Thelon | Kangirjuap River

The section of the Thelon River designated to the Canadian Heritage Rivers System includes the river’s entire middle and lower reaches, consisting of the 545 km from Warden’s Grove on the western border of the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary to the community of Baker Lake, Nunavut. The upper stretch of the river, and the majority of the designated Heritage River is protected within theThelon Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Thelon is the largest river in Canada flowing into Hudson Bay. The designated section of the river starts 110 km east of Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, near Whitefish Lake, and flows north and eastward across the barren lands into Baker Lake and Chesterfield Inlet, before entering the Hudson Bay. The river has impressive scenic features, such as extensive flats of pure white sand at the Thelon-Hanbury junction; 15 metre high sand embankments fringed by boulder beaches at Thelon Bluffs; and rapids that course through sandstone cliffs.

The pristine wilderness surrounding the Thelon provides abundant and diverse wildlife habitat. Its taiga and boreal forest support a unique variety of boreal and arctic species. The Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary protects the breeding grounds of the muskox, which are often seen along the river’s length, as well as part of the calving grounds of the Beverly caribou herd, thousands of which can be seen along the river during their migration. The caribou attract predators and sightings of wolves, wolverines and grizzlies are common.

Bird species found along the river include peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons, golden and bald eagles, as well as rough-legged hawks, and in the boreal forest of the upper Thelon, great grey owls and merlins. Tundra swans and four species of loons nest on lakes along the river.