Hayes River 2021: Planning the Plan

3 min readJan 1, 2021

I absolutely love to make a plan, that is half the fun of any trip in my opinion! This trip is really pushing us outside our comfort zone in literally every aspect including the planning!

Here are just a few of the hard copy resources we are using to help us plan for the Hayes.

Apparently, taking the Hayes up to York Factory is a seldom traveled route (couldn’t imagine why ;) ). This means that the kinds of resources we are used to using when planning a trip are not readily available. We have had to get creative in order to assess even the simplest things, like WHEN to take this adventure. We need to strike the right balance between enough water and polar bear season. It would be a real pain to have to carry the boat if the levels are too low and it would be truly terrifying to have an encounter with a polar bear!

For this decision, we are using three sources of information to help us decide when we should go.

Existing Trip Reports
Available Hydrometric Data
Parks Canada Availability / Recommendations

Trip Reports

As the route up to York Factory is not particularly popular, there are only a handful of trip reports available on the web. They come in all kinds of formats, from written reports to video logs. Unfortunately, few actually provide concrete details on when they took their trip or how the conditions were. I will include the content I referenced at the end of the post in case you are curious to check it out yourself! Generally, it seems that folks have taken this trip towards the end of July / beginning of August.

Hydrometric Data

The Government of Canada publishes water flow and level information from hydrometric stations across the country.

Hydrometric Stations in Manitoba. Source: https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/google_map/google_map_e.html?map_type=historical&search_type=province&province=MB

I mapped out a route up to York Factory based on Hap Wilson’s trip guide in his book, “Wilderness Rivers of Manitoba” and cross referenced that with the available station data. This book, by the way, should be a STAPLE for anyone interested in the rivers in Manitoba, it is a fantastic resource.

But back to the data, here is the table we put together for the Hayes route: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GIdSOAWq49wWvzHLZ55-id9HDKkrYDR6OMBAVn8LYvk/edit?usp=sharing

Parks Canada

York Factory is a National Historic Site that is maintained by Parks Canada, but it is only staffed part of the year. We got in contact with them in December to get a better understanding of when they would be present at York Factory in 2021. They informed us that typically, their season generally begins at York Factory around July 1st and extends to labour day. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, they are still awaiting final decision as to how visitor staff and visitor safety will be addressed. York Factory National History Site was closed to the public the summer of 2020 due to COVID, so it is possible something similar could transpire this year.

York Factory. Source: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/mb/yorkfactory/visit

Having Parks Canada present is critical to our journey as they not only hold the key to the National Historic Site (and 14-foot fenced in camping area that would help protect us from polar bears), but also because they can provide added comfort for our safety and security. I will get back in contact with them this Spring to find out more.

Conclusion

With all these factors in mind, we are tentatively planning on running the Hayes River Mid July to early August. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

That’s all for now, friends. Stay in the best kind of trouble ;)

Previous Trip Report Links

Hayes River 2021: Planning the Plan

Written by Flatland Adventures

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