Want to Hike a Portion of the Thelon Esker?

It is possible. Dream big. Enjoy a vacation in the NWT. But you’d have to be prepared and it shouldn’t be your first multi-day hiking trip. Probably best to have a couple long hikes under your belt before you attempt this one.

This is an extremely remote area, even compared to most of the Northwest Territories. The nearest communities are hundreds of kilometers away by air, there are no active fishing lodges or hunting camps along the route, and only one diamond mine. Hikers would need to be entirely self-sufficient, carry satellite communication devices, and be prepared to pay significant costs if an evacuation is necessary. This is the land of Grizzly Bears and hikers would also need to be confident that they can react appropriately in potential bear encounters.

The entire NWT is criss-crossed with rivers and large lakes. No significant portion of this route is feasible without a pack boat. Modern, lightweight inflatable boats allow hikers to cross lakes and rivers with minimal extra weight. Hikers have the option of using lightweight take-down kayak paddles or using swim paddles that increase the size of the hand to allow paddling by hand. The author’s pack boat and swim paddles together weighed a total of 891 grams or just under 2 pounds.

Hikers would need to be confident navigators as well. The esker in most places provides a path to follow, but where the esker expands into an esker complex with multiple ridges and wide sandy esker fans, navigation becomes more difficult. At some of the gaps in the esker, the next section of esker is not visible and hikers need to be capable of following a bearing to find the esker again. There are also a couple places where tributary eskers join the Thelon Esker and it would be possible for a non-attentive hiker to confuse the eskers and begin going the wrong way.

Black flies on the tundra can be menacing and the recommended timing for hiking the esker is the end of August or the first week of September when cool weather has reduced the black fly population. This is also the best timing for magnificent fall colours on the tundra, most notably the vivid red Arctic Bearberry and the yellow and red dwarf birch.

There is a section of the esker that I have recommended to friends interested in hiking part of the esker. From Lake Providence in the east to Rawalpindi Lake in the west lies a 110km stretch of incredibly scenic and impressive esker. With only a few short gaps, relatively easy water crossings, and large lakes at each end for float planes, it fits the bill for a good esker hike. With stretches of 50-metre-tall cobble esker, a waterfall on the Starvation River, large sandy esker complexes with ponds and miles of sand beaches, and an esker that snakes all alone across the middle of Whitewolf Lake, this portion is certain to captivate. I will return to this someday!

For anyone interested in an esker hike, contact me and I’d be more than happy to share all info I can on this portion or any other! I can share photos, map notes, gps tracks, etc.