Coppermine River - myccr.com

Winter 2007 Vol. 34 No.4 Quarterly Journal of the Wilderness Canoe Association

Bloody Falls

Coppermine RiverText and photos by Allan Jacobs

Copyright: Allan E Jacobs, October 2007. All rights reserved.

Route:Parent River from the west end of Grenville Lake, throughRawalpindi and Parent Lakes to Redrock Lake, then theCoppermine River to Kugluktuk on Coronation Gulf.

Comment:A technical version of this report (with for example UTMsfor campsites and rapids) is available by emailing [email protected]; it will be posted at http://www.myccr.com

Overviews:Eric Morse: c c ••• the Coppermine ... is the ultimate - evenbetter than the Thelon. The rapids, scenery, game, andeverything put it at the top of my list." (from November1966 letter to Bob Matteson).

Bob Matteson: "It has everything - history, clear water,miles and miles of exciting rapids, great fishing, no peo-ple, pure air, beautiful scenery, few portages, and fewbugs."

The source for both quotations is Matteson's trip report,1970.

mailto:[email protected];

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Canyon of Escape Rapids from downstream

SummaryAn excellent trip, about half in the bar-renlands, at the top of the do-again listfor some of us; it is moderately toughthough and not recommended for a firstnorth-of-60 trip.

We found the rapids more difficultthan expected from the informationavailable to us. Depending on what yourun and the conditions, in our opinion therapids are comparable to the rock gardenbelow the Moose Ponds, and tougherthan those on the Bonnet Plume,Mara/Burnside, Kazan, Mountain,Thelon and Horton.

We portaged five times. The onesaround Rocky Defile, Escape andBloody Falls are not easy; they are com-parable to the ones around the Burnside,Thelon and Horton canyons, but shorter.

The scenery was not as good as on theHorton or the upper Thelon, better thanon the Mara/Burnside.

We saw less wildlife than on theThelon, MaralBurnside, Back andKazan.

For me, the main attraction of theCoppermine is the history; to appreciateit though, one has to read Richardson's orFranklin's journal.

The isolation is well up the scale; the

2 NASTAWGAN WINTER 2007

river is tough enough to discouragemany. We saw only six people; we heardthough that tourism was way down thatyear (2002) after the events of the previ-ous autumn.

We did almost no fishing (100%success rate); others report very goodfishing.

Dates:We landed on Grenville Lake on 16 July2002 and camped there that night; wereached Kugluktuk (527 km down-stream) in the morning of 5 August, for19 days on the water.

People, boats and logistics:WCA group: Jayne Beardsmore andStephen Catlin (16' red), Linda Gordonand Allan Jacobs (17' green), and EnidWeiner and Bob Bignell (18' blue), fromToronto, Flamborough and Mississauga;all three boats were Novacrafts, excellentperformers.

Boyd Warner of Bathurst ArcticDevelopments ([email protected]. com, highly recommended)arranged boats and logistics (flights fromYellowknife to Grenville and fromKugluktuk to Yellowknife).

Boyd's idea to nest the boats (hence

the 3 sizes) worked well; the severalhours spent installing and removing theseats, thwarts, etc saved us a lot ofmoney in getting the boats back toYellowknife.

If you don't use Boyd as an outfitter,be careful (Che-Mun, Outfit 125, sum-mer 2006).

Weather:Most days were sunny with temperaturesin the lOs and 20s; it was cooler near thecoast. We had only a little rain, only afew cold days, and frost only one night;we were windbound only one day. Itseems that we lucked out; most othergroups had it tougher, some muchtougher. The norm seems to be severalcold, rainy days and several windbound.

Water level:According to Phil on his 4th trip andFaruk on his 11th, both of whom we meton the Coppermine, the level was wellbelow normal. Records from 1967through 2002 show that water was high-est in 2001 and lowest in 2002, a differ-ence of 1.3 m [Source Faruk].

Both we (with very low water) andLayman-Holland (with very high water)found it hard to recognize some rapids

from the reports; the water was danger-ously high (in the trees!) for the latter'strip, so high that a group ahead of themreturned upstream after calling in to beflown out.

The main point of these comments isthat the rapids descriptions to follow maybe dangerously inaccurate at differentlevels.

There is supposed to be water-levelinformation that can be found athttp://atlas.mcan.gc.ca/site/englishimaps/environment/hydrology/currentwater-levels but the site is very poorly de-signed. It's easy to get to the box con-taining information from the site at theoutlet from Point Lake; from there, clickon "Get Info from Map", but it's any-one's guess where you go from there toget historical information.

Emergency Preparedness:There's no reason these days not to carrya satellite phone, a PLB or some suchmeans of getting help. Do NOT carry anEPRIRB; see articles in Kanawa.

There are only two places on theParent/Coppermine where you can gethelp. Max Ward's place is on RedrockLake (not occupied when we checked).And, in case of emergency only (under-standably if true, there's a rumour thatthe owner wants only paying guests),there's a camp on the south shore ofPoint Lake, about 25 krn upstream fromWard's place.

Check with your outfitter, and maybethe RCMP, to try to find out whetherother canoe parties are on, or will be on,the river at the same time.

Comments on gear etc.Tent, pfd, sleeping bag, rain gear andclothing must all be of high quality.

Boats: I'm not confident enough touse a wooden, Kevlar or aluminum boaton this river. PakCanoes would be greaton the Coppermine but Mark Fels andhis group couldn't avoid damaging theirrentals on the Parent.

Wet/dry suit: highly desirable, espe-cially on the lower Coppermine; wedidn't dump there but would have felt un-comfortable not wearing one.

Helmets: We didn't take them, butMark Fels's group did.

Spray skirts: almost essential on

the lower Coppermine; not neededon the Parent (where they are worsethan useless since they hinder get-ting in an out of the boats at dragtime).

Bugs: weren't as bad as on the Kazanand Thelon, but "few bugs" seems inac-curate.

Bug shirts: next to essential; head netsare not so good but your group mightcarry one as backup.

Bug tent: the greatest idea since the

Great Bear Lake

rN

o lOOkm

Coppermine Map

bug shirt; it should have a cover though,for rainy days.

Good ideas: paddling gloves and handcream (fingers crack); waterproof cam-era or case; folding plastic food pots(Pak-Bowls from Backpackers Pantry);big carabiners; fungicide (feet got wetand stayed wet too long); a saw (even ifyou plan to use stoves exclusively; if youneed a tree as a pry, I assure you from ex-perience that a Swiss army knife doesn'tcut it).

Coronation Gulf

CoppermineRiver

Put-in-Greneille

Lake

NASTAWGAN WINTER 20073

http://atlas.mcan.gc.ca/site/englishimaps/

Esker complex on the Parent

Flashlight was not needed (16 July to5 August).

Barrels: The big blue guys workedgreat; olive barrels leaked, as did Sealbags not properly closed.

Bear protection: We carried pepperspray and bangers; we had access to ashotgun but voted not to bring it.

Cooking: We used wood mostly. Theupper Parent and the Coppermine belowEscape are in the barrenlands but drift-wood is usually available; we needed ournaphtha stoves at some sites. Next time Imight take my Sierra stove.

Wayfinding: A pocket compass is notreliable (the dip is large, the maps are oldand the declination is changing rapidly).The OPS was only occasionally useful.

Maps: We had 4 complete sets(copies) of 1:50k topos (all NAD27). Inorder of traverse, they are 86B15, 8602,8601, 8608, 8607, 8609, 86016, 86Jl,86J8, 86J7, 86JI0, 86Jll, 86J14, 86J13,86K16, 86Nl, 8604, 8605, 86012,86011 and 86014.


Cleaning: It is an extremely sensitivearea. We used no detergent; we usedgravel and sand for cleaning pots exceptoccasionally we used biodegradable soapto cut grease (then rinsed thoroughly anddumped away from river; I've heard hor-ror stories of people getting sick from in-gesting soap). We rinsed bodies in riveror sponge bathed, using bdg soap occa-sionally.

Water filters: Some filtered (you'recrazy if you don't) and some didn't(you're crazy if you do); I haven't heardof anyone getting sick on the big north-ern rivers.

Waste: We covered poo and burnedtoilet paper.

Again, better:Carry longer ropes and a satellite

phone. Take river rescue course. Allowmore time (or push harder) in order tohike more.

People Encounter:Phil, Mary, Mary Kay and Katie from

Wisconsin, one tough group of pros,travelling fast (3 days to our 4 or so forthe same distance); two started at Raeand the others at Mesa Lake; all did the 4mile portage to the Parent. Thanks forhelp with the pin.

Fishermen Faruk Ekich ("FlytyingEnhancements", [email protected]) fromBrampton and Bill Blatch fromBordeaux. Thanks for tips on rapids andcampsites. In Bob's words, they "were flyfisher aficionados, so despite being in-vited to cast a lure where they were fish-ing I declined. They were the consum-mate sport fishers and I didn't wish to of-fend their ideals of what fishing shouldbe. It is rare to see this "class" of fisher-men. They probably debate if fishing isan art or science!"

Wildlife:10 muskoxen (all in one herd), 5 moose,2 caribou (maybe same one twice),2 wolves, 3 bears (mom & 2 cubs), a fewArctic ground squirrels, many pere-

grines, bald eagles, tundra swans, arcticterns and gulls.

Information Sources, PublicallyAvailable:Richardson, John: "Arctic Ordeal".Journal of John Richardson, McGill-Queen's University Press, edited by C SHouston (University of Saskatchewan),1984. A must read.

Douglas, George M: "Lands Forlorn",NY Putnam 1914. A must read, if it werenot so rare and expensive. Fascinatingaccount with many photographs; MichaelPeake has spoken of reprinting it (HurrahMichael!).

Simpson, Thomas: Narrative of theDiscoveries on the North Coast of NorthAmerica 6, Bentley, London, 1843. Thebook contains little on the Coppermineproper; it is of interest mostly for its de-scription of the western part of thePassage, and for Simpsonis attitudes withrespect to the native people.

McCreadie, Mar: "Canoeing Canada'sNorthwest Territories, A Paddler'sGuide", Canadian Recreational CanoeingAssociation, 1995. No home should bewithout this one. Informative and givesgood background.

Hodgins, Bruce Wand Gwyneth Hoyle:"Canoeing North into the Unknown",Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc1994. Lists early travellers and furthersources. I wish that the "Morse files", re-ferred to many times, were readily avail-able.

Franklin, John: "Journey to the PolarSea". Conway Maritime Press, 2000. Hisjournal for 1821 (which describes theCoppermine) was lost on 14 September1821 and he used Richardson's notes.

Verbeek, Peter (1993): Lac de Gras toKugluktuk. Spring 1994 issue ofNastawgan (Volume 21, No.1). Also,first part of http://www.myccr.com/ca-noedb/routeDetails.php?routeid=317

Layman, Bill and Lynda Holland (1999):Lac de Gras to Kugluktuk. Second partof http://www.myccr.com/canoedb/route

National Parks Service report "A WildRivers Survey" (1972).

Waldron, Levi (2002): Parent/Copper-mine from Grenville Lake to FairyLake River and on to the Hood.http://www.myccr.com/canoedb/routeDetails.php?routeid=456 .

