This gallery covers highlights from a 613km hike across Banks Island. This beautiful, remote Arctic Island is unknown to most the world, and very few people have ever hiked across the island.  In July 2022 I spent 18 days hiking solo from the northern coast (Mercy Bay), along the eastern shore to the southern tip (near Nelson Head), and then back to the hamlet of Sachs Harbour.  I hope this gallery shares some of the beauty.
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Banks Island, roughly the size of Ireland and twice the size of Taiwan, is the westernmost island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.  There is evidence of (nomadic) human activities on the island as far back as 3,500 years ago.  Sachs Harbour, with roughly 100 people today, is the only settlement on the island.  During my visit to Sachs Harbour, several people described how the elders used to “walk the island” and hunt and trap in remote regions when they were young.  However, today, no one lives outside Sachs Harbour and most hunting and trapping occurs near to it.

During 1850-1853 the crew of the British ship the “Investigator” wintered along Banks island.  First in the Prince of Wales Strait, and then from 1851-53 in Mercy Bay.  The ship was then abandoned.  It was rediscovered at the bottom of the bay in 2010.  A few explorers report expeditions on Banks Island.  Stefansson reports hiking diagonally from the NE to SW across the island in 1915.  In 1951 and 1952 the researcher Thomas Manning, along with his assistant, circumnavigated the island by canoe and camped in De Salis bay, on the east coast, for several months.  They hiked across the island each of those years.

Today there is a national park in the north of the island which receives 8-30 visitors each year, primarily for canoe trips along the Thomsen river.  There is a polar bear research cabin near the north shore which is infrequently used as a base for researchers.  Otherwise, essentially no travel to the island outside of Sachs Harbour occurs.

Not surprisingly, I didn’t encounter any people on this hike.
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Journey

1. Mercy Bay

Mercy Bay is a Canadian Arctic waterway in the Northwest Territories. It is a southern arm of M'Clure Strait on northeast Banks Island.

2. Badlands

The Badlands, starting just east of Mercy Bay, are a region where fast flowing rivers have cut deep gorges into the slate hills. 

3. Prince of Wales Strait

The Prince of Wales Strait is a strait in the Northwest Territories of Canada separating Banks Island to the northwest from Victoria Island to the southeast

4. Jesse Bay

Jesse Bay is a large bay along the west coast of Banks Island.  It adjoins the Amundsen Gulf.

5. De Salis Bay

De Salis Bay is a Canadian Arctic waterway in the Northwest Territories. It is a northern arm of Amundsen Gulf on southeastern Banks Island where dry tundra is found.

6. Nelson Head

Nelson Head is a Canadian Arctic hyposographic cape in the Northwest Territories. The most southerly point of Banks island, it protrudes into the Amundsen Gulf.

7. Reddi Lake

Reddi Lake is a large fresh water lake along the south east coast of Banks Island.

8. Sachs Harbour

Sachs Harbour is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Situated on the southwestern coast of Banks Island in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the population according to the 2021 census count was 103 people.