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	Dubawnt River Coppermine River Fond Du Lac River Kazan River - Inuit Ku Thlewiaza River Thelon River

Often as Lynda Holland and I arepaddling our canoe on one of the many rivers in Nunavutor the Northwest Territories, I wonder what the adage"home is where the heart is" would mean to atrue nomad.

To the Copper Inuit, as well as the Athapaskan Slavey,Chipewyan, and Dogrib Indians, whose homes moved with theseasons in their pursuit of the animals they subsistedon, and who still range far and wide throughout the areaof the Coppermine River, surely it would have been ameaningless phrase. These people lived as true nomadsuntil only a few decades ago when they were moved intovillages with names like Kugluktuk, Wha Ti, Deline andLutselk'e. Although these people now live in villages, itis clear that their hearts are still on the land. Ask aDogrib, or a Chipewyan, or a Slavey where the idthen(caribou) are, and an animated conversation is sure toresult. The Inuit are no less tied to the land and itsresources. When we paddled into Kugluktuk this summer, ayoung Inuit boy, within mere minutes of meeting Lynda,said to her, "Lynda I wish you could come here inthe winter to see the icebergs and the bearded seals andthe caribou!" Perhaps the adage these people listento is "the land is where the heart is."

Lynda and I were drawn to the Coppermine River by thewritten accounts of early explorers like Samuel Hearne ofthe Hudson's Bay Company and Sir John Franklin of theBritish Navy. Hearne's famous overland 1771 journey toBloody Falls with the Chipewyan leader Matonabbee, andFranklin's somewhat naive and ill-fated 1821 journey downthe Coppermine's length with Hood, Back, Richardson, andHepburn, guided by the Yellowknife chief Akaitcho,fascinated us, and each story we read lead to another.

Following Franklin's journey, the preferred route to,and from, Coronation Gulf to the arctic coast becamethrough Dease Arm on Great Bear Lake and then down theDease River to the lower reaches of the Coppermine; infact this is the route that Franklin initially hadplanned to follow. Fort Franklin, or Bear Lake Post as itwas known in the early 1800s, located at the extremewestern end of Great Bear Lake, and then later FortConfidence established in 1837 at the head of the DeaseRiver on the extreme eastern end of the lake, becamelogical way-points for northern travelers.

The area around Great Bear Lake saw an active furtrade and continued exploration by men like Sir JohnFranklin, Dr. John Richardson, Thomas Simpson, PeterDease, and John Rae until about the mid 1800s. Not untilabout 1890 did many more Europeans venture into this areaof the north when a new breed of gentlemen adventurerssuddenly appeared. With no clear goal in mind, other thanto explore this remote area and to meet the indigenousresidents, these adventurers left some fascinatingaccounts of their travels and meetings with the Inuit andthe Athapaskan Dogrib, Slavey, Yellowknife, and ChipewyanIndians.

Men like the British big game hunter Cosmo Melville,David Hanbury who wandered the Barrens for two years andthen disappeared as suddenly as he arrived, the CanadianDouglas brothers who traveled widely through the area,the Belgian Oblate Fathers Rouviére and Leroux who weremurdered by the Copper Inuit, all drifted through thestories Lynda and I read. From Frank Russell's account ofhis journey in 1894 with the Dogribs to hunt formuskoxen, to John Hornby's visit among the nomadic CopperInuit when he met them in 1912 on Coronation Gulf, to theaccounts of Vilhjalmur Stefansson who wintered near thearea of the Dease River during the winter of 1910, thethread that seemed to hold it all together was a thinblue line of ink on our map – the Coppermine River.

Although the written history of this river is largelyabout white explorers and adventurers, one thing iscertain, none of these Europeans would have completedtheir trips without the help of the Athapaskan Indiansand Inuit whose knowledge of the Barrens wasunparalleled. Franklin's chance meeting with a North WestCompany Metis interpreter while he was over-wintering inFort Chipewyan shows the dependence these Europeans hadon the knowledge of the indigenous residents. Thisinterpreter, Beaulieu, advised Franklin to speak to theYellowknife Indians about the Coppermine River as theysometimes traveled its length to the sea. As he sketcheda rough map of the river on the floor, an old Chipewyannamed Black Meat walked in and recognized the map. Hequickly took a piece of charcoal and drew in a route hehad used to return from a war excursion his tribe hadmade against the Inuit. Black Meat then accuratelydescribed two other rivers to Franklin – the Backand the Burnside.

