Scenery includes a variety of landforms and habitats, from open tundra to dense stunted spruce forests. Flatwater combines with whitewater to produce a well-balanced trip. This river is best canoed beginning in July, as ice on the lakes can delay progress. Wildlife is abundant, with good chances of seeing moose, caribou, wolves, and grizzly, tundra swans, golden and bald eagles, and peregrine and gyrfalcons. The fishing is good - for lake trout, pike, and grayling in the upper reaches, and for arctic char below Bloody Falls.
Archaeological sites are common.
Several operators offer canoe and raft trips of varying lengths on the Coppermine. The Hood River provided a route inland for the Franklin expedition on their desperate trek across the barrenlands in 1821. This is a remote tundra river with extensive whitewater. It starts near Napaktulik Lake and flows over Wilberforce Falls and down to Arctic Sound. The Hood passes rolling tundra hills, eskers, and high rocky ridges, and parallels part of the migration route of the Bathurst caribou herd, so sightings are common in early July.