NWT report on the Coppermine:http://www.explorenwt.com/resources/northern-library/PDF/copriver.pdf

Information on Kugluk Territorial Parkat Bloody Falls: http://www.nuna-vutparks. com/parks-special-places/-kugl uk -bloody -fall s-terri torial- park/overview. aspx

Private Information Sources:Trip reports of Jack Goering (1966), BobMatteson (1970), Wendy Grater (1977),Peter Verbeek (1993) and Bill Hosford(1996); Eric Morse's abridged version(1970) of Franklin's journal; conversa-tions with Herb Pohl and Peter Verbeek.

Thanks:Herb PohI (kind, highly knowledgable,eager to help, showed us his slides andgave suggestions about the river, sorelymissed); Peter Verbeek (lots of helpfulinformation on rapids and campsites);Glenn Spence and Maureen Bretz (re-ports otherwise not accessible); BillHosford (trip report); George Luste,Faruk Ekich and Bill Blatch (informationon rapids).

Locating Franklin's sites from the oldjournals:Richardson (and so Franklin) reports ob-served coordinates (from sextant andchronometers) and also values obtainedby dead reckoning from previous posi-tions. His coordinates for latitudes andlongitudes of positions on theCoppermine can differ from modern val-ues by a few km and by up to 20 km re-spectively. For example, page 71 ofRichardson gives the farthest west as116d3 9', about 13 km west of the mapvalue 116d21'.

Locating Franklin's campsites, etcseems to require a lot of pre-trip analy-sis; my one attempt en route (to fix thecampsite of 11 July 1821 using relative

data for it and Larrigan Creek frompage 72 of Richardson) gave nonsense.According to Houston, surprisinglymany people have tried to locate thesites and he suggests that they havebeen largely successful; I don't knowwhether the results are generally avail-able.

Rapids:Believe no map; trust no trip report, in-cluding this one. In the final analysis,you have to rely on your own judgement.

The following describes what we did;there is no suggestion that you should dothe same. The ratings are inexpert andare not adjusted for remoteness or run-out. The difficulties may be significantlydifferent in different conditions.

The Parent is a small, pool-and-dropriver with many boulder fields un-runnable at 2002 water levels; higherwater will mean less dragging butmay cause other difficulties. I counted26 rapids and many swifts.

The Coppermine is a big river, not tobe paddled lightly. Paddlers have died onit; this is no place for someone withsomething to prove. Intermediate skillsare necessary for those travelling withouta guide; guides have to be very good toget ww rookies down this one. Somerapids can be scouted from shore, butmost have to be scouted from the boat,often in fast water with hazards. Somerapids are long with no easy exit; a dumpcould mean a long, cold, dangerous swim(and has meant it for some). It has beensaid that no one ever drowned on aportage. The standard count, fromRichard Martin's 1962 trip, is 34 rapids,some very dangerous.

Tip: In big water, go to the inside ofthe curves.

Tip: In slow shallow water, go to theoutside of the curves.

Background on the Parent:We had little information on the Parent(Grenville to Redrock Lakes), other thanit had been paddled (for example byHerb Pohl) and that we would be scram-bling some (as was obvious from themaps). We chose this route for a numberof reasons: little was known of it, the tripduration fitted our schedules, it is theroad less travelled, we thought that Point


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http://www.explorenwt.com/resources/no

Pinned on the Parent

Lake might be blowy and monotonous,we didn't want to chance seeing what thediamond mine is doing to the area, and itlooked like fun to paddle a small river aswell as a big one.

The Parent, starting from Grenville,was paddled the same year by LeviWaldron's group, on their way to theHood! The Ross Hodgetts party of six in-tended to start at Grenville a week aheadof us but started at Redrock because ofthe low water.

Day-by-day Report:Note: Abbreviations: L, R : river left,river right. Ped: portaged.

16 JulyBoyd flew us from Yellowknife in tothe west end of Grenville Lake, intwo flights. We assembled the boatsand camped at the base of the esker;


we walked around in the evening.

17 JulyWe paddled down Grenville Lake, thenentered the Parent River. We ran theupper part of the creek and dragged therest to Rawalpindi Lake. After another 15km or so, we saw a likely campsite at anesker and went for it, not knowingwhether we would find anything better.We camped at the top, up a steep hill.

18 JulyRawalpindi is actually two lakes; thecreek between the upper and lower partswas a bump, grind and drag show. A se-ries of rapids starts at the end ofRawalpindi, with ponds between, as fol-lows: a Cl, a ClI drop (can be Ped R), aCl, a CI+, 500 m of dragging through aboulder field, a ClI, and then 500 m ofClI with boulders. We stopped for lunch

just before the marked rapid upstreamfrom the P in Parent; sure wish we hadscouted the rapid, but it looked OK fromupstream, and it was really only a CI+.

After lunch, red boat went down firstand got hung up on the centre rocks nearthe end; it turned, filled with water andgot pinned, open side upstream. Greenand blue Ped (150 m R), in a hurry. Afterseveral hours trying to free the boat, weput the tents up at a buggy spot up thehill (not so nice, but we were very fortu-nate it was there); after supper, we re-turned to the boat and pulled some more,without success.

19 JulyMore pulling. Bound paddles togetherand used them as a pry. Went to the otherside of the river and cut down a tree foranother pry, using a Swiss army knife;sure wish we had packed a saw. Nothing

worked. We had lunch. Linda suggestedfilling the river upstream from the boatwith rocks (the river could be wadedthere), to lessen the force of the water.Rather than do so immediately, we pulledand pried some more. After 24 hours orso there, we were getting rather discour-aged and about to try Linda's idea.

Deliverance!Four pros from Wisconsin suddenly ap-peared on the hill. Phil smiled and tookcharge. He attached a rope to a thwart andwrapped it around the boat so that, whenthe rope was pulled from upstream, theboat turned bottom up and the waterspilled out. More pulling and prying, fromall ten of us I recall, freed the boat. Afteraccepting our profuse thanks (Bob se-cretly gave them some hooch), theBadgers took off downstream. We decidedto stay put. At home, I checked my CliffJacobson; it doesn't mention Phil's trick.

July 20Once again on the water, we lined arapid, dragged for a long while through aboulder field and passed an esker withgood campsites below it. We ran a CI-,dragged through another boulder fieldand ran a CI-. We ran the upper part ofthe last rapid before Parent Lake; beinga bit spooked from the pin, we Ped themiddle part (CII+, 70 m L), then ran therest on the L. That was the end of therapids for the day, but not the end of thedragging; after pulling the boats throughthe sandbars at the entrance to ParentLake, we paddled another hour, thencamped at a beach on the R side. Theflies (Jayne called them bulldogs) madewashing up unpleasant.

21 JulyWe passed many good campsites onParent Lake; there's a really good one upa hill on the R. At the end of the lake is aCI+; there followed two swifts, a CI+, anopen stretch, a swift, a CI- followed by along boulder field and finally lake 393.We camped toward the end of the lake,on a sand spit on the L. From here on,most white stuff on the Parent is markedon the maps.

22 JulyAnother day of rapids. The CI+ at the

end of the lake is followed immediatelyby a boulder garden, a pond, anotherboulder garden, another pond, swifts,then boulders, a stretch where my notesare bad (probably ran, can P or track,then ran L), a CI-, and then an openstretch with an esker on the right. Afterlunch there and a short hike, we ran along CII- and two swifts. Then came anugly stretch, several km long, chock fullof swifts and boulder fields, requiringmuch dragging. A quiet stretch broughtus to Redrock Lake and the Coppermine.The first sandspit on the L was barelyabove water and we camped at the sec-ond, a good spot with protection fromboth the Wand E wind (easy carry fromone side to the other). The wind came upduring the night and Bob got up to takedown the bug tent.

23 JulyWe started out; blue boat headed over to-ward Max Ward's place and went farenough to see there was no one there.The turn left down the Coppermine is,believe it or not, easy to miss. On thelake section below the turn, wonderingwhat the noise was, I looked over to see agull struggling on the surface; it wentunder, came up, flapped about but could-n't get out of the water, squawked moreand then disappeared for good. That musthave been some fish!

We ran a big swift at the first con-striction; we didn't see the second rapidmentioned in some reports. We enteredRocknest Lake (well named) to a stiffwind, struggled to the end of the EWstretch and camped at an esker beach siteon the L shore. I reflected on the strug-gle Franklin's party had to find the exit.

24 JulyAfter about 7 km, we came to the firstmajor rapid, about 1.5 km below theNapaktolik. Still spooked from the pinon the Parent, we Ped some packs on theL side (600 m); the takeout is rocky, withno trail worth the name. Returning fromthe first carry, we saw that we could runit and did so. The waves were fair-sizedbut we saw no rocks; there's an eddy onthe L near the end.

A few km more got us to the secondrapid. With many boulders, a bad diago-nal ledge, etc, it was not runnable that

day, not by us anyway; we Ped L about600 m. The takeout is very rocky; thefirst half of the trail is indistinct, the sec-ond well trodden. Green and red boatsput in down a steep slope, above a pointon L, and ran close to the point throughfair-sized waves; blue put in about 100 mfarther, down a steeper slope below thepoint. The portage on R side looked eas-ier, but we saw it only from the L side.

The third was just a short stretchof big waves, but we Ped it anyway(60 m R).

The fourth was a very long (about2 km) stretch of fast shallow water withmany boulders. Red and green boats gotthrough OK, but blue hit a rock, dumpedand wrapped. Fortunately, the water wasshallow enough that blue paddlers couldstay at the boat; red and green paddlersput in at a handy gravel bar and mostwere able to wade upstream and help freeblue. Portaging this one is not an option;wading looks tough as well as unneces-sary.

We pulled in on the R shore at the Send of lake 342 and camped at a popularsite (no firewood) with beach & tundra;much of Bob's stuff got wet in the dump,including his camera.

25 JulyThe next day was quiet in comparison.Three bouldery swifts below theHepburn were run without incident.Shortly after the third, just before theopening, we came to the next rapid; theL side of the island looked very shallow,so we went down the R side to the bay,then continued R.

After another bouldery swift, wecame upon an immense boulder fan,several km long. We went R of the is-land and stayed more or less in the cen-tre; we didn't see the extreme L whereVerbeek says there's a chute. The rapidends in a high boulder dam that seemsto run all the way across. At the dam,green sideswiped a rock and almostswamped; red followed but adjustedand got through cleanly; blue swal-lowed pride, ran aground on the Randwaded. If you don't fancy a blind probeat speed through a boulder jungle, do asblue.

After green bailed, we paddled a km ortwo and camped at a beach site on the L.

NASTAWGAN WINTER 2007 7

26 JulyAbout 5 km on the water got us to an-other rapid; we went R of the island, L ofcentre, then drifted to the centre throughfair-sized waves at the confluence ofwash from Rand L. We paused to inspecta wrecked canoe on the L shore at thestart of the lake where the White SandyRiver (well named) joins theCoppermine. After another swift at theend of the lake, we came to a major rapidabove the confluence of the Fairy LakeRiver. We stopped at the tip of the islandand scouted both sides. We decided to goR ofthe island, snaking down little chan-nels. Next time, I'd seriously considergoing L of the island, after a goodscout.Below the island, green crossed tothe far L to avoid the gravel bars; red andblue stayed R, grounded and waded. Youmust go R of the island if you want tofish at the mouth of Fairy Lake; this iswhere Levi Waldon's group left theCoppermine, on their way to the Hood!Below the gravel bars, Bob caught a fivepound lake trout (first cast) and cleaned

it on the spot. The Fairy Lake rapid is thelast one for some time.

A quiet 15 km of paddling got us toour next campsite, a sand strip on the L.We cooked the trout fillets in foil in thefire and ate them as a "mega horsd'ouevre" that evening.

