You must book a drop off to Sandy Lake and a pickup from either Siltaza Lake (Option 1) or Austin Lake (Option 2) unless you intend to portage into another water system and arrange alternate means back to Yellowknife at the end of your trip.  You may choose your return date to suite your pace on the river and allow for any base camping you may wish to do.

This charter is for one of our DHC-2 Beaver Floatplanes to provide transport for 1-3 people and a canoe secured as an external load from Yellowknife to Sandy Lake.  Sandy Lake (62°50.01’N, 107° 36.21’W ) is 219 statute miles  (352 km) from Yellowknife  The flight time is approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with the canoe.  The payload is not to exceed 800 lbs (363 kg) this s the combined weight limit for all passengers, gear and the canoe.

The current Tariff Rate for this charter is $5,331.38 CDN, inclusive of all fees, charges and the 5% Goods and Services Tax.  We have an offer to provide a 10% discount to the quoted rate for 2024 bookings to and from the Snowdrift River that are booked and paid for in full prior to February 28, 2024.  Any equipment rentals such as canoe rentals are in addition to the charter fees quoted.

The Snowdrift River is almost entirely within the new Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve that was created in August 2019. Thaidene Nëné, means “Land of the Ancestors” in the Denesuline language. Thaidene Nëné protects 26,525 square kilometres of land northeast of Yellowknife. The park offers many outstanding destinations for exploration and includes part of the East Arm of Great Slave Lake with its glacier-carved cliffs, part of the Lockhart River (Artillery Lake), and countless lakes throughout the transition zone between the subarctic and arctic environments.  Both boreal forest and tundra ecosystems are found in the park. 

Wildlife viewing opportunities are abundant including: barren-ground caribou, muskox, moose, wolves, bears (black & grizzly), foxes, lynx, wolverines, and beavers. The park reserve also boasts world-class sportfishing for lake trout, arctic grayling and other species.

The Snowdrift River was named by the English explorer, fur-trader, Samuel Hearne 1745-1792. The area was later more heavily explored by the Norwegian explorer, Helge Ingstad (1899-2001). The headwaters begin on the barren lands at Sandy Lake and the Snowdrift river takes you through the transition into the boreal forest. The most common starting point is Sandy Lake with a pick up at Siltaza Lake; this routing is entirely within the Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve and is 100 sm (162 km) in length

You may extend the trip by continuing from Siltaza Lake down the Snowdrift River to Austin Lake this adds 22 sm (35 m) to the route length.  The route portion between Siltaza Laka and Austin Lake is outside of the reserve. 

The snowdrift river is a river that can suffer from lower water levels in the last half of the summer. A group with a tight time frame has in recent seasons (2022) made the trip from Sandy Lake to Siltaza in 8 days during the lower waters of the first part of August. They found the 12 sm (20kms) below Sandy Lake to be rather low water with lots of lining, lift overs, etc., but once below Igstad Creek the river was easy going. They commented despite the lower waters below Sandy Lake that Sandy Lake was well worth it and that they wish they has allotted some extra time to spend on Sandy Lake.  Most trip reports conclude the largest size and number of fish to come out of Sandy Lake along the route.

There are not very many areas on the river that are accessible to floatplane by which we could shorten the trip other than to drop off at Lower Runa Lake which would bypass the shallow waters south of Sandy Lake but still give lots of opportunity for overland exploration and hiking in Helge Ingstad’s old stomping grounds

Sandy Lake really is a unique and beautiful starting point and leaves open options to portage in the Thelon watershed and further explore the barren lands if time permits. 

All visitors must register before entering Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve; this is an easy process. The Park Reserve is governed by the Government of Canada not the Government of the Northwest Territories and if you intend to enter the park you should be aware of all of the park rules and regulations. They can be found on this website: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/nt/thaidene-nene  The registration process provides park staff with information required in an emergency situation, as well as helping them understand visitor use. You will be asked to provide contact information for yourself and an emergency contact. You’ll also need to know your trip details, including your route, the colour of camping gear (tent fly & canoe) and number of vessels when you register. There is currently no fee to register (Dec.’23). We ask that you provide us with your registration number as soon as have one so that can advise the Park Staff when we are landing in the park.

You will also require a park fishing licence in addition to the Northwest Territories licence. The park licences and permits can be purchased online. One primary difference in the fishing licences for the Northwest Territories and Park Reserve; is that the Territorial regulations require that you put fish entrails on shore and when you are in the Reserve, the Park Reserve requires that entrails be released into deep water, off shore – you should be aware of this if you are transitioning in and out of the reserve during your trip. A Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve fishing permit costs $10.25 per day or $35.75 for the season and can be purchased online. https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/nt/thaidene-nene/activ/peche-fishing/permis-peche-fishing-permit