence, or 148.9 km to the Alaska Highway
Bridge)
Paddle 15.8 km to Hasselberg Creek on left
33.3 km to Allan Creek on right
19.4 km to Sambo Creek on left
16.0 km to Meister River on right (great campsite across from
mouth. From here to Frances River confluence is the
slowest river current on the trip)
21.7 km to Frances River on left
7.6 km to Rancheria River on right
35.1 km to Alaska Highway Bridge at Upper Liard Village
(take-out)
That's 252.7 km total, plus another 5.0 km on North Lake (which you
don't have to paddle, but if there, you're going to explore
it...right? Heck, if I can get back up there, I want to
explore the upper lakes)
Comments:
This run is not written up anywhere else that I know of. The
flight services I contacted claim to shuttle people in
occasionally, but could not supply me with names or addresses.
I could not find anyone else who has run this route. Anyone
else who has, please contact me as I'd like to compare my
notes with yours.
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