27 JulyWe ran a swift, then crossed 66d30', ini-tiating Jayne and Stephen appropriately.A long gentle paddle got us to anothersand strip on the L.

28 JulyOn the EW stretch, we passed oil drums,remnants of a cabin and assorted junk onR side. This stuffwas followed in a km bytwo abandoned plywood cabins. Paddlerswrite their names on the walls of one; Isaw George Luste's and those of otherwell-known adventurers. The wind cameup and we were soon struggling to makeheadway. We pulled into a bay on the Land managed to find places for the tents;it was a desperation site but not so bad.

29 JulyThe wind was still up in the morning butwe headed out anyway. All too soon, wewere getting blown from side to side,making little headway. After 12 km ofstruggling, we gave up and pulled in at amuddy spot on the R where we couldshelter behind some willows; it was avery cramped site, but otherwise not sobad for a desperation site.

30 JulyWe woke up to find a thick layer of froston the tents. After drying out a bit, weheaded downstream again; just after thesharp L turn, we passed a cabin built intothe side of the hill but didn't stop to in-vestigate. At the R turn to the NW, wesaw a herd of 10 muskoxen, the onlyones on our trip. The canyon there looksdangerous but it was just fast water untilnear the end where we entered a verylong bouldery swift. There was anotherbouldery swift after the open section.The walls close in, a sign that RockyDefile Rapids is not far ahead.

Better luck next time


Suggestion: stop early, just below thefan on the R; you can track the boatsdown later. Some people run RockyDefile; most of them survive. But somedon't; at the midpoint of the portage trailis a memorial cairn to Carol and DavidJones who drowned here in 1972. AndGuy Honold perished here in 1974[Source Hodgins-Hoyle]. George Lusteportaged; we had decided before the tripto do the same. The takeout (on the R) isvery rocky and requires careful footwork.The trail goes up a steep hill at the start;we used four people to get each boat up.The trail (listed at 600 m; seems longer)is steep also at the lower end.

We camped at a sandy spot at the endof the portage; it was cramped but other-wise OK.

31 JulyThe next morning we entered what Farukcalls The Splits, a shallow area fromRocky Defile to below the Mouse. Wewere soon scrambling from side to sideto avoid, in no particular order, a line ofrocks passable on the L, a rocky swiftand a gravel bar. We went R of the islandjust upstream from the mouth of theKendall.

Faruk recommends visiting the mouthof the Kendall River on your journeythrough The Splits. He says that the areais a caribou crossing; there is an aban-doned camp at the mouth, and a majesticred sandstone canyon with lots of falconnests. The Kendall is part of the ancientroute connecting Great Bear Lake andthe Arctic; George Douglas went thisway.

After the Kendall, we entered a jungleof gravel bars several km long; it wasvery difficult to spot the current. Mostreports recommend the far R channel,past Mouse River (rule is to go outsideearly in shallow water). We looked forthe passage, but dodging gravel bars gotus too far L and we missed it. We tookthe second channel from the Landdanced and wriggled through somehow;the channel on the far L looked unnavi-gable.

The river becomes easier as you ap-proach the September Mountains and thebig right turn. We were looking for a

campsite reported near Copper Creek,but pulled in 2 km too early. The site wasa sandy bank, not so good. As was herwont, Enid went for a hike, this timedownstream.

Suddenly, a bear roared very loudly.Looking downstream, we saw Enidscrambling back to us and two movingblobs, one dirty white and the other darkbrown. At first we thought it was a bearattacking a muskox, but then as theyraced toward us realized that it was amother and two cubs. Some of us got theboats ready for a quick exit, but Jaynecooly banged pots together and the bearstook off into the bush. We kept a watchfor some time.

1 AugustAbout 10 km downstream, we cameupon an abandoned camp. One sourcesays that it belonged to a survey team,another to Plummer's, another to FrontierLodge. It's a real eysore, so whoeverowns it please clean it up (fat chance).While walking around exploring,Stephen stepped on a nail which pushedthrough his boot, almost into his foot. Wemade the big left turn and ran into FarukEkich and Bill Blatch, the fishermen.Concerned about the quaility of the in-formation we had about rapids on thelower Coppermine, I spoke to Faruk; hewas very helpful. After more chatting, wetook off again; soon we were dodginggravel bars on the straight stretch head-ing NW.

Everyone but the cartographer agreesthat Muskox Rapids is located incor-rectly on the topo; the stretch markedMuskox Rapids is just some rockyswifts.

Muskox is actually two rapids. Mostreports agree on this, but we were stillsurprised.

The first part is about 5 km down-stream from the topo position, near thelast E in Coppermine; we got out maybe100 m upstream, scouted, then ran theledge on the far L, through fair-sizedwaves. After the ledge, the river curves tothe R; the cliff on the L blocks the viewdownstream so we worked over to nearthe R shore to peek around the bend. Inhigher water, maybe do a full shore scout

to make sure that you can get into thenext bay on the L, in order to scout thesecond part of Muskox.

The second part is a narrow passagewith big waves in the centre. We landedat the upstream end of the bay on the L(as advised by Faruk), climbed to the topand scouted. Reports say to sneak L, butthe gap was closed for us due to lowwater. Green and red ran, backpaddlinghard. Red dumped at the end on crossingan eddy line, and washed R into an eddy.Blue tracked L in no time. We dug ourcolleagues out and headed downstream,to the R of the larger island, through abouldery swift.

Jayne was getting cold, so we headedover to the smaller island and got herchanged. We then dropped down to thetip of the island and camped on a sandy,grassy spot just before the wall closes inon the L; from there we could see thesandstone walls that form the precursorto Sandstone Rapids.

2 AugustIn 5 km, after going R of the island, wewere at the Gate to Sandstone Rapids; itconsists of basalt rocks, an impressivesight. If memory serves me right,Douglas has a photo of it. Faruk advisedthe middle of the three passages. Beingon the R, and seeing no trouble, we tookthe R gap rather than cross in front; thepassage was bumpy with fair-sizedwaves but we saw no serious obstacles.

Sandstone Rapids: One might thinkfrom the topo that there's an island justabove Sandstone but there isn't (the L"channel" is bone dry). We landed on theR side of the "island" about halfwaydown and scouted to the tip. We returned,paddled to the tip, went up the bay andover to the far side, climbed the steep hillto the top and scouted; there's a well-worn path close to the cliff. We decidedto run it. We went out hard below thefroth on the R, over nearly to the R shore,paused on a gravel bar, worked back tothe centre and then went L; this plan re-quires crossing in front of lots of boul-ders, so it may be a bad idea in faster(higher?) water. Other parties have useddifferent routes, as reported in the tech-nical version. Faruk has run Sandstone


every time but one, that in very highwater.

We kept to the inside of the bend atthe next rapid (1 km below), no problem.

Serious rapids start at the beginningof map 86012, before the hard bend tothe R. It was dangerous in 2002 and adump would have meant big trouble. Weran into an almost continuous stretch ofCII+: 2 km of fast water, fair-sizedwaves, ledges, boulders and holes. Weran the insides of curves where possible,but still had to make frequent coursechanges. The gravel banks on the insidesof the bends were useful mostly as restspots; scouting from them didn't helpmuch. Other paddlers didn't find thisstretch so difficult. The three rapids afterthe R turn were easy runs. We camped Ron the second sandy beach on the NSstretch.

3 AugustWe did two easy rapids, the second at theR turn, but then ran into a stretch thatwas dangerous in 2002; again, a dumpwould have been very serious.

The trouble starts well upstream fromthe most southerly point of the U turnand continues to the bend to the N. Thereare five or so ledges, at least one of thema Clll, running almost all the way across.Whether it was a case of having incom-plete or misleading information, or justplain carlessness, green boat (in the lead)went R at the first ledge, realized wherewe were and signalled to the others; wecouldn't work fully L before the nextledge and so we stayed near the centre,found gaps in the ledges (thanks Linda),lined up, charged and braced. Red sawthe signal to bailout L and front ferried,missing the worst. Blue missed the sig-nal and followed green; they did most ofthe bad stuff (went R of one ledge). Wehad no dumps, didn't even get muchwater in the boats, but things were a bittense. After pulling in at the end, I lookeddownstream and thought there but for thebrace of God go 1.

Advice: scout where possible, pushhard L as soon as possible and hug the Lshore.

The next rapid, 15 or so ledges andhalf-ledges, starts past the bottom of theU turn; it can be scouted from the gravel


bar on the L. We had an easy run onthe L.

After passing a neat waterfall on theR, we came to Escape Rapids, which wehad decided before the trip to portage.Some groups run it; all reports say it'stougher than Sandstone. The portage,listed as 2400 m, is on the R; it goes up asteep hill from the start and we neededfour people on each boat. By the way, thetrees on L at the takeout are the last onthe river. The trail is indistinct until abouthalf way. Go L of the pond and look foran early down, checking for the trail nearthe cliffs.

We camped on a sandy spot at the endof the portage.

4 AugustWe went R of the island just below thecampsite. At the next rapid, we kept L, onthe inside of the turn. There followed along stretch of gravel bars and boulders;we got too far L avoiding them and hadto work hard to get R, through lots offair-sized stuff, to stay away from thewall on the L.

And then we reached the "delta", ahuge maze of gravel bars; the current isdifficult to spot and channels split andrejoin beyond reason. Green went 1 andthe others R; all three did a lot of drag-ging.

A few km of decent river got us to themandatory portage (listed as 1200 m)around Bloody Falls. The takeout is onthe L, before the wall closes in. The trailstarts up a steep, narrow, winding path(we needed five of us on each boat), goesover a flat area, down to some rocks, upto the ATV trails and right to a beachyarea where we camped.

Lots of people ATV in from town orboat in from lower down to fish at thefalls, primarily for char; the people wespoke to were catching only pike. Somecamp here; it's very busy well into thenight. We tried to hire a lift to the villagebut were told that ATVs couldn't handlethe boats. We missed the cairn at the siteof the 1771 events. We gave our stovesand fuel to a couple for use by theKugluktuk Girl Guides.

5 AugustWe got up early, in case a head wind

came up; rather than a head windthough, we had a strong tail wind, un-comfortably strong in fact. Route note:We goofed and went L of the island atthe beginning of map 86014. Thehouses ofthe native people built belowthe falls were the first we had seen foralmost three weeks, save Max Ward'splace. To get shelter from the wind, wewent L of the island about 5 km fromthe mouth. This stretch would be a realgrind in a head wind; the main naviga-tion problem is to spot the huge sandbars in time. We pulled out at TANKSroad rather than risk being blown outinto the Gulf. Most groups take out atthe beach at the N end of town; I seeno reason to do so unless you plan tostay at the campsite (or want to "finishthe trip"). It was not nice to see thesmashed windshields.

All stores were closed (civic holiday)so we couldn't contribute to the localeconomy. Then we found out that thehotel requires reservations for meals.Alas, the weather was too cold to cleanup at the beach. With nothing else to do,we wandered around, bumped into geo-logical survey guys and registered withthe RCMP after a wait. Linda looked uppeople she knows from her stays atBathurst Inlet Lodge and their relatives.We hired the taxi ($100) to take us andour gear to the airport. We cleaned up abit there while waiting for our 4 pmflight to Yellowknife, but I still felt un-comfortable presenting myself to thegeneral public. Linda chatted up the air-port supervisor; she, an Inuit, had no ideawhat a black fly is. Her main job was tocheck the runway for caribou when theradio announced that a plane was comingin to land.

