Description: The Slot
So far was we aware, there is no name for the reach of the river between the Rock Gardens and Virginia Falls. We’ve chosen to call it “The Slot” because for much of it the paddler is flanked by the Sapper Range on river left and the Ragged Range on river right.
The scenery is nothing short of spectacular. Large mountains here and large mountains there. This is a rugged land where the remnants of huge rock slides approach the river.
Days of Travel
4 days.
Distance
159 miles.
Notable Features
Moore’s Hotspring is an interesting stop. We didn’t tarry long as there were more mosquitoes at Moore’s than any of us had seen in a very long time. They were extremely aggressive.
Water Rating
The paddling is laid back, flat water and wide. There is one named rapid on this reach, the Elbow. For us, it was little more than a few standing waves, but all rapids need to approached carefully as fluctuations in water levels can have an impact on difficulty.
Other Quick Comments
One needs to stop at the Rabbitkettle Lake to register at the kiosk. Its kind of worth the walk to the warden cabin, one can get the latest from the rangers. Don’t worry, you can’t miss where you enter the park, there’s a sign, of course…
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THE SLOT JOURNAL ENTRIES
Friday July 9, 2004
Up at about 8. After long day yesterday, everyone moving a bit slowly. So far solar charger working fine — charge up satellite phone batteries every second evening or so, if it’s not raining. This morning we have a visit from a young cow moose, who seems unwary. We snap a few pictures and J shoots some video of this visitor. We pack up and leave at about 1115. River is much bigger now, but not a lot of white water. A few riffles and the odd rock to catch the unwary. Banks were all rocky earlier; now we are seeing more earthen banks and trees leaning over the river. J takes off early on the river and it takes us nearly 2 hours to catch up. Stop for lunch on a gravel bar at about 1430. Some drizzle early on. Occasional sun, mostly cloudy. Pass a number of burns and one is very recent, with smoke still rising from the river bank. Must have been burning a day or two ago.
River picks up lots of water today — many streams, and a big one where the Little Nahanni comes in. The river is changing character every day. The early trickle has become a stream and now it is a river. Most of the water is silty but not muddy. In the evening we stop at Moore’s Hot Spring but the mosquitoes win the day. Easily the most abundant blood-suckers we’ve seen to date. We scout out other sites near here (well, K does, rousing all the mosquitoes in the neighbourhood) and find remains of a cabin and a boat. M finds a piece of blue plastic that may have come from a raft. In 50 years it will be an artifact suitable for a museum. Moore’s museum. Perhaps Moore was carted off by the mosquitoes? We camp about 400m down from the hot spring, which is not that big a deal — but very green and lush. Pull over at about 2115, so it’s a fairly long day. Supper at 2230 but still lots of sun. The paddling is easier for M and me than for K and J — hard to keep up with a two-man canoe with a light load. J has the toughest day of us. No real white water today. The scenery is gorgeous — the Sapper Range on river left and the Ragged Range on the river right side. Ragged Range gets more and more ragged as we go downstream — towering dark peaks with some peaks and towers only a rock-climber or a falcon could love.
On our wildlife list there is the moose, of course, from the morning, and then a few ducks of uncertain parentage (likely scaup on later check of a guidebook), some shorebirds not in my guidebook, a couple of kingfishers, a bald eagle, many cliff swallows (and plenty of swallow holes in clay cliffs). In general, though, the avian life is limited, and as Parks staff later confirm, there are few fish in the upper stretches of the river. We saw beaver in the first day or two and lots of beaver sign there, but only occasional beavers after that.
Camp 5 is at 62° 20′ 11″ and 128° 7′ 33″, and we covered 69.2 km on the river today. (This turns out to be the longest river stretch covered in a day’s travel on this trip).
Saturday July 10, 2004
Up at about 800. Things moving a bit slowly today, after a long day. Rained last night and there is drizzle in the morning. Packing goes a bit slowly; we leave at about 1110. J leaves a bit earlier in the raft to get a head start. No serious white water today; some waves at Elbow Rapids where the river takes a big bend from NE to SE direction, but it goes smoothly. Lunch on a slow part of the river as the raft and canoes float along together in quiet water. A fairly easy day. The river picks up lots of water today — and nearly doubles in size where the Broken Skull River comes in through several channels.
To the right are the crags of the Ragged Range — beautiful, awe-inspiring, dark and a bit grim. No easy hiking up there. To the river’s left are less craggy peaks but still big rocky mountains, and very impressive.
