Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve

Akami-Uapishku-KakKasuak-Mealy Mountains was established in 2015 and covers around ten thousand seven hundred square kilometres, making it one of the largest protected areas in eastern North America; the name combines Innu and Inuit words for the white mountain and the mountains. It protects boreal forest, subarctic barrens, the Mealy Mountains themselves and a caribou herd. There is no road access, no trail network, no campgrounds and no visitor infrastructure of any kind; Parks Canada describes it as a place for self-sufficient wilderness travel. Innu and Inuit continue traditional harvesting throughout it under the establishment agreements.

History

From the 1970s the Innu rejected Parks Canada's plans here, but in 2001, after agreeing a framework for their land claim, the Innu Nation invited it to study a park representing the east coast boreal forest; a steering committee found a park feasible in May 2008, it was announced on 5 February 2010 at Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and it was established in 2015 as a park reserve that allows traditional hunting, trapping, fishing and cutting wood for personal use. Akami-Uapishku, the first part of its name, is the Innu name for the area, meaning white mountain across (Wikipedia, Akami-Uapishku-KakKasuak-Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve).

What you'll find

• The undeveloped scale - over ten thousand square kilometres with no infrastructure.
• The Mealy Mountains - subarctic barrens rising above boreal forest.
• The caribou - a herd within the reserve's boundaries.
• The continuing harvest - Innu and Inuit land use under the park agreements.

When to go

July to September for any realistic travel; the season is short and weather turns fast. Access requires chartering a float plane or boat from Goose Bay.

Good to know

There is genuinely nothing here: no trails, no bridges, no campsites, no signage and no rescue nearby. Charter costs are high and weather-dependent. This is for experienced expedition travellers only.

Nearby

Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the staging point; Labrador's coast lies east.

Key facts