Epilogue:The flight back to Yellowknife paralleledthe Coppermine for a long time, then thelower Parent; the eskers were even morebeautiful from the air. It was great to seethem, the rapids and campsites like thesandspit on Redrock again, but really sadto leave the north. Crammed into the air-craft after three weeks outside, I thoughtagain how terrible a punishment it mustbe to imprison people who live mostlyoutdoors.

River Dreams: Burnside RiverText and photos by Morten Asfeldt

Pulling across the ice downstream of Nose Lake

This is not a fish story; it is a true story.On a 1991 Mara River trip, two keenfishers, Sharon and Lisa, were along andnot long after the floatplane had disap-peared into the southern sky, lures werebeing dispatched into the lake. Sharonsoon had a small trout weighing perhapsa pound on the line, and as she reeled ittowards shore a large trout took after it.In an effort to save the small fish fromcannibalism, Sharon gave a sharp yankon the line, pulling it from harm's way.The large trout disappeared into the deepwater and Sharon's focus turned to therelease of the smaller trout. However, thesmall trout had found its way into therocks on the bottom oflake, and all couldbe seen was the fishing line leading intoa small crevasse between two rocks.Sharon could not get the fish to come

out. Not wanting to break the line or toleave the small trout trapped, Sharonrolled up her pants and waded in for therescue. As the rest of us stood watchingfrom a slightly raised vantage point,Sharon ran her hand down the line andinto the water. To everyone's surprise, es-pecially Sharon's, the water erupted asthe large trout returned, latched ontoSharon's finger and tightly closed itsteeth filled jaws. She pulled her handfrom the water with the large trout firmlyattached creating a maelstrom of trout,floundering Sharon and splashing water.

Sharon emerged from Nose Lake wetfrom head to toe with a stream of bloodrushing from her trout-mangled finger,wondering what had just happened. Herfinger looked as if it had just been pulledfrom an auger with several deep cuts ex-

tending its full length. Had we been near ahospital, I am sure she would have receiveda finger full of stitches and a prescriptionfor painkillers. We cleaned the wound andbandaged in it textbook fashion while Lisatempted the large trout to lunch on a reddevil. We had fish for supper.

For as long as I can remember I havehad an intense love affair with theCanadian north. As a young boy I spendfive years in St. Anthony, Newfoundland,reading the stories of Sir WilfredGrenfell and traveling with my physicianfather by boat, plane and helicopter to re-mote outposts up and down the coast ofNewfoundland and Labrador. FromNewfoundland, our family moved to theYukon where the adventures continued.Those early years of adventure instilledin me a deep love for wilderness travel


A short paddle as we pull across Nose Lake

and adventure that remains strong andhas found its way into my professionallife.

For 25 years I have been involved inteaching and leading groups in the out-doors in some shape or form. The pinna-cle of those years has been co-teaching auniversity course where together with 10students, we choose a river, complete allthe planning and preparation, study theexpedition route and then embark on a21 day canoe expedition. Over the years,this class has paddled the Mara andBurnside Rivers (1993, 2005 and 2007),Thelon River (1995), Horton River(1997), Ellice and Huikitak Rivers(1999), Kuujjua River (2001) and HoodRiver (2003). In this article, I will givedescriptions of the Mara and BurnsideRivers and share stories from my fourjourneys down these rivers where I haverealized a childhood dream.

It was with five friends and 21 daysfood that we landed on Nose Lake onJuly 21,1991, the first of my four tripson the Mara and Burnside Rivers. At thatpoint I had been guiding on the NahanniRiver for 6 seasons and wanted to ex-pand my paddling experience and ex-plore the tundra. I had read about the tun-dra and experienced bits of it inNewfoundland as well as during a trip onthe Coppermine River in 1990. It was atypical tundra day with a warm sun andfew clouds as the twin otter doors openedfilling the plane with the familiar smells


of the tundra that would become our con-stant companions.

Nose Lake is the headwaters of theMara River and takes its name from adistinctly shaped island near the middleof the lake that protrudes skyward as thenose of a sleeping giant would. Fromhere, it is approximately 300 kilometersto Bathurst Inlet. The first 60 kilometersof the river is a series of five lakes joinedby short swift sections of river. For the

most part, the rapids are easily navigatedalthough boulders are plentiful and op-portunities for wrapping canoes are fre-quent. Certain rapids have been lined oneyear or paddled another, depending onwater levels, weather conditions and theconfidence of the group.

The river narrows for the next 20 kilo-meters and presents some challengingrapids. In particular, one significant dropwe have always lined is followed shortlyby a l-kilometer long boulder gardenthat requires very intentional maneuver-ing. This section of the river has resultedin a number of swims for those not pay-ing attention, but for the alert and skilledpaddling team, this is a fun and enjoyablesection of whitewater with many greatfishing spots along the way. In additionto Nose Lake, the fishing on the MaraRiver is exceptional with the best fishingbelow rapids in the first 100 kilometers.

Below the long boulder garden rapid,the river meets the first of many dramaticeskers along the river. This is a fabulouscamp spot where we have had manywildlife encounters. Abundant wildlife isone of the great attractions of the MaraRiver; we have seen caribou, muskoxen,wolves, wolverine, grizzly bears, red fox,arctic fox, arctic hare, ringed seal, pere-grine and gyr falcon, golden eagles andruff legged hawks, and a number of dif-ferent owls and many smaller birds and

Scouting on the Mara River

Evening light at Burnside Falls

waterfowl. Beginning our trips on theMara in late June and ending in mid Julyhas several advantages and disadvan-tages.

The primary disadvantage of a lateJune start date is that you may find thelakes choked with ice and have a difficulttime finding a place for the plane to land.In 2007 Nose Lake was completelyfrozen except for open water at the westend where a river enters the lake. Wespent the first day pulling our canoesmost of the way across the lake. I enjoypulling my canoe across ice and get agreat deal of satisfaction from the walk-ing and pulling. Perhaps it is the contrastbetween white ice and deep blue arcticsky and the irony of pulling a canoeacross water in its solid form.

The advantages of a late June startusually include a week or so of bug freetravel and higher water making mostboulder gardens much easier to paddle.A late July departure in 1991 resulted inconsiderable walking through shallowboulder gardens that simply didn't have

enough water to float our canoes. Finally,a late June start date maximizes the like-lihood of intercepting the migratingBathurst caribou herd on their southwardjourney.

Caribou encounters have been a high-light of the Mara River trips. My child-hood dream has been to experience thecaribou migration. While living in theYukon I had many encounters with smallbands of mountain caribou but never thelarge roaming herds of the barrenlandcaribou. My arctic river paddling tripshave been largely fueled by my dream tosee the large barrenland caribou herds.In1990 I paddled the Coppermine River,followed by the 1991 Mara River trip anda 1992 expedition on the Horton River,all as part of this quest. On each of thesetrips I saw caribou but never in big num-bers. It wasn't until 1993 on the Marathat I had the first realization of my cari-bou dreams. It was July 6, just a fewkilometers below the mouth of theHackett River. The wind had stopped usat the mouth of a small creek on river

right. After a brief group discussion, thetents were set up and we hunkered downto wait out the wind that made down-stream progress impossible. Rather thanfollow our student's lead and head for ourtents and an afternoon of reading or nap-ping, Dave Larson, my co-leader, and I,headed out for a walk. My dream wasabout to be realized.

Dave and I climbed a short steep bankbehind camp that led to a broad flat ter-race that was peppered with basketball-sized boulders emerging from the lichen-covered landscape. Pockets of caribouwere scattered throughout the river val-ley. We stood leaning into the northwind. Before we had time to move on, agroup of caribou appeared from a smallvalley. We each threw ourselves behind aboulder and stretched out prone. Thecaribou approached us and passed us bygrazing 30 feet to our right. The groupwas composed of a few hundred animalsincluding motley looking cows, bullswith dark velvet covered antlers andcalves that were only 30 days old at


Napping at the Mara-Burnside confluence

most. My heart was beating quickly andmy body tingling.

I was about to get up when I realizedthat another group of caribou was drift-ing towards us. This was a large groupwith hundreds, perhaps thousands, ofcaribou stretching from one side of theterrace to the other and headed straightfor us. We were about to be either sur-rounded or trampled - both prospectswere frightening. I gambled on beingsurrounded and laid still with my cameralens resting on the edge of my guardingboulder.

The caribou flowed around me andfilled in the gap a few feet behind me asif I was a mid-stream boulder in a slowmoving river. From ground level, hooves,legs and lichen munching caribou lipsdominated my view. I stared into theireyes without a returning glance. I was as-tounded by the continuous sounds: click-ing ankles, goat-like snorts, farting andbleating. I took picture after picture untilI came to the end of my film. As quietlyas I could, I changed the film in my cam-era; however, as I reached into my pocket


for a new film I revealed myself to thecaribou and their pace quickened leavingDave and I belly down on the tundraknowing that we had just experienced along sought after dream. We slowly roseand once again stood leaning into thenorth wind, broad smiles on our faceswatching thousands more caribou passby in the next few hours.

I have been fortunate to have a num-ber of similar encounters since that time.In 2005 our group once again crossedpaths with the migrating post-calvingherd - this time on July 2, a few kilome-ters upstream of the Hackett River. Wehad been encountering small bands ofcaribou along the river all afternoon, andabout 4:00 pm we noticed a distance hillspotted with thousands of caribou. Wepaddled on towards the hill and pulledour canoes up on shore. With camerasand binoculars in hand we hid behindlarge boulders and small hills. For hourswe watched as caribou streamed by with-out giving us a second glance. Our stom-achs rumbled as we headed back to thecanoes, made camp, cooked supper and

developed our evening caribou watchingstrategy. The caribou continued to movepast us by the thousands all night longand into the morning; we slept little thatnight. By noon the next day, it was as ifsomeone had flipped a switch and thecaribou vanished from the land - we sawless than 30 caribou in the next 14 days.

The mouth of the Hackett River wasthe site of a profound, perhaps spiritualmoment in 1993. Some time during thenight I remember being awakened by thehowl of nearby wolves. Normally, Iwould be out of bed in a shot to seewolves and perhaps get a picture.However, on this occasion, I rolled overin my sleeping bag, wishing the wolveswould keep quiet so that I could sleep.Some time later, I was awakened again,this time by a student shouting thatwolves were in camp. After searching formy glasses I peered out the window ofmy tent just in time to see several whitewolves loping casually away from camp.After a brief conversation between tentswith the student I went back to sleepthinking that the story was over.

In the morning, I couldn't find one ofmy shoes. Assuming that the studentswere playing some sort of prank on me Ibegan to banter back and forth with thoseI assumed were the source of my oneshoe morning. It became clear they hadnothing to do with it and that I was notthe only one missing a shoe. After somesearching we found a number of shoes 50meters or so from our tents. We assumedthat the wolves were responsible, know-ing that wolves had done this sort ofthing before, but, in our case, the wolveshad taken the shoes from inside thevestibules of our tents - inches from ourheads and feet.