No sooner had he finished his story than another oldman walked in and commented on the map indicating thathe, as well, had traveled widely through the Barrens withhis people. This Chipewyan, named The Rabbit's Head, wasnone other than Matonabbee's step-son and had traveledwith him when he had guided Hearne's journey. Althoughthe Yellowknife Indians, or Copper Indians as manyEuropeans knew them, were defeated by the Dogribs, theirvast knowledge of the Barrens is still incorporated inthe oral history of the Chipewyans who eventuallyabsorbed them.

THE RIVER

And as we watched Tundra Tom's bright red De HavillandBeaver aircraft fly away from Lac de Gras, my mind wasfilled with all of these stories, and I wondered whatadventures awaited Lynda and I along the 425 mile lengthof our trip to the arctic coast.

From our research, we had learned that the CoppermineRiver starts in the barrens at Lac de Gras, then windsits way back into the treeline near Redrock Lake, finallyleaving the trees again near Big Bend on its final plungeto the ocean. Our maps showed a river characterized by asteep gradient from Lac De Gras to Point Lake followed byabout 100 miles of flat water ending at Rocknest Lake.From here would follow a few days of solid rapids toFairy Lake River where the river suddenly spills out intoa wide flat sandy flood plain. The last stretch from BigBend to the ocean would be many days of solid rapidsthrough steep walled canyons. With rapids bearing nameslike Rocky Defile, Escape and Bloody Falls we knew wewere in for some serious paddling.

Within half an hour of Tom's final low farewell passover us, Lynda and I were out of the canoe scouting thefirst rapid flowing out of Lac de Gras; a short steepnarrow slot about thirty yards wide draining the fullforce of the ice covered lake we had just left. Liningwas impossible since both shores were still covered withwinter ice undercut by the raging current. The three andfour foot waves and mid-stream rocks convinced us that a175 yard portage along the right shore was the onlychoice.

A short 300 yard paddle across a calm bay and we wereout of the canoe again scouting from the right shore ofthe river. Although long, fast and technical, at leastthis rapid ended in a calm widening of the river; slightconsolation if we had to swim with water temperatureshovering just above freezing. We lined past two ledgesalong river right at the top of this rapid and thencarefully back-ferried into the main current where wecould get a good entry into the main channel. From here Icould see that from mid-stream to the left shore thecurrent was piling up into three foot and bigger waves.The only safe line for our canoe was tight along theinside of the turn that the rapid took to the right.Under normal water levels the right shore would have beena dry boulder field which would have allowed for easylining as you walked from rock to rock, but now it wasflooded and was a treacherous rock strewn rapid. The onlyline to paddle was the narrow river right channel withthe stern of the canoe tight to the edge of the rocks andthe bow just cutting through the lip of the largemid-stream waves. We lined up our canoe and then with afew quick strokes we were committed to the rapid. In mereseconds we were sitting in the calm water at the bottomalmost unaware of how we had arrived. As we looked backat the rapid we had to crane our necks up wards to seeour entry point and we both suddenly realised how much ofa drop we had just paddled. By day's end we had paddledthree more mid-big, but easy to run, rapids and linedriver left past a long rock strewn ledge filled drop; allthis on our first day in a heavily loaded canoe and inless than 5 hours and 12 miles! Our only comfort as weate a freshly

t at least much of tomorrow would see us on the flatwaters of Desteffany Lake and Lake Providence.

