Ukkusiksalik National Park

Understand

Ukkusiksalik National Park is closest to Chesterfield Inlet. It covers an area of 20,885 km2 (8,064 sq mi), a bit smaller than El Salvador. It was established in 2003. Its name relates to steatite found there: Ukkusiksalik means "where there is material for the stone pot" (from ukkusik, meaning pot or saucepan like qulliq).

History The park is uninhabited now, but the Inuit lived there from the 11th century to the 1960s. Remains of fox traps, tent rings, and food caches have been discovered in the area. The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) had an operating trading post in the area from 1925 to 1947.

Little is known about Wager Bay's early history, as until the 19th century the area was inhabited by Inuit who traditionally passed down their history by word-of-mouth. There is, however, a remarkable quantity of stone relics, mainly tent rings from Thule people, inuksuit, caches and shelters which provide evidence that the coast of Wager Bay has been inhabited for thousands of years. About 500 archaeological sites have been identified from Dorset culture (500 BC - 1000 AD), and from Thule culture (1000 - 1800) and the last two centuries. In 1742, Christopher Middleton on his sailing ship Furnace was the first European to enter the fjord, which he could not leave for several weeks because of ice flow. He named the bay after Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the British Admiralty, and an inlet where he anchored Douglas Harbour after James and Henry Douglas, sponsors of his expedition. The Savage Islands nearby he named after "savage Eskimos" (wild Eskimos) he met there. Middleton was not successful in his search for the Northwest Passage, and neither was William Moore with his sloop Discovery five years later. As the region was too remote and thought to be useless, the bay was not again recorded or visited for more than a century. In the 1860s, American explorer Charles Francis Hall's two-masted ship Monticello reached Roes Welcome Sound in 1864 while searching for John Fran

Getting there

The park can be reached from the nearest communities of Baker Lake or Repulse Bay by plane or boat. Baker Lake, Rankin Inlet and Naujaat can be reached by commercial airlines. The park is accessible by plane charter year-round. Local outfitters in Repulse Bay offer the 7-hour boat trip to the park in July and August, or snowmobile excursions in spring. Visitors should book an outfitter to access the park well in advance. Allow extra travel time for weather delays and have experience with backcountry travel.

To Iqaluit: Canadian North flies directly to Iqaluit from Montreal, Ottawa & Yellowknife. Travel from Iqaluit to Rankin Inlet: Rankin Inlet is the hub for air traffic heading to Repulse Bay, Chesterfield Inlet, Baker Lake, and Coral Harbour. Scheduled flights and charters to Rankin Inlet are available from Winnipeg, or from Ottawa via Iqaluit or Edmonton via Yellowknife. Air travellers should plan for the possibility of weather delays when making their travel arrangements. To Ukkusiksalik National Park: The park can be accessed from the communities of Rankin Inlet, Repulse Bay, Chesterfield Inlet, Baker Lake, or Coral Harbour. Local outfitters can access the park by boat in July and August. It is a 7-hour boat trip from the closest community or a charter flight can be arranged from Baker Lake or Rankin Inlet.

Getting around

Contact local outfitters through a community office, and be sure only to hire one with a business licence to operate in the park:

Municipality of Baker Lake +1 867 793-2874 Municipality of Chesterfield Inlet +1 867 898-9951 Municipality of Coral Harbour +1 867 925-8867 Municipality of Naujaat (Repulse Bay) +1 867 462-9952 Municipality of Rankin Inlet +1 867 645-2895

See

There are more than 400 documented archaeological sites within park boundaries, including tent rings, food caches, fox traps and an extensive site called Aklungiqtautitalik, meaning “Place of the rope game.” Named for a large, distinctive stone feature on the south side of the site, archaeologists believe this area might have been used prehistorically and in relatively recent times. Akungiqtautitalik is not open to visitors. In 1925, a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post was set up at the head of Wager Bay above an area of reversing tidal falls, to take advantage of inland trade potential and additional trade routes. It is significant as being the first post ran by an Inuit manager. Old buildings remain on-site as relics of this era. Several of these sites may be visited with a licensed operator. If you wish to visit the old trading post, ask if Parks Canada staff are available to accompany you.

Do

Usually, the park can only be visited during a very few summer weeks, from the beginning of July until the beginning of August. Before that, Wager Bay has too much ice to be visited by boat, and in the autumn the Inuit say: "During summertime, you may watch polar bears. Afterwards, they will watch you!" The place can be reached by a hired plane – usually one would depart from Baker Lake, about 350 km (220 mi) away, where scheduled flights arrive from Rankin Inlet. One can also approach by motorboat from Repulse Bay, where Parks Canada runs a station, but due to possible problems with ice this might take longer and therefore will only be considered by explorers or movie teams who have to bring a lot of equipment. The only air strip in the park is at the Sila River on Wager Bay's north coast. In 1987, Inuit from the area built Sila Lodge at this location. The lodge was opened for a few weeks during the summertime to allow nature enthusiasts to stay in the area. Due to the high cost of the flights, the lodge has been little used since 2002. From Sila Lodge, guided tours were offered, for instance boating tours to the Wager Bay islands, or to Ford Lake across the reversing falls, to the former Hudson's Bay Company outpost, or walks to the surrounding area, where you would find impressive relics of earlier settlements, such as tent rings, qarmaq and inuksuk. The site can be used as a starting point for backpacking trips, but with suitable precautions taken for polar bears in the area.

Trekking Sila River's "Fourth Waterfall" – typical Canadian Shield rocks The following valleys, water falls and lakes can be reached by walking from the Sila Lodge area:

First (lowest) waterfall of Sila River - total: 4 km (2.5 mi), time to walk: 1 hr, total time: 1.5 hr, height difference: 40 m (130 ft), peak: 4 m (13 ft), difficulty: easy. Traversing Tinittuktuq Flats - total: 6 km (3.7 mi), time to walk: 1.5 hr, total time: 5 hr, height difference: 80 m (260 ft), peak: 30 m (98 ft),

Sleep

An outfitter or tour company may be able to set up an appropriate campsite with a solar-powered electric fence and a sentry. See the contact list above in "Getting around".

Sila Lodge is an Inuit-owned outfitting operation and naturalist lodge located inside the park. Contact the park office for information.