Most astounding, however, was theexperience of the student that first no-ticed the wolves in camp. Waking up tothe howling, she sat up and looked outthe screen window of her tent. To her sur-prise, she found herself making eye con-tact with a wolf sitting peacefully metersfrom her tent as if it was inviting her tocommune. She doesn't know how longthey remained locked in eye contact butit was a powerful moment for her. Her fa-ther had spent his life studying wolves,which demanded that he spend long peri-ods in the field away from his family.Unfortunately, her parents had divorcedand she harbored considerable resent-

ment towards her father for the failedmarriage and his long absences duringher childhood. That moment of eye con-tact with the wolf was a moment of un-derstanding and reconciliation. Shespoke the next day about how it felt as ifthe wolf had been sent to her, seekingforgiveness for her father and providingan opportunity to look deep into the eyesof the wolf so that she might begin to un-derstand her father's lifelong passion forwolves. It was a moment of epiphany.

Downstream of the Hackett River, theMara narrows creating numerous rapidsin the bottom of a deepening river valley.Just over half way to the confluence ofthe Burnside River the Mara turnssharply northwest. Shortly after the cor-ner, the river narrows again and squeezesthrough a constricting rock canyon. Thiscanyon warrants scouting. In the lowwater of late July and early August wehave run this canyon, but have alwayslined or portaged it in the high water ofearly July. This is a stunning canyon withsmooth water worn rocks and isolatedpools of sun-warmed water. Below thecanyon is a beach of smooth roundgravel marking the mouth of an incom-ing creek that makes a fine campsite. Ashort evening walk up the creek bringsyou to a small but beautiful waterfall.From the old riverbank above the water-fall we once watched a pair of whitewolves on the far side of the Mara River.

Shortly after crossing the ArcticCircle, the Mara and Burnside Riverscome together. This provides a number ofsuperb hiking options with spectacularviews up the Mara and Burnside Rivers.The best camping is upstream of the ac-tual confluence as the gravel bar betweenthe two rivers is composed primarily oflarge boulders. We had read that Inuittent rings were present at the confluenceand after much searching over the yearswe found them in 2007. They are on riverleft of the Mara River on the pronouncedterrace that formed between the tworivers. The Copper Inuit frequented thisarea in the summer. These people wouldspend the fall, winter and spring atBathurst Inlet and move inland to fishand hunt caribou in the summer. Theywould return to Bathurst Inlet in the falland wait for the sea ice to form so theycould hunt for seal. During this wait,they would eat caribou and seal meat thatthey had cached in stone meat caches be-

Lining on the Burnside a few kilometres above the portage

fore their inland journey. Many meatcaches, caribou hides (hiding places forhunting caribou), stone fox traps andother artifacts in Bathurst Inlet tell thestory of that traditional Inuit life.

The Burnside River feels like a bigriver after paddling the small and inti-mate Mara. The 70 kilometers from theconfluence to the portage can be quicklypaddled in the fast current. For the mostpart, the Burnside River is a straightfor-ward paddle. However, during the last 25kilometers before the portage, the riverdrops at a rate of 2.0 to 3.5 meters/kilo-meter. At times, the river literally dropsaway in front of you. Throughout thissection are numerous stretches of contin-ues standing waves and a number ofsharp corners with huge standing wavesand holes along the outside that couldeasily swallow a canoe. As well, about 10kilometers before the portage the rivermakes a 90-degree bend to the southeast.This corner is always interesting. Theriver is wide with many gravel bars as itapproaches the corner and the riverchanges course from year to year. Youhave to look ahead and determine whichchannels are most runnable and how theywill set you up for the final corner. Theoutside of the corner is composed ofsolid rock causing the water to bounceback, creating whirlpools, standingwaves, eddy lines and sometimes a hole.

The alert paddler can easily navigate thiscorner, but a moment of carelessness didresult in a short but cold swim for a pairof our students.

A number of rapids are present fromhere to the portage that are easily run, in-cluding one that we have both lined andpaddled, depending on the water level. Ialways find myself being more cautiousabove the portage; however, in reality, thelast rapid is several kilometers above anyreal danger. Nevertheless, caution is inorder.

The long but straightforward portagebegins on river left several kilometersabove the actual canyon and falls.Paddling past this take-out does not putyou in immediate danger; it just makesfor a much more difficult portage. A pileof boulders marks the portage on a ter-race high above the river. More notable,however, are the paths leading from theriver to the terrace. The portage routedoes not follow the river but instead goesup over the height of land that lies be-tween the pullout and Burnside Falls.The distance is about 5 kilometers, andcairns intermittently mark the route.From the height of land the communityof Bathurst Inlet, a cluster of white build-ings, can be seen in the distance.

Burnside Falls are spectacular. Theriver splits around a large center rockoutcrop creating two waterfalls. Many


the Hudson Bay Buildings but also theland surrounding the buildings. In 1969,well ahead of its time, Bathurst InletLodge opened as a naturalist lodge.Today, Bathurst Inlet Lodge has an es-teemed reputation as a world-renownednaturalist lodge that is co-owned and op-erated with people of Bathurst Inlet.

We have enjoyed many warm wel-comes at Bathurst Inlet and had the priv-

hours can be spent watching the water inthe fading light of the summer sun. Thecanyon above the falls is often home to apair of peregrine falcons. Below the fallsare a number of large eddies that areoften great for fishing where we havecaught lake trout, grayling and occasion-ally arctic char.

It is a short paddle to Bathurst Inlet, acommunity with a storied past. The Inuitof Bathurst Inlet areCopper Inuit whoevolved from theThule culture. Thename Copper Inuitcomes from theirpractice of using cop-per for tool making.However, the peopleof Bathurst Inlet donot call themselvesCopper Inuit. Rather,they call themselvesKingaunmiut, or,"people who livebelow Nose Moun-tain." The first Euro-pean contact with theCopper Inuit waslikely Samuel Hearnein 1771 followed byFranklin in 1821.

Dominion Explo-rers established an ex-ploration camp at thecurrent communitysite in 1929. This wasfollowed by theHudson Bay Com-pany in 1931 anda Roman CatholicChurch mission in My first caribou migration encounter, just below the Hackett River1936. The missionchurch still stands and is now used as adormitory for Lodge guests. In 1965,Glenn Warner, then an RCMP officer inCambridge Bay who had made severalvisits to Bathurst Inlet by boat and dogteam as part of his patrols, discoveredthat the Catholic Church was closing theBurnside Mission. Glenn and his wifeTrish contacted the Church and arrangedto buy the church as a home. The churchwas subsequently deconsecrated andhanded over to the Warners. The follow-ing year, the Hudson Bay Company alsodecided to close shop. Along with a fewpartners, the Warners purchased not only

ilege of touring the Inlet with GlennWarner and naturalist Page Burt. As well,on two occasions, our students have en-joyed spending time with Bishop JackSperry, author of Igloo Dwellers WereMy Church. Bishop Sperry spent manyyears working in the north and in hisearly years routinely traveled over 3000kilometers by dog team each winter vis-iting his parishioners. He is a gentle andinspiring man with vast knowledge of thenorth and its people and displays a deepcompassion for the current people andtheir struggles. During one visit, BishopSperry was showing us around the com-


munity, recounting a variety of stories.He invited us to walk to the local ceme-tery that is marked by a large woodencross that reaches high into the arctic sky.Below this marker are two long rows ofsimple white crosses, many marking thedeaths of the flu epidemic victims of1941. In that year, a young RCMP offi-cer visited Bathurst Inlet and unknow-ingly brought with him the killer flu that

took the lives about40 people. As we ap-proached the ceme-tery we could see acasket resting on theground beside afreshly excavatedgrave. We gathered ina circle beside thecasket and grave andBishop Sperry told usthe story of the youngman soon to beburied. He had com-mitted suicide thatwinter in Kugluktukand had recently beenreturned home forburial. With compas-sion that was over-whelming, the Bishoptalked about the manystruggles that Inuitpeople face today.Without warning, andas naturally as a wolflopes across the tun-dra, the Bishop said,"let's have a prayer."Among other things,he prayed for hopeand thanked God forthe promise of hope

and the good life. In spite of the variedreligious views and beliefs in our group,Bishop Sperry's spontaneous prayerstirred the spiritual core in each of us. Itwas a humbling moment; we left thecemetery in silence.

On each canoe trip our tents are in-evitably packed for the last time. It is al-ways a time of mixed emotions. On theone hand, the excitement of returninghome to family and friends pulls at usand the completion of the expeditionbrings satisfaction. On the other hand,there is the pull of the group and the landto stay, to hike together one more time,

Cemetary at Bathurst Inlet

to share another meal together, to breathethe cool arctic air and to be governedonly by the natural rhythms of nature andwilderness travel. These rhythms werequickly disrupted by the high-pitchedwhine of the twin otter's turbo engines asthe plane landed and came to a stop infront of our pile of well-traveled gear andcanoes. The smell of jet-fuel overpow-ered the fragrance of the lupines that sur-rounded us. The pilots looked at us withsuspicion: our faces were weathered andour clothes smeared with mosquito guts.Some students jokingly asked about thein-flight movie while others lingered inthe background hoping to delay ourlooming departure. Once airborne Istared out the window; I was suddenlyexhausted. By chance we circled over thecemetery and I noticed a dark patch offresh dirt in a line of white crosses. Thecontrast between the white crosses andthe life of the green tundra was striking. Itook a picture.

Enroute to Yellowknife we flew overportions of the Mara and BurnsideRivers and a flood of memories camealive. I thought back to the many canoetrips that I have been a part of in theCanadian north and felt a tension in mybelly. What have I learned from all thosetrips? How have they changed me? Howwill I share what I have experienced?

What have our students learned and howhave they been changed? How will theyshare their experience? These questionsraised a tension that was both disconcert-ing yet comforting. It was disconcertingbecause it didn't allow me to rest in thejoys and satisfactions of the journey yetcomforting because it reminded me thateven thought the tents had been packedfor the last time, the insights and lessonsfrom these expeditions will take a life-time to realize. And yet, at that moment,there was clarity: the Mara and BurnsideRivers had become sacred places for mewhere I felt connected, grounded andwhole. With that, I rested. Morten

Note to all WCA Syposium attendees:Watch for Morten's presentation at the2008 WCA Symposium.

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Mara-Burnside River Map Map Credit: Bruce Hodgins and Gwyneth Hoyle


AN ARTIST'S AND PHOTOGRA-PHER'S GUIDE TO WILD ONTARIO byRob Stimpson and Craig Thompson,published by The Boston Mills Press,Erin, ON, 2007, softcover, 224 pages,$29.95.Review by Toni Harting.Many people, paddlers certainly in-cluded, go out into the "wild" country toexperience first-hand the splendor of na-ture, often recording their observationsin the form of photographs, drawings,and paintings. These tangible memorieswill give them countless hours of cher-ished reminiscences and help them re-live those wonderful times. To assistthese adventurers in their quest forbeauty, the authors, a photographer anda writer, have created a handsomewhere-to guide book (rather than a how-to one), offering a great amount of usefulinformation to many of Ontario's artisticresources. The book covers a large partof Ontario, organized according to theprovince's major travel regions, roughlyfrom Lake Superior southeast to theToronto and Ottawa areas. From theback cover: "The authors discuss eachregion's art history, provide detailed in-formation on unique courses and work-shops available to artists, list galleriesand studio tours, and profile a few ofeach region's most interesting profes-sional and amateur artists." Because somuch of the area covered is CanadianShield country, most of the numerousand beautifully reproduced color illustra-tions come from lakes and rivers, whichwill surely delight the hearts and mindsof all wilderness canoeists. Surely awell-crafted book, but a more inspiredcover and the addition of a subject indexwould have made it even better andmore practical.

