Sirmilik National Park


Sirmilik National Park

Parks Directory of the United States / Canadian National ParksAddress:PO Box 300
Pond Inlet, NU XOAOSO

Phone:867-899-8092
Fax:867-899-8104
Web: www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nu/sirmilik
Size: 22,200 sq. km.
Established: 1999.
Location:On northern Baffin Island, 700 km north of the Arctic Circle and 600 km west of Greenland in the High Arctic. Travel to and from Sirmilik from either Pond Inlet or Arctic Bay can be arranged with local outfitters, with service by either boat or snowmobile, depending on the season. Travel to Pond Inlet is generally through Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, which has direct connections with Montréal, Ottawa, and Yellowknife (First Air Ltd., Canadian North). First Air offers scheduled flights from Iqaluit to both Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay (via Nanisivik). Kenn Borek Air offers scheduled flights to Pond Inlet.
Facilities:None at the present time. Services are available in Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay, located at the northern end of Baffin Island.
Activities:Camping, hiking, dogsledding, snowmobiling, boating, canoeing, sea kayaking, fishing, cross-country skiing, wildlife viewing, mountain climbing, visiting archeological sites.
Special Features:Sirmilik ("The Place of Glaciers") features high sea cliffs, glaciers dropping into the sea, rugged mountains, and deep fjords. It is also one of the richest areas for marine mammals and birds in all of Nunavut. Its marine life includes bowhead and beluga whales, narwhals, walruses, and several types of seals. The park encompasses the Bylot Island Bird Sanctuary, which protect the nesting grounds and large concentrations of snow geese, kittiwakes, and murres. The numerous archeological sites in the park are evidence of the prehistoric lives of Inuit and earlier inhabitants.

See other parks in Nunavut.