June 28, 2023: Yellowknife

In 2022 we signed up for a 2023 rafting trip down the South Nahanni River with Canoe North Adventures. The occasion for this splurge was Mark's upcoming 50th birthday in May 2023. We wanted to go on a wilderness adventure, and figured that a multi-day hiking trip, like the hut-to-hut hiking trip we did in Norway in 2008, might still be a bit beyond Miles' endurance, and that our canoe tripping skills might not yet be up to an ambitious trip. 

A rafting trip seemed like the perfect way to access remote wilderness and let the river do most of the work transporting both us and our gear. We had been inspired by the CBC documentary Nahanni: River of Forgiveness to visit this beautiful landscape. We decided it was best to sign up for a guided group trip, as we had no experience with rafting, and the guides would know the river, the campsites, and the right gear and food to pack. We hadn't even considered that the excitement of the rapids would add to the fun of the trip, but that turned out to be a major highlight for Miles.

We flew Air North from Toronto to Yellowknife (choosing Air North over Air Canada, both because only Air North had a direct flight, and because we didn't trust Air Canada to even attempt to deliver our luggage after our saga over Christmas wherein our luggage stayed in Toronto the entire time we were in BC). Miles was seated beside a young woman, Kayleigh, with a small black pug, Boba Tea. She was very friendly, and by the end of the flight Miles had discovered that they both like animé, computer games, and she is friends with one of the teachers where Miles has taken art lessons. She let Miles try out some of the games on her Nintendo Switch, and we said we would look her up on Instagram.

After a long wait for the airport shuttle, we had a short drive to the Explorer Hotel. There are lakes everywhere! We rested, then went out for Ethiopian food, which had been well-reviewed, but which we found a bit underwhelming. 

But the nearby park exceeded our expectations, with really nice playscape equipment, including a slide of rollers, like at the Beer Store when they roll out your order from the back to the cash register. We were in bed early, being on Toronto time, and the sun was still high in the sky.

View from our hotel room



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