A PADDLER'S GUIDE TO QUETICOAND BEYOND by Kevin Callan, pub-lished by The Boston Mills Press, Erin,ON, 2007, softcover, 192 pages, $24.95.Review by Toni Harting.If it wasn't for Kevin Callan, many peoplewould not have a clue where to go to fortheir regular or occasional canoe fix.Fortunately, in this tireless promoter of allthings canoe tripping we have an inex-haustible source of first-class tripping in-


Booksformation to guide us to yet another put-in point and set off for yet another greatpaddling adventure. In this, his 12th (?)book, he presents his customary delugeof detailed information on 11 trips inOntario's Quetico Park as well as on fivemore trips in areas to the north andnorthwest of the park. As usual, the in-formation offered here is extensively re-searched and written down in the trade-mark Callan style. The 50 color photo-graphs are generally very good (you'lllove the one on page 79!) and the 20 su-perb maps are a joy to study. Kevinkeeps inspiring thousands of novicesand others to take up paddling. He alsoprovides experienced trippers with excel-lent information on where to go and howto get there. Even though my canoeingdays are over, I always enjoy Kevin'sbooks and read them from cover to coverbecause he represents the spirit andwonder and joy of wilderness canoe trip-ping better than most.

ALGONQUIN SOUVENIR by MichaelRuntz, published by The Boston MillsPress, Erin, ON, 2007, hardcover, 96pages, $19.95.Review by Toni Harting.This is Runtz's fourth book on ourbeloved Algonquin Park and surely des-tined to be another bestseller. He is atop-notch nature photographer who hasbeen working in the park as a naturalistsince 1972, giving him many unique op-portunities to document the beauty heencounters on his numerous trips. Thebook contains about 100 wonderful colorphotographs taken in the park in all sea-sons and many different locations. Thesubjects range from close-ups of tinyflowers and insects to gorgeous wide-angle shots of blazing fall colors.Looking at these stunning, mouth-water-ingly seductive images makes one itchto go paddling again as soon as possi-ble and observe all these gems for our-selves!This is a good moment to pay a smallbut much-deserved tribute to TheBoston Mills Press and its founder/pub-lisher, John Denison, and his staff for theoutstanding publishing job they havebeen doing now for so long. Over theyears, Boston Mills has produced

dozens of books that have brought greatjoy to tens of thousands of lovers of .theoutdoors, and especially to those whoenjoy nature while paddling a canoe orkayak. Many BMP books have becomeclassics that will be read and re-read bycountless outdoors enthusiasts. Thanks,Boston Mills, keep it up!

CANOE ATLAS OF THE LITTLENORTH by Jonathan Berger andThomas Terry, published by The BostonMills Press, Erin, ON, 2007, hardcover,144 pages, $95.00.Review by Toni Harting.At 14 by 16.5 inches (36 x 42 cm), this isindeed one big brute of a book. But whatan irresistibly delightful brute! Page afterpage filled with maps and satellite pho-tos and drawings (an astonishing 1200illustrations!) and a vast amount of back-ground information, this is one book thata dedicated wilderness canoeist will findhard to put down; a book that will thrillevery paddler who has ever portagedher/his gear over a barely discernabletrail, wondering what the hell he/she wasdoing. The very ambitious project to col-lect all the material and put it in publish-able form has occupied several decadesof the authors' lives, but the resultingbook is more than worth the time anddemanding work. It documents in aston-ishing detail the extensive network ofcanoe routes that links all parts of theLittle North, a huge area that encom-passes over 20 major lake and river sys-tems within 1.3 million square km inOntario and Manitoba, north of a linerunning roughly from Winnipeg toCochrane.Besides the more than 50 annotatedtopographical maps (one may need amagnifier to read them), this atlas alsoprovides a great amount of informationon other aspects of the Little North, suchas climate, geology, vegetation, wildlife,land use, too many to mention in thisshort review. Not everybody will behappy with Berger's decision to use hismostly black-and-white drawings insteadof photographs to provide illustrations ofthe great number of sites visited.Photographs would no doubt have givenmore detailed information, but wouldprobably also have increased the pro-

duction cost and hence the price of thebook. This is an impressive, truly won-derful book of very high production qual-ity (they certainly know how to print andbind books in China!). Obviously notone to take along on a canoe trip, but atreasure to study at home at greatleisure, dreaming of wonderful canoetrips to far-away places.

CAPTURING THE FRENCH RIVER byWayne Kelly, published by NaturalHeritage Books, Dundurn Group,Toronto, www.dundurn.com. 2007, soft-cover, 128 pages, $27.99.Review by Toni Harting.Surprisingly, the first 46 pages of thisrather slim volume are concernedmainly with the family histories of twomen and two women who share a loveof nature in the first quarter of last cen-tury. But when one continues reading, itbecomes clear that, between 1910 and1927, this adventurous foursome spent

their holidays in a manner that in thosedays was quite unconventional and dar-ing: canoe tripping in the wilderness ofnorthern Ontario, in and around an areanow called the Main Outlet in the Deltaof the French River. Because both menwere avid amateur photographers, theyleft behind a large and unique collectionof often surprisingly good photographstaken on their many trips. The author ofthis wonderful little book was lucky to re-cently discover the whereabouts of thecollection and now offers us a small butendlessly fascinating selection of snap-shots taken in Ontario's remote northcountry, which in those days could stillbe called wild. Most images are accom-panied by extensive captions and thebook also presents thousands of wordsof very informative text. It's delightful tosee how these four people, properlydressed for their times in jackets andneckties, long skirts and hats, enjoyedthe same kind of activities we do now,

cooking over campfires, catching fish fordinner, running rapids, swimming, justsitting on a rock. Most photographs areblack-and-white but several handcol-ored ones have also been included. Thereproduction of all images in the book isexceptionally good, allowing us to seemany details captured on fragile nega-tives and glass plates. It's great fun, butnot easy, to try and identify the variouslocations captured in the photographs.This thoroughly researched work is notonly a human document of the firstorder but also one of great historicvalue; for instance, see the intriguingshots of French River Village which wasstill thriving in those days but is now justa pile of ruins. Let's hope the whole col-lection will soon find a proper homewhere it should be available forresearch and public viewing. Are youlistening, Canadian Canoe Museum?

Revisiting the French

Toni Harting is near and dear to the hearts of the WCA and tothe entire paddling community. We are very fortunate toglimpse, in his books, two of his passions in Ilife: the FrenchRiver and the art of photography. His favourite work, FrenchRiver, Canoeing the River of the Stick-Wavers, The BostonMills Press, 1996 draws us close to the profound and pas-

sionate connection he has to the land and water. Longing andlove for the river and it's history fills the pages, invoking a sim-ilar response whether one is familiar or not.

Many passages explore the region's history of humanpresence through the ages, teaching us how to really feelits pulse and echoes, how to listen, how to remember, howto love. Fascinating aspects of this river are the focus: itsgeology, its topograqphy, its history, its beauty and its pad-dling attraction.

Whether you are recollecting this natural treasure or areawakening to it, the array of colour and monochromatic pho-tography delights and infuses the heart and soul.Or if youare interested in the history of peoples on the French, this isa good place to start. But, if you think you know about thisriver, think again. This book truly is a love affair with nature.

On the more practical side, if you need one, this bookprovides many route choices and accompanying maps--use-ful if you have ever had the experience of getting lost, or ifyou would like some ideas as to a route choice. Contact himfor a copy at [email protected].

Toni's second book, Shooting Paddlers:PhotograpicAdventures with Canoeists, Kayakers and Rafters,The Boston Mills Press, 2000, also The DundurnPress or Indigo $29.95 CAD I $20.95 USD [this mayhave changed] takes you inside the art of photogra-phy to the core of its spirit. This is all about capturingthe essence of the love of your life through the eye ofyour viewfinder, evoking in the reader, a reliving ofexperience and transcendence to the art of photo-graphic creation.

The editor


http://www.dundurn.com.

mailto:[email protected].

Enjoying Lure of Faraway Places

WCA Symposium 2007. Photo: Aleks Gusev

A while ago, I wrote a short reviewon this book and the comment wasput forth that it was not adequate. Tothis, I concur. If you have not readthis delightful memory of our dear,lost WCA member, get your hands onit somehow. I will even lend you mineif you promise to give it back. Notethough that it needs copyediting. Ihave done this and hopefully the nextprinting will be an improvement.

If you knew Herb at all and hap-pened to chat with him, you wouldknow that reading his book seems thesame as listening to him talk about hisexperiences or give a presentation. Hisgood-humour, honesty and well turnedlanguage skills have a way of gettingyou into his canoe and reminding youthat you have a lot to learn.

That Herb travelled alone en-hances the experience of readinghis adventures. The fact that hedidn't need a map amazes you allthe more. He "just knew" where togo from the lay of the land, or


would chose his route enroute.Herb just knew how to survive in

the wilderness, a trait that enabledhim on many occasions.

Here is how he describes his tripdown one particular rapid on theCoppermine in that most disarming(and charming) style of his:

As I was coming down the firstdrop, the force of the riverthrew me against a bulbousrock, which buried itself with aresounding crash in the side ofhe boat. I sat there for someseconds, fully expecting tosink. In that short time, andconvinced that the boat and allmy gear were lost, I had al-ready decided that I had tomake my way back to RedRock Lake ... but then anotherwave liberated me from myanchorage and I continued on awild ride through the willowsand back out to the river ....Even a cursory examination of

the damage revealed the needfor extensive repairs: twocracks about half-a-metre long,where the hull had folded withthe force of the collision and acircular crack at the impactsite. (p 79)Bear encounters were typical for

Herb. This passage gives you a taste:The search for Prichard's canoecame to a premature halt whenmy advance was blocked by abear who showed no inclinationto budge. I tend to feel rathervulnerable when facing a bearwithout an implement of intimi-dation at hand, so I cautiouslyand slowly retreated. Who caresabout remnants of canoes any-way? (p 69)Perhaps the next time, I will give

you the text about how he put hiscanoe on fire. Watch here for futureexcerpts. Natural Heritage Books,Toronto, 2007, $27.95.

The Editor

Photo by Aleks Gusev

EVENTSWCA Symposium 2008

Ban the midwinter blahs and pre-pare for the next paddling season byjoining fellow WCA members andpaddlers from across the continentfor George Luste's 23rd annualWilderness and Canoeing Sym-posium (8 and 9 February, MonarchPark Collegiate, Toronto).

Detailed information, includingregistration forms and a list of speak-ers with the titles of their talks, isavailable at http://www.wcsympo-sium.com. Alternatively, you canrequest information by email [email protected] or byphone to 416 424 1871.

The symposium's three mainthreads are the landscape (includingits fauna and flora), the experiencesof those who visit there, and the na-

WCAAGM 2008

tive peoples and their history. Topicsof this year's talks include the dis-covery of the Hornby tragedy, locat-ing the sites of Group of Sevenpaintings, descriptions of trips in ourNorth (some excessively long, one ofthese by birch-bark canoe), photog-raphy, reflections on the boreal forestand the barren lands, saving ourwilderness canoe routes, a canoeatlas of north-west Ontario and thelike. The symposium also offers thecompanionship, for an evening and aday, of hundreds of persons whoshare a passion for the wildernessand k now the joy of experiencing itfirst-hand by canoe, kayak, on foot orsnowshoe.

