Vuntut National Park
A 4,345 sq km roadless wilderness of Beringian tundra and the Old Crow Flats, co-managed with the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.
Old Crow Flats wetland complex in Vuntut National Park
What to expect at Vuntut National Park
Vuntut sits in the extreme northern Yukon, above the Arctic Circle and directly north of the Fly-in Gwich’in community of Old Crow. The name means 'among the lakes' in Gwich’in and refers to the 2,000+ shallow lakes of the Old Crow Flats, an internationally-recognized Ramsar wetland where half a million waterfowl stage each year. The park also protects Ice Age fossil beds where mammoth, giant beaver and scimitar cat bones erode out of the riverbanks — this land was never glaciated.
Fewer than 50 visitors a year make it into Vuntut, and almost all go with a Vuntut Gwitchin guide out of Old Crow. There are no facilities, no trails and no marked routes. The trip typically involves flying scheduled Air North to Old Crow, then chartering a floatplane to a lake within the park for two or three nights of guided hiking, fishing and cultural interpretation. Come for the caribou migration and the elders' stories, not for infrastructure.
Questions about Vuntut National Park
No. Vuntut is free to enter. Costs are entirely in getting there: about $900 return airfare Whitehorse-Old Crow plus $2,500-4,000 for a floatplane charter.
The park has no fee any day of the year.
A three-day, two-night charter is the practical minimum. Most guided trips run 5-7 days including weather buffer.
Never officially closed, but realistic visitor season is late June through mid-September. Winter access is used by Vuntut Gwitchin harvesters only.
Yes — contact the Parks Canada office in Old Crow (867-966-3622) at least six months ahead. Guides and charters are scarce.
Air North operates scheduled 737 service Whitehorse-Old Crow twice weekly, about 1h 45min. There is no road access to Old Crow at any time of year.
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