Bill Layman and Lynda Holland’s 2005 Journey

Hanbury - Thelon River Trip
Kickoff date: July 7^th.

Well they're off again… and they can hardly wait. As Lynda says, "Bill is more at home on the tundra than he is at our fly-out cabin or in La Ronge, tiny as it is." As Bill says, "Town sucks and I drink beer and whiskey like a line cutter when I sit still for too long. It's time to go."

This summer will see the couple driving to Fort Smith in the NWT - a two day drive! - where they will charter a Cessna 206 from Andrew Lake Lodge and head some 200 air-miles to the south end of Artillery Lake. By going to Artillery Lake they will miss the long and grueling Pike's Portage. First seen by George Back it was named after Warburton Pike, the famous British explorer, who popularized it in 1890. At age 55, and with Lynda at 5 foot 4 inches and 135 pounds soaking wet, Bill feels he can live without seeing the 30 km. long chain of 8 lakes rising some 665 feet from Fort Reliance to where he will get the plane to drop him off at Artillery Lake. He has been told by many that, "he is a wimp", but he still remembers his first 3.0 km portage on day 2 of last year's trip and fears Pike's Portage might mean his son Zane would be without a living father.

This trip will take the couple into the country of the Dene from Lutselke (Snowdrift) who still travel into the area each winter to trap and hunt caribou. Pike's Portage was a gateway to the barren lands until the advent of "bushplanes" and the couple's trip will be rich in the history of trappers and explorers. John Hornby, James Critchill-Bullock, JW Tyrell, David Hanbury, Guy Blanchet, Gus Daoust, Billy Hoare, Helge Ingstead are only a few of those who came under the spell of the barrens on Artillery Lake.