I hope to see you there!Allan

McMichael Saturday, March 1st, 2008McMichael Art Gallery

Kleinburg, Ontariowith special Guest Speaker

Katherine Suboch

Join us in 2008 for our AGM at the McMichaelCanadian Art Gallery. The McMichael is aunique and enchanting experience that will en-rich and revive you. This impressive gallery isadorned by its amazing collection as well asits vistas of the surrounding countryside.Enhancing your adventure in art, writer andphotographer, Katherine Suboch, will sharewith you her passion for the arctic in a presen-tation of art slides.

See the back cover of Nastawgan for more in-formation and registration. Contact DougAshton at [email protected].


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected].

Puffins at Sand Point, Alaska, Photo by Allan Starnes, resident of Sand Point, with a Canon Rebel xti, EF75-300mm, f/4-5.6. Note fromMr. Starnes: I have spent many hours as a child in a canoe, my father taught me to sail in an aluminum canoe. I still paddle but in akayak. Just the other day two of us were paddling here in Sand Point.

Ragged Falls, Algonquin Park. Photo by Aleks Gusev, 2007


Editorial NoticeThis notice has been sent to recent contributorsof Nastawgan. Unfortunately we cannot contactall contributors of articles of past issues ofNastawgan. The WCA is now publishing allNastawgan articles on-line. Thus, all articleshave been placed on the WCA/journal/archivewebsite. If you do not want your article pubishedon the web, please indicate your choice to the ed-itor or alternatively add copyright to your work.While we are aware of copyright laws aroundoriginal work, we can only warn people.Enforcing this law is very difficult. Your workwill be printed and added to the database unlessyou request otherwise.

Letter to the MembersAs I am parting with my responsibility as "EnvironmentalRep" for the WCA - or formally "Chair of the EnvironmentalCommittee" - I would like to thank all you folks that haveacted in some way to help preserve our canoeing places.Hats off to you! And my thanks to the WCA for allowing meto represent its interests in the past nine years.

But the WCA needs to fill the vacancy again, and maybeyou would like to consider this opportunity.

To do the job well, the environmental rep should have alove for nature and understand the connections between itsmany elements - either by studious observation over theyears or even some form of formal study. Also, he or sheshould be a paddler of canoe routes so one understands theconcerns and issues that matter to the WCA membership.

It is necessary to communicate with government offices

and thus one needs to be able to work with formal processeslike the one governing forest management. Issues are neverone-sided and they are supported tenaciously by the peopleon both sides of the fence - so tact and sensitivity with peo-ple are essential.

Last not least, you should have some personal flexibilityin time and transportation - it helps if one has visited theplaces in order to see first-hand what is at stake. There is nobetter excuse for checking out some of those places andbroaden one's knowledge of our canoe country. It's a very re-warding job!

If you decide you can spare the time and would be a fit forthe job, contact Aleks Gusev and let him know by April 30.

Cheers,Erhard Kraus, past Chair of the Conservation Committee

Submit your tripping recipe ideas toBarb Young at [email protected]

Tomato LeatherMany of you know this tip but forthose who want a simple, basic, quick,featherweight, non-perishable solutionto adding variety to camp meals, hereis one of my favourites:

1) At home on the stove, make atomato sauce with

- crushed canned tomatoes- tomato paste- chopped onion- garlic- dried oregano- hot chil powder (to taste but re-

member dehydrating concentrates theflavours

2) Line dehydrator tray with saranwrap

3) Cut holes in the middle for themoisture to escape

4) Pour sauce into trays in a thinlayer, about 1/4" thick

5) Dehydrate, occasionally rear-ranging the trays for even drying. Thiswill take one-two days depending onyour machine

6) Wait until the sauce is totally dry(it will darken but will return to itsfresh colour when rehydrated)

Food for Paddlers7) Let the layers cool to room temper-

ature8) Lift each layer out and peel the

tomato leather from the saran wrap9) Roll up each layer and place as many

as you can in a clean ziplock bag. Note:Your sauce now weighs almost nothing

10) In camp, put rolls of tomatoleather in a pot and add some water. Heatwill speed up the rehydrating process.Watch that the sauce does not dry out. Itwill keep absorbing water while it is re-hydrating

11) Add whatever you like (otherspices or dried vegetables) to the sauceor use it straight on cooked pasta. Ormake a pizza. Don't forget the cheese.

Elizabeth Sinclair

As promised, part three of recipes fromRobyn Macpherson.

Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes,Cured Black Olives and Feta

CheeseCook pasta (penne, fusili, or rotini are

nice choices) and drain well. Rehydrate sun-dried tomatoes (make sure you take the driedtype - not the ones packed in oil). Crumblefeta cheese into bowl and combine with re-hydrated tomatoes and olives. Season withsalt and pepper (and a bit of oregano if youhave it), and add drained pasta.

Shitake Mushroom Risotto1 large package of dehydrated shitake

mushrooms (sold at many Chinese gro-cery stores)

1 package of 'instant' plain risottofound in the packaged goods section ofmost grocery and/or health food stores.

Prepare risotto according to instruc-tions. Rehydrate mushrooms. If mush-rooms are quite large cut into smallerpieces. Saute mushrooms in a little oilwhile preparing risotto. Combine mush-rooms and risotto and top with gratedParmesan cheese.

Mango, Cucumber, Pepper Salad(serves 4)

1 English cucumber, diced2 mangoes (either type is nice but

make sure to choose very hard mangoesif using later in the trip), peeled anddiced

2 peppers (red, yellow, orange or a va-riety), diced

1 lime (or 1 lemon)1 tsp brown sugarCombine cucumbers, mangoes, and

peppers together in a bowl. Cut lime (orlemon) in half and squeeze juice into asmall cup. Add brown sugar and stir.Pour over salad and stir well to coat.


We came around the bend and saw himstanding on the far shore. Adult wolf.

Standing perfectly still and staring atsomething with great intensity.

Motioned to the buddies and we allquit paddling and started just drifting.

The wind was in our favor and I washoping that we could get fairly close tothe wolf before he noticed us andbounded away.

We drifted for a couple of minutesand the wolf still hadn't noticed us.

Pretty unusual. Our experience hasbeen that a wolf sees you long before yousee him and is then well on his way outof the country. Often all you get to seeis the rear end of the wolf just before hedisappears into the trees or goes over theridge line.

Then I saw why the wolf hadn't no-ticed us. There was a flock of Canadageese on the near shore milling about ina marshy area where a creek emptied intothe river. Probably good feeding there.

The WolfThe flock was composed of several pairsof adults and their half-grown goslings.I figured out why the wolf was so inter-ested in the geese. Nobody in that flockcould fly. The adults were molting andthe goslings still had a ways to go to gettheir flight feathers. A combination ofcircumstance that in the wolf's mind saidthat he had a chance to catch somethingto eat.

We angled the current and got withinfifteen meters before the wolf noticed usand disappeared into the bush. I guesswhen meals are hard to come by youhave to give it your full attention. Wefloated by the spot where the wolf wasand then past the flock of geese. Anotherbend and we were out of sight of thiswilderness moment.

I hope that the interruption of ourpresence did not upset the balance be-tween predator and prey. There was lotsof daylight left for the wolf to do morestalking. And nobody in that flock was

going to flyaway anytime soon. Perhapsthe eternal struggle for survival wouldcontinue unaffected by our short passagethrough the contest.

However, that night as I sat at thecampfire I couldn't stop the anguish inmy soul. I hoped that we didn't deprivethe wolf of a meal that he could have hadif we hadn't disrupted his concentration.I wished we could have stayed out of it.As wilderness canoeists, even though wetry to keep our touch as the lightest ofleaves floating down the river, the touchof man is heavy and it seems that every-thing we do has some impact.

I want so desperately to see thesewilderness scenes, and yet I am afraidthat even my seeing them will cause ir-reparable harm. The pain knots up in mystomach. And it hurts.

I think I knew then why there is somuch weeping in the homes of men.

Greg Went

Wildlife at Yellowstone Park 2007. Photos by E. Sinclair

Just a brief note to bring everyone up-to-date onthe composition of the Outings Committee. Sincelast winter when Gerri James had to leave theOutings Committee, our group has been com-posed of Gisela Curwen, Scott Card and myself.This past fall Mary Perkins generously offered tojoin our group, and now we are back to our usual

group of four, which provides us with a healthyrange of personal outings interests and outingsideas, as well as provides excellent contingencyback-up in the event that one or two of us are ab-sent during our quarterly outings drives to enlistexperienced paddlers to organise activities. Bill


WCA OUTINGSJAN. 2008 - SPRING 2008

WANT TO ORGANIZE A TRIP AND HAVE ITPRESENTED IN THE WINTER ISSUE?

Contact the Outings Committee before February 15

For questions, suggestions, proposals to organize trips, or anything else related to the WCA Outings, contact theOutings Committee: Bill Ness, 416-321-3005, [email protected]; Gisela Curwen, 416-484-1471,

[email protected]; Scott Card, 905-665-7302, [email protected]

WCA outings and other activities may have an element of danger of serious personal injury.You are ultimately responsible for your own safety and well-being when participating in club events.

All Season HAVE PADDLE WILL TRAVELScott Card, 905-665-7302, [email protected] I paddle whitewater nearly every weekend all yearthrough, as long as I can find water that's liquid. If youwant to get out on a river any weekend, just call me to findout where I'm headed. I go wherever there's good water.Longer trips also a possibility. Trip difficulty levels vary fromintermediate to advanced. Open canoe, C1, or kayak wel-come.

All Season HALIBURTON COUNTYRay Laughlen, 705-754-9479, [email protected] Paddle/Backpack/Ski/Snowshoe Haliburton County area.There are many canoe routes and great trails here plusthousands of acres of crown lands to bushwhack through.Anything from a bowl of chili by the wood stove to somewinter camping. I'm willing to provide help with organiza-tion, guidance, logistics, equipment etc. I get out oftenboth week days or weekends so if you like join me.Suitable for novices.

January 19 PADDLERS' PUB NIGHTJoin other paddlers for an evening of food and drink andgood cheer to chase away the January blahs. It will be agreat chance to get together and plan next season's ad-ventures and re-live last summer's outings, or just watch afew paddling films running on the big screen in the back-ground. As in the past, we are organizing this evening to-gether with members of the Ontario Voyageurs KayakClub. Meet 7.00 pm at Toronto's Bow & Arrow Pub, 1954Yonge Street (second floor), just north of Davisville sub-way station. Please contact Gisela Curwen 416-484-1471,[email protected] by January 10 to register so wecan book sufficient room.

January 25 - 27 KILLARNEY CROSS-COUNTRYSKIINGGisela Curwen, 416-484-1471, [email protected],book before December 30.I always wanted to experience Killarney in winter. After anumber of years enjoying snow weekends in Algonquinand Silent Lake Provincial Parks, we will find out what

Killarney's lakes and mountains are like covered withsnow and ice. We will stay two nights in a toasty warmelectrically heated yurt, and cross-country ski or snow-shoe from our base at George Lake. Limit six intermediateskiers.

February 8-9 WILDERNESS AND CANOEING SYM-POSIUMGet rid of the mid-winter blahs and prepare for the nextpaddling season by joining fellow WCA members and pad-dlers from across the continent for George Luste's 23rdannual Wilderness and Canoeing Symposium (8 and 9February, Monarch Park Collegiate, Toronto). Detailed in-formation is available at http://www.wcsymposium.com. orfrom Allan Jacobs: [email protected], 416-424-1871.The symposium offers the companionship, for an eveningand a day, of hundreds of persons who share the passionfor our wilderness and the joy of experiencing it first-hand,mostly by canoe and kayak, but also by foot and snowshoe.The symposium's three main threads are the landscape(including its fauna and flora), the experiences of thosewho visit there, and the native peoples and their history.Presentations at this year's symposium include the dis-covery of the Hornby tragedy, locating the sites of Groupof Seven paintings, descriptions of trips in our North, pho-tography, reflections on the boreal forest and the barrenlands, saving our wilderness canoe routes, and a canoeatlas of north-west Ontario.