Camp 6 is a little past the confluence of the Broken Skull and Nahanni Rivers, at GPS 62° 13′ 28″ and 127° 34′ 24″. We covered 50.2 km on the river today. Our weather today is cool, with the odd drizzle. Generally good weather. Some smoke, mostly down-river. A shower in the evening again, predictably as we pitch our tents. K has a 4-man Eureka A-frame, I have a Kelty Vortex 3 to myself, and J and M are the odd couple in a big Eureka tent that has a porch and allows the inhabitants to stand upright. Supper is spaghetti and sauce. Not bad, and besides that, by summertime everything tastes good.
Today gives us our prize wildlife sighting of the trip — 6 black wolf pups playing on a gravel bar on river left, in the afternoon. We are floating by and they seem fairly unconcerned. No adults visible although there is surely an anxious mom not far away. We stop and watch; I would like to get some pictures but would have to fuss with bags and make noise to get it out. J gets a little video footage of the last pup as they toddle off into the bush. Not something we’ll see every day! Fun to watch the pups — still a bit awkward and gangly. Kind of like my puppy Sam in his early months. This makes the day for us… we could do this trip 100 times and not see wolf pups again. A little later we spot a moose calf on the river bank — a ruddy colour that almost looks Herefordish.
Sunday July 11, 2004
Up at 730 or so. It rained overnight again, so my wet clothes did not dry. Usual sort of morning. M makes pancakes — very good. Then the usual routine of packing gear and boats. We get underway at about 940, and J a little earlier to get a head start. The canoes catch up after an hour or so.
We get to Rabbitkettle park cabin at about 1400. There are 2 canoes there, pulled up above the water. M registers us at the kiosk as “M and 3 others”. No excess verbiage here. We have become anonymous generic paddlers, appendages to the great M. Walk a few hundred m to the warden station at Rabbitkettle Lake, which is quite pretty. A crew of 3 fire-fighters hop in a helicopter as we get there. S, a rather attractive park warden gives us a few words about fires and other stuff in the area. M immediately falls in love. Well, in lust, anyway. There is also a party of 4 Americans led by one Bernie from Nevada. Possibly deported from that great state. Bernie is a bit chatty, shall we say. Has been in the Yukon in the past and apparently single-handedly built the mining access road to the Sa Dena Hes mine 40 km north of Watson Lake.
We camp another few km down-river from Rabbitkettle Lake. Camp is on another gravel bar on the river left side. This afternoon and evening we have lots of sun — finally my clothes dry! Almost too much sun. The mosquitoes extend their usual annoying welcome but get scarce in dry hot conditions. Supper is a chicken stew made partly with canned chicken meat; not bad at all. Camp 7 is at GPS 61° 54′ 1″ and 126° 59′ 42″, and 57.7 km from last river camp. Slow evening. Nice.
Monday July 12, 2004
Up at about 715. Cooled off overnight — dew on tents in the morning. Breakfast today is cereal and milk. Sunny in the morning; it will be a hot one. Finally my clothes are all dry.
Pack up and we’re on the river at about 930 today. I row the raft today; J is in my Explorer with M. Quiet water today. We figure J does about 11 paddle strokes all day, and spends much of the day lying on his back with his feet sticking over the gunwales. But J has earned a day of rest. Rowing definitely requires a workout! It’s a hot day and I go through a few litres of water by day’s end. Lunch is at about 1400 on the river; sausage and cheese, served up by Maestro M. They say the idle rich are not happy but I would like to test this theory myself. Lovely to float down-river and do absolutely nothing. Stop for an afternoon break at Flood Creek, which has one channel of very clear cold water.
We pull over today at about 1700 on a gravel bar. There are some aggressive horse flies, which seem to be able to handle the hot sun when the mosquitoes can’t. Yesterday and today will no doubt allow the forest fires to flare up again. We get some smoke on the river every day, but it’s not that bad at the moment. Supper is macaroni and tuna, and J makes a banana cream pie that tops off the supper nicely. We covered 53.2 km on the river today, says M. Camp 8 is at 61° 51′ 2″ and 126° 15′ 23″. We are about 45 km from Virginia Falls, and should be there tomorrow afternoon. The Falls are about halfway on our journey. K and I have baths of a sort this evening. Nice to get that itchy feeling out of my scalp. Not much in the way of wildlife sightings today. Some small ducks I can’t identify, and 3 terns near camp provide an aerobatics display — helicoptering in place and diving at something in the water. The mountains on river left are an imposing citadel that K is quite impressed with. Also spotted 2 wolves a few hundred m up-river, on a river bank we had passed by. One is a tan-grey adult and then a second one, dark or black, also shows up.