Big Salmon River > About this Wilderness Area
Big Salmon River
On
our way to Quiet Lake and our put-in for the Big Salmon River, we will
travel the beautiful wilderness corridor created by the Canol Highway,
which in fact is a mere dirt road through pristine wilderness. The
Canol Highway is actually short for “Canadian Oil” and was originally
built during World War II. It was thought that with the construction of
the Alaska Highway and the presence of the military in the area a
source of fuel was needed. So, a road and pipeline were built from
Norman Wells in the NWT all the way to Whitehorse, Yukon where a
refinery was built. The total length on the pipeline was an impressive
1000 km or 600 miles. Oil actually only flowed for one year from
1944-1945 before the project was mothballed due to poor production from
the oil fields at Norman Wells. The Canol road, now maintained by the
Yukon Government during the summer months, is the only remains of this
considerable endeavor.
Quiet Lake is nestled in the Pelly Mountains. The lake is deceptively named as winds can quickly whip up waves and create anything but a “quiet lake”. After Quiet Lake we will travel through a series of lakes and small river-sections before entering the Big Salmon River proper. The Big Salmon River then winds its way through the Salmon Mountains, a sub-range of the Pelly Mountains, as the river makes its way towards its eventual confluence with the Yukon River.
The Big Salmon River is a popular Yukon experience. It will give you the tranquility of the Yukon wilderness without the stress of technical whitewater paddling. However, you shouldn’t let your guard down, as the river has many logjams, sweepers and tight corners with standing waves to maneuver around. Your chances of wildlife viewing opportunities on this river are high. The watershed has a healthy population of moose, grizzly bear, wolf, caribou, beaver, bald eagles and more. The late summer and early fall provides and excellent opportunity to view grizzly’s as they come out to snack on the spawning Chinook salmon. The river is also home to arctic grayling, white fish, lake trout, and northern pike.
The Big Salmon watershed flows through the traditional territories of Teslin Tlingit, the Kaska Dena, and the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nations. You will have an opportunity to view the historic First Nations encampment of Big Salmon Village at the confluence of the Big Salmon and Yukon Rivers, and Little Salmon Village on the Yukon River above the community of Carmacks. The First Nation only populates the Little Salmon Village during the salmon fishing season.
The Yukon community of Carmacks, where our trip ends, is named for George Carmacks. Carmack’s discovery of gold, along with Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie on Bonanza Creek started the famous Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. During the gold rush this community became a commercial center to service travelers and had a trading post, roadhouse, a telegraph office, fox farm, coal mine and a Northwest Mounted Police Detachment. Prior to the gold rush the site where the town of Carmacks resides today had already been utilized as a central trading and meeting place for First Nations peoples of the area.
