Hyland River > About this Wilderness Area
The Hyland River
The
Hyland River is one of only a handful of Yukon rivers that can call
themselves children of the mighty Liard River. From its
headwaters in the Logan and Selwyn Mountains, the upper reaches of the
Hyland, above our put-in, is a spirited and technical river. As the
river grows in size it slows and has sections of beautiful stress-free
paddling, interspersed with shorter sections of exciting class II
whitewater.
The river owes its name to Robert Hyland, and English prospector and trader who was the first recorded non-First Nation person to ascend the river in 1874. Robert Hyland lived out his life in the region, developing trading posts in direct competition with the Hudson Bay Company at Lower Post, Cassiar, and Dease Lake. He was known as a creative businessman: at one time printing his own money and having local miners and First Nations use it as currency at his trading posts.
The Liard basin, in which the highland flows, is known for its deep winter snowfalls, and richer, thicker vegetation cause by deeper soils and higher levels of precipitation. The biggest trees in the Yukon occur here in the Liard watershed.
We start our voyage just below the most advanced whitewater. In the upper reaches of the river, closer to the alpine, we may be lucky enough to spot a grizzly bear, a herd of mountain caribou or even wild sheep on the steeper terrain. As we descend the river we will stop on islands that are home to giant spruces (by Yukon standards). Many of these islands have not burned in a forest fire for a long time because of the protection of the river, allowing their trees to grow to an unusual size for this latitude. Wolves and moose populations are healthy in the Liard basin so we may hear or see signs of these magnificent creatures. Wolf tracks on the river’s gravel bars are a frequent sighting on the Hyland. The lower reaches of the Hyland flow into northern British Columbia, and shortly thereafter we will end our journey where the river reaches the Alaska Highway, a 20-minute drive southeast of the town of Watson Lake. Here, if we are lucky, we may see the Liard River Bison herd, British Columbia’s only remaining population of wood bison, a distinct forest-dwelling species that often can be seen grazing along the margins of the Alaska Highway.
If we had continued down the river we would have first paddled into the Liard River, known for its massive sections of whitewater and then eventually into the much more tranquil Mackenzie River, heading north to the Arctic Ocean. Perhaps another time!
