Kayaking Slave River Rapids

There are four sets of rapids in a 25 kilometre stretch on the Slave River, the Cassette, the Pelican, the Mountain and the Rapids of the Drowned.

The river drops 33 metres through the rapids, and flows at a rate of about four kilometres an hour. A colony of white pelicans nests in the Mountain Rapids. One of the largest birds in the world, with a wingspan of about three metres, the pelicans feed on Slave River fish and raise their chicks on rocky islands in midstream. Depending on river volume, visitors can see the pelicans close up from the polished granite shoreline.

The rapids are considered to have the most accessible and challenging whitewater for kayakers in North America. The local kayaking club can provide an introduction to the best spots.

For nearly two centuries, before roads were completed in the mid-1950s, the Slave River was the main route to the Northwest Territories. The rapids brought navigation to a standstill at Fort Fitzgerald, where all goods and passengers were off loaded and traveled a 24 kilometre portage route to Fort Smith. There, passengers and goods were loaded on York boats or, later, sternwheelers, for the trip down the Slave, across Great Slave Lake and down the Mackenzie River. The portage trails still are visible beside the river.

Class V Kayaking on the Slave River, Fort Smith - Northwest Territories, Canada