The Mysterious Nahanni River Valley

Once known as The Valley of the Headless Men

There are many famous places in Canada, but few are as well-known but as rarely visited, as the Nahanni River Valley.

It is here you will find the Nahanni National Park Reserve, which covers 30,050 square-kilometres in the Northwest Territories.

Inside this stunning area there are canyon walls that are one kilometre high, many waterfalls and a beautiful landscape.

Today we may call it Nahanni National Park Reserve, but it was once known as The Valley of the Headless Men.

The name of the area comes from the Dene word nahanni, which means "river of the land of the Nahʔa people. Humans have occupied the area for upwards of 10,000 years.

When the Klondike Gold Rush began prospectors took many different way to get to the Yukon. One way was along the Nahanni River.

In the summer of 1897, about 766 prospectors travelled from Edmonton on the All-Canadian overland route, and of those only a handful went through the South Nahanni River route. Only two of several dozen are known to have made it through that route.