Day Seven - Nahanni River Adventure

Our last morning... it all flew by so fast! It seems like we just started yesterday.

We tried to get up and on the river relatively early as we had 4-5 hours of hard paddling to get to Nahanni Butte for our shuttle boat in the early afternoon. The current has slowed to almost non-existant so it's the hardest paddling yet.

Halfway there a game of tag was started to throw some fun into the mix. It was good for giggles and splashes, and then everyone collapsed out of exhaustion!

Hunter put his week of training to work and started the day as full raft guide - amazingly enough he could actually co-ordinate the oars and row the raft! He never ceases to amaze us - he excels at all the things that interest him (sounds like Tim's grade school report card).

Nahanni Butte is named after the large "Butte" of land that sits across the river from it. The last hour of paddling seemed to take forever as we could clearly see the Butte and progress was measured by targeting a landmark in the distance and paddling until you reached it. It was the only way to feel like we were actually making progress!

Nahanni Butte is situated at the junction of the South Nahanni and Liard Rivers and most of the residents are Slavey Dene.

Today trapping is still a main source of income along with tourism. Nahanni National Park, fantastic scenery, wildlife and outdoor activities make this a popular tourist spot. The population is roughly 100.
http://www.spectacularnwt.com/wheretoexplore/nahannicountry/nahannibutte

We landed in Nahanni Butte and our shuttle boats were already waiting for us. Quick work was made of unpacking and disassembling the rafts and moving everything over into the boats. We landed back at Blackstone Landing late in the afternoon and had just enough time to enjoy some hot water from a rustic shower before a large group dinner.

We were happy to be back in the comfy confines of our camper and hit the Liard Highway shortly after 8pm to head on our way home. A roadside pull off was our home for the night to ensure that we made it to the Liard Hotsprings by lunch time to allow for lots of play time. We made it home Sunday afternoon with enough time to stretch, clean out the camper and pack ourselves up again for the trip to Grandma Lynne's for Lee and Hunter early Monday morning. (seperate posts to come on that)

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