Firth River Rafting

Photo: Nahanni River Adventures and Canadian River Expeditions
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Departing June 26, 2024

Join us on an incredible rafting journey down the Firth River for an enchanting, scenic passage to the arctic tundra plains and the Beaufort Sea. 

The Firth River connects the British Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, lies deep within the northern Yukon, adjacent to Alaska, and bisects Ivvavik National Park. Issuing forth from the north-western corner of the Yukon, the Firth River embraces a spectacular natural region on the continent’s north slope and is the core of Ivvavik National Park. The river flows from the British Mountains on the Alaska/Yukon border, north to the Beaufort Sea, and is incised into a spectacular canyon for half its length.  The valley hosts a range of habitats from tundra meadows to rich bench lands, and from rocky alpine ridges to lowland delta and coastal lagoon. A variety of wildlife species live in or migrate through the Firth valley – musk oxen, Dall sheep, grizzly bear, wolverine, wolf, gyrfalcons, rough-legged hawks, snow geese and tundra swans to name a few. Join us on this spectacular once-in-a-lifetime journey.

Itinerary
  • Day 0: Mackenzie Delta rendezvous
  • Day 1: Margaret Lake
  • Day 2: British Mountains
  • Day 3: Rapids and ridge hike
  • Days 4-5: Ancient mountains
  • Days 6-7: Sheep creek
  • Day 8:Caribou and Firth Canyon
  • Day 9: Engigstiack; ancient anthropology
  • Day 10: Muskox habitat
  • Day 11: Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea
  • Day 12: Arctic Ocean flight
  • Day 13: Home bound

Meet your RCGS Travel Ambassadors

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Rob Stimpson

Rob is an accomplished outdoors person carrying exceptional expertise in the world of photography. With a background in tourism, Rob has achieved international publication, award-winning photographs and a penchant for wilderness. Early in his career Rob started out as a photographer’s assistant in Basel, Switzerland, which laid the foundation for his success today. He has photographed for Ontario Tourism, Parks Canada, Ontario Parks and many organizations actively supporting tourism.

Over the last decade Rob explored many remote and wilderness areas including Antarctica, the Arctic, Northern Quebec and Labrador as well as Greenland, all in the role of expedition photographer and photographer in residence. In October 2012 Rob was nominated and elected into the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s, College of Fellows and in 2016 The Globe and Mail and Lexus profiled him along with 9 other artists. He co-authored An Artists and Photographers Guide to Wild Ontario and has also been a contributor for a number of published books. Rob’s work is proudly displayed in the Canadian Canoe Museum, Ontario Parks French River Visitor Centre & Arrowhead Visitor Centre and many of his images are prominently displayed in private homes.

An avid teacher, Rob instructs photography part time at Fleming College, writes for northern tourism organizations and maintains his photographic gallery.

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Wade Davis

Wade Davis is RCGS Honorary Vice-president and a writer, photographer and filmmaker whose work has taken him from the Amazon to Tibet, Africa to Australia, Polynesia to the Arctic. Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society from 2000 to 2013, he is currently Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. Author of 23 books, including One RiverThe Wayfinders and Into the Silence, winner of the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize, the top nonfiction prize in the English language, he holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University.

His many film credits include Light at the Edge of the World, an eight-hour documentary series written and produced for the NGS. Davis, one of 20 Honorary Members of the Explorers Club, is the recipient of 12 honorary degrees, as well as the 2009 Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the 2011 Explorers Medal, the 2012 David Fairchild Medal for botanical exploration, the 2015 Centennial Medal of Harvard University, the 2017 Roy Chapman Andrews Society’s Distinguished Explorer Award, the 2017 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration, and the 2018 Mungo Park Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018 he became an Honorary Citizen of Colombia. His latest book is Magdalena: River of Dreams, Knopf, 2020.

Firth River Through the Eyes of Brian Keating, RCGS Travel Ambassador