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Fleeting Arctic summers open brief windows for rafting the Yukon’s Firth River.
Photograph by Michael Melford |
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With round-the-clock light “so thick you could lick it off your fingers” and “low green hills that bulge like muscles out of the tundra,” Canada’s Ivvavik National Park beckons travelers keen to spot Arctic wildlife.
Writer Jeff Rennicke, a former rafting guide, and photographer Michael Melford joined a guided raft trip in July 1998. They dreamed of seeing one of the grandest wildlife spectacles on Earth: the migration of the caribou.
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A Mus Creek angler brandishes a brilliant 8-pound (3.6 kilograms) arctic char.
Photograph by Michael Melford |
Each ride down the icy Firth River and each hike in the wee hours offers another chance of seeing the great heards. But the wilderness is so big it can hide 129,000 caribou from you—and so beautiful you might not even miss them.
Radio Expeditions @ nationalgeographic.com
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/radiox
Tune into “Caribou Crossing” (under More Features) to meet an Arctic people where lives depend on Caribou.
Canadian River Expeditions
http://whistler.net/canriver
Canadian River Expeditions outlines the trips they offer, including the Firth River journey taken by the author and photographer.
Great Canadian Parks
http://www.interlog.com/~parks/number26.htm
Along with a brief description of the park, this site contains a “notebook” entry by Peter Trueman, host of the series, Great Canadian Parks.
Inuvik Home Page
http://www.inuvik.net
Regularly updated, Inuvik’s official Web site provides a wealth of business and travel information for this lively town in a remote corner of Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Parks Canada
http://parkscanada.pch.gc.ca/parks/yukon/ivvavik/
The official Web site for Ivvavik National Park includes a brief description as well as permit fees and other information.
Planet Caribou
http://www.planetpets.simplenet.com/plntcara.htm
Find pictures and basic information on caribou.
Porcupine Caribou Herd Satellite Collar Project
http://www.taiga.net/satellite/index.html
Follow the migration of the caribou with up-to-date satellite photos.