February 9 CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING FIVEWINDS TRAILSGisela Curwen, 416-484-1471, [email protected], book before January 20.Come out for a day and explore a winter wonderland onFive Winds marked, ungroomed wilderness trail system inthe scenic Gibson River area. Varied terrain. Limit six in-termediate skiers.

March 1 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGThe Annual General Meeting will be held at the McMichaelCanadian Art Collection in Kleinburg Ontario. In addition






mailto:[email protected],

http://www.wcsymposium.com.


mailto:gisela.curwen@gmail.

to our business meeting we will have an opportunity tovisit the gallery and listen to the experiences of KatherineSuboch. For further information and registration check theback cover for details

March 14 PADDLERS' POTLUCK EVENINGGisela Curwen, 416-484-1471, [email protected], book by March 1.This is an occasion to get together at the end of the winterand swap tall tales of past trips, exchange information withother paddlers, hikers or skiers about that specific adven-ture you always had on your list, or just have fun seeingold and new friends again and plan an outing together.Bring along pictures, stories and food to share with others.

March 21 MOIRA RIVERJohn & Sharon Hackert, [email protected] ---Book before March 15. This is our Good Friday seasonopener and a chance to recover our skills after a long win-ter. We will start at Chisholm's Mill and finish at Latta inthe morning, eat lunch in our vehicles and run LostChannel in the afternoon. This is a good opportunity fornew spring paddlers to introduce themselves and demon-strate their competence. The river is not particularly tech-nical and we will only be about an hour from our cars. Thistrip is open to anyone who doesn't mind swimming in ice-cold water. Tandem canoes must have a centre airbag.Wetsuits or drysuits are required. If winter is later andweather/water conditions are unsuitable, we will postponethe trip. Limit of six boats.

March 21-24 KAWARTHA WHITEWATER WEEKENDJay Neilson & Frank Knaapen 613-687-6037 --- Bookby March 14. We plan to run a couple rivers in theKawarthas, probably Beaver Creek and the Moira orBlack, weather permitting. Our trips are slow paced withlots of time to portage and check out the rapids. However,you should expect high, cold water, with ice on the river.For advanced whitewater paddlers with proper coldweather attire and fully outfitted boats.

March 24 LOWER CREDIT RIVERBill Ness, 416-321-3005, [email protected], book beforeMarch 17 --- Join me on this classic early springfavourite of Toronto area paddlers. We'll catch the Credit inStreetsville and run down to the mouth at Port Credit. Theriver is a delightful continuous class 1 to 2 with lots of playspots. However, as sweepers can present a hazard andthe water will be cold, participants should have solid basicmoving water skills, and wear a wetsuit or drysuit. Limit ofsix boats.

March 29 MOIRA RIVERJohn & Sharon Hackert, [email protected] Bookbefore March 15. This is a repeat of the March 21 trip.

26 NASTAWGAN WINTER

April 25-27 SPRING TRIPPING IN THEMASSASSAUGAAndrea Fulton, 416-726-6811, [email protected],book as early as possible. --- Let's get out there beforethe black flies do! Join me for an easy weekend trip intothe Massassauga Provincial Park. This will be an easy flat-water trip with a few portages. I plan to camp Friday nightat Oastler Lake Provincial Park, near Parry Sound, andthen do a quick overnight trip into the MassassaugaInterior for Saturday night and out on Sunday. Limited to 9canoeists.

April 26-27 SPENCE'S CELEBRATED SALMON-MOIRA WEEKENDGlenn Spence, 613-475-4176, book after January 25 --- Just north of Belleville, these two rivers offer excitingwhitewater and fine scenery. The Salmon is the more gen-tle run, with some small rapids for you to practice yourskills. The Moira has larger rapids possibly up to class 3.You can bivouac at my house and enjoy a potluck dinner.These are two of Southern Ontario's finest spring rivers.Intermediate paddlers welcome. Limit six boats.

April 26-27 SPRING IN MUSKOKAGisela Curwen, 416-484-1471, [email protected], book before April 10.We will paddle some lakes yet to be decided and experi-ence the returning birds and discover other flora andfauna emerging from hibernation. Maybe we will find thefirst turtles or cranberries from last Fall, as on previousoutings. We'll hike and explore the surrounding area andclean up portages and campsites along the way. Limit fourcanoes.

May 3-4 OPEONGO RIVERJay Neilson & Frank Knaapen 613-687-6037 --- Bookbefore May 26. The Opeongo River will be high at this timeof year, with some class III fun stuff and lots of class II.The Wilno Polish Heritage Beer Festival takes place onSaturday so it should make for a fun weekend both on andoff the river. This is a day trip for good intermediates orbetter. We will take a leisurely pace on the river with timeto scout significant rapids, and our camp will be at a lovelysite where we can enjoy listening to tree frogs. On Sundaywe can run Opeongo again, or go over to the Madawaska.Cold weather gear and fully outfitted whitewater boats arerequired.

May 10 MINESING SWAMPRay Laughlen 705754 -9479, [email protected] --- Book by May 3. Join us for this slow-paced trip down-stream from the Willow Creek put-in to Edenvale. We cancheck out the heronry, osprey nest, early spring migrantsand maybe some furry critters. Suitable for any paddler.








May 17-19 LOWER MADAWASKA RIVERLarry Durst, 905- 415-1152, [email protected] --- Book as soon as possible. Join us for the8th annual spring paddle/wine and cheese party and findout first hand why mostly sane, reasonably intelligent andsomewhat mature persons subject themselves to the vi-cissitudes of spring camping. We paddle from aboveAumonds Bay to the take-out at Griffith, a distance of only28 km. The pace is leisurely with only the Sunday being afull day of paddling and most of that spent on the SnakeRapids section of the river. Lots of time to play, chat andnibble! Rapids will range from Grade 1 to 4 and there area couple of short portages around falls. The water will stillbe cold, and the water levels are likely to be quite high. Inthe past we have had sun, rain, hail and snow ... all on thesame day, so participants will need to dress and pack ap-propriately. Suitable for intermediate level paddlers. Limitsix boats. Book early as this trip "sells out" every year.

May 16 -19 MAGNETAWAN RIVERAlan James, [email protected] --- Book byMay 9 (Mention the trip in the subject line.). I will be pad-dling on the Magnetawan River for the long weekend inMay and would enjoy some company. This is a four daytrip suitable for experienced whitewater trippers.Participants must have properly outfitted boats and coldweather camping gear/experience.

May 17-19 PETAWAWA RIVERJay Neilson & Frank Knaapen 613-687-6037 --- Bookby May 9. The Petawawa River is an awesome fun run onthe long weekend. Stay at our place, arriving late Fridaynight, and we'll be sure to get you off the river by 11 am onMonday for your drive home. Lots of Class II, and someClass III/IV. The more serious rapids can be avoided byportaging. Suitable for intermediates or better.

May 24 -25 INTERMEDIATE WHITEWATER CLINICJohn & Sharon Hackert, [email protected] ---Book before April 19. This is the eleventh year of our clinic,which is designed to help improve your basic skills. We willpaddle the Lower Mad on Saturday and practice our basicskills at Palmers Rapids on Sunday. The emphasis will beon front ferries, eddy-outs, and peel-outs. Your paddlestrokes will be critiqued. You will also have an opportunityto practice self-rescue techniques. Open to properly fittedsolo and tandem canoes. Wetsuits or drysuits will beneeded. We will camp at our cottage.

June 2-4 Level 1 WRT (Whitewater RescueTechnician) COURSEGary James, Mary Perkins. We are auditing this coursehaving taken it last year. It is delivered by Esprithttp://www.espritrafting.com/swiftwaterrescue.html#wrtand will be on the Ottawa River. If you have ever thought

of taking this course, why not join us. Good skills to have ifyou are a tripper. [email protected]; [email protected]

June 5-8 DUMOINE ANYONE?Jay Neilson & Frank Knaapen 613-687-6037 --- Bookas soon as possible. When other rivers are past theirspring runoff, the Dumoine is still lots of fun. There areportages for all the real ugly stuff, but some Class II rapidsare mandatory. This is a classic four day whitewater rivertrip that would be enjoyed by intermediate paddlers.

July 28- August 14RIVERJay Neilson & Frank Knaapen 613-687-6037 ---Contact as soon as possible. The Spatzizi has some ofthe best mountain hiking you could imagine. We will go upRed Goat Mountain, also called Spatzizi Mountain; andalso hike from Hyland Post, where "luxury" cabins can berented. There is a lodge above Jewel Rapid which mayoffer us dining! Participants must be prepared to run theupper Stikine as a back-up in case of problems with fly-inscheduling or weather. For detailed information on thearea, please see Jennifer Voss' book The Stikine. Hikingon the upper Stikine is across strenuous scrubthrough the lower slopes but this avoids any put-inportage and the Upper Stikine Lakes are gorgeous.Telegraph Creek (below the highway) offers excellent ac-commodations, hiking, hydrofoil rides into the Canyon,sight-seeing tours on the Lower Stikine & horse riding. Ifinterested in finding out more, please call us.

SPATZIZI AND THE STIKINE

Summer- Date to be determined BAZIN AND GATINEAURIVERSAlan James, [email protected] Contact meas soon as possible (Mention the trip in the subject line.).I am looking into paddling the Bazin and Gatineau Riversin Quebec this coming summer.The trip can be done as a two to three week trip, depend-ing on people's preferences. However, we'll most likely doit as a two week trip, going for the first two weeks of July.Please contact me as soon as possible if interested.Participants must have solid intermediate to advancedwhitewater tripping skills experience.

ADDITIONAL TRIPSCheck our website at www.wildernesscanoe.ca/trips.htmfor additional trips. Members may submit additional tripsto the Outings Committee anytime at bness@ look.ca. Ifyou miss the Nastawgan deadline, your trip will still belisted on the website. Also, check the bulletin board atwww.wildernesscanoe.ca/bulletin.htm for private, non-WCA trips or partner requests.





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.. .in this issue1. Coppermine River 1-102. Burnside River 11-173. Book Reviews 18-204. Events 21-225. Letters 23

6. Food for Paddlers 237. The Wolf 248. Outings 2008 25-27

WCA Contacts http://www.wildernesscanoe.caWCA Postal AddressP.O. Box 910682901 Bayview Ave.Toronto, ON M2K 2Y6

SecretaryBill King45 Hi Mount DriveToronto, ON M2K 1X3416-223-4646Iyonrex@ rogers.com

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BOARD OF DIRECTORSAleksandar Gusev(Chair) (Ilustrations Editor,Nastawqan)8 Valiant RoadEtobicoke, [email protected]

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Membership andComputer RecordsAnne [email protected]

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B67 Ball Ave. East, RR 3Beaverton, ON LOK 1AO(705) [email protected]

Doug [email protected]

Elsie Carr-LockeToronto, [email protected]

Editorial Team:Barb Young, Food EditorBill Ness, Outings EditorAleksandar Gusev, Illustrations EditorBob Henderson, Resource Editor


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