Thoughts From a "Lost Canadian" About Tuktut Nogait National Park

When I think about National Parks I picture the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Lassen National Park in the US - as they are parks I'm very familiar with. The Smokies are one of the most-visited National Parks in the USA and while not many people visit Lassen each year it is amazing (it is where I met my husband, so of course, I love it!) But there is a National Park in Canada which is so remote it is rarely visited - it is Tuktut Nogait National Park and I'm writing about it today.

• Tuktut Nogait National Park is located 170 km north of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories, its name means "young caribou" in Inuvialuktun.
• It is one of North America's most remote and least-visited National Parks.
• Tuktut Nogait National Park is named after the Bluenose West caribou which are born here when the migratory herd returns to its calving grounds each spring.
• A wide variety of mammals are found in the park, including caribou, muskoxen, grizzly bears, wolves, red foxes, wolverines, arctic ground squirrels, and collared lemmings.
• Tuktut Nogait is a major breeding and nesting ground for a wide variety of migratory birds. Raptors such as peregrine falcons, rough legged hawks, gyrfalcons, and golden eagles nest along the steep walls of the river canyons. Other notable bird species include: tundra swans, sandhill cranes, lapland longspurs, horned larks, jaegers, golden plovers, and both arctic and red throated loons. 
• Tuktut Nogait encompasses pristine, rolling tundra. The most prominent features are the wild, canyon-carved river systems of the Hornaday, Brock, and Roscoe rivers.
• Tuktut Nogait National Park is steeped in history, featuring over 300 ancient archaeological sites—some dating back thousands of years—where the Copper Inuit once hunted and preserved caribou.
• Getting there requires significant planning. Visitors typically fly to Inuvik from southern Canada, and then charter a floatplane to the park or nearby Paulatuk.
• The park has zero visitor facilities. You must be completely self-reliant, carrying all your own supplies, food, and waste bags.
• Extreme weather can hit even in mid-summer, including frost and heavy winds. Because Parks Canada's search and rescue resources are limited in the Arctic, visitors must be highly experienced and capable of handling emergencies.
• The north and central area of the park is mainly sedimentary rock composed of marine strata. The oldest strata are composed of shale, or siltstone, which are overlain by dolomites, poorly bedded sandstone and quartzite, and massive buff dolomite.
• The park has a low arctic eco-climate, characterized by long, cold winters and short, cool summers with little overall precipitation. The mean annual temperature is -11°C with a summer mean of 5°C and a winter mean of -26°C. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 200-300 mm.

You will find more information about Tuktut Nogait National Park at this link.