There’s dramatic hiking available to those who fly out to the Ram Plateau in Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories. There are grassy plains, scenic canyons 1200 to 1800 m deep, hoodoo and karst formations and exposed fossils. The north end of the plateau is very steep and rugged. Dall’s sheep range the plateau’s sides and caves. The southern end is more rolling, and moose and caribou use the area.

Nahanni Karst

The Nahanni Karst is a limestone landscape molded by rainwater over millenia. Landforms include caves, towers and arches, of a quality rarely seen outside the tropics. There are caves where the remains of sheep can be seen in the permafrost. There are karst canyons where water disappears underground, and karst springs where groundwater bubbles up to feed the South Nahanni and Ram rivers. And there is an amazing labyrinth of corridors hundreds of metres long with caves, sinkholes and shafts.

Mountain Hot Springs

In the Nahanni area, hotsprings maintain temperatures of up to 40ºC year round. The most famous is Rabbitkettle Hotsprings which features a 30 metre high tufa mound. Canoeists can explore Rabbitkettle on a guided tour with a park warden. The tufa, a mineral deposit created by the hot spring has fantastic lacy layers, and is extremely fragile. Visitors must climb the layers through the warm spring water in their bare feet, to preserve the site.