The trip report for the Coppermine River in CanoeingCanada's Northwest Territories: A Paddlers Guide, editedby Mary McCreadie, doesn't describe this section of theriver but rather begins from Point Lake. Suffice it tosay that the section of the river from Lac De Gras toPoint Lake is all much as described above; long sectionsof flat lake with narrow violent drops between them. Thedrop from Lac de Gras to Point Lake is about 140 verticalfeet over about 60 miles, but this 140 feet is allthrough about 10 rapids, many of which are impossible torun. The banks of many of these rapids are often steeplyundercut and covered in thick alders so lining isdifficult if not impossible.

One unnamed rapid prior to Desteffany Lake (UTM12-4745E / 7160N) is typical of what you will find. Amid-stream island bisects the top and forms two narrowslots, one on each side. The main channel is on the leftbut it is a violent steep course filled with holes androcks and is probably impossible to paddle at any waterlevel. The right channel, which we chose, is thicklylined with willows and alders and the water is waist deepand fast right to the shore. If you find a way to line,curse and fight your way past the willows you are thenpresented with a series of deep pools separated byboulders strategically placed such that they form slotsalways two inches narrower than any canoe you own. Themain river all the while is about two canoe lengths awayto your left, but how to get there? Count on at least anhour or better for this spot and be ready for shorttempers and lots of paint left on rocks you know yourcanoe should never be dragged over. Oh yes, as well, whenyou attempt this rapid, it will either be pouring rain orif sunny, the black flies that will best be measured inpounds rather than counted! As a consolation for yourefforts, gorgeous red fleshed trout are found at thebottom of this and nearly every rapid along the river.

The first rapid from Desteffany Lake to LakeProvidence is easy to read from the canoe and we ran itleft of center. The next rapid is long and impossible toscout from the top. It appears that the 25 feet ofvertical drop shown on the map all occurs through thishalf mile long rapid and it is a very serious section ofwhitewater. From the top it would be easy to convinceyourself that this rapid could be run down the center asmany ledges and holes are hidden from view by the steepgradient. We dropped down along the river right shore andworked our way from eddy to eddy until things just got"too crazy." The next safe spot I could seewould best be described as a "micro eddy" thatI wasn't really eager to try to slip a loaded canoe into.From here I lined tight to the shore for about 150 yardsand then we easily paddled the last 500 yards riverright.

There are two rapids joining Lake Providence and PointLake and these drop a total of over 35 vertical feet. Thefirst is a violent short rapid which can be run tight tothe left shore but the entry to it is critical as theright side is all well over five foot waves that thecurrent really wants to force you into. We were a littleoff line on our entry and I quickly realised a back ferryto river left was all but useless against the power ofthe river. I turned the canoe and did an aggressive fullfront ferry to the river left shore narrowly missinggetting sucked into the main river right current. At thebottom, several hundred yards past the end of the rapid,there were still mid-river whirlpools being created bythe differential speed between the still water and themain current!

The next rapid is Franklin's now famous ObstructionRapids. These are the rapids that he and his menencountered on their overland walk from Bathurst Inletback to Fort Enterprise during the fall and early winterof 1821. During this ill-fated journey eight ofFranklin's seventeen hired Canadian voyageurs died,largely from overwork and starvation. Due to the almostsuperhuman efforts of these hired Canadians all ofFranklin's naval men, with the exception of Hood who wasmurdered by one of the voyageurs survived. How theseexhausted and starving men got across the river justup-stream of this rapid is hard to comprehend. Withfreezing cold temperatures and snow on the ground theysomehow fashioned a canoe out of scraps of canvas andwillows and made their way across the river; this aftertrying for several days to make a raft out of bundles ofwillows and nearly drowning Richardson who tried to swimacross with a rope tied to his waist.

While we were flying to Lac de Gras from Yellowknife,Tundra Tom told us that he had heard that the waterlevels were high this year. We found out later that theriver was running about five feet above normal and was infact at its second highest level in the roughly 35 yearsthat records had been kept! Looking at Obstruction rapidswe were absolutely in awe; a drop of probably 30 feet inabout two thirds of a mile through a series of wildS-turns. With the river running up so high there wereplaces where I could see three foot high willow busheswith their tops a good foot under the water. As istypical of S–turns, the river was easily paddled onthe inside of the turns, but as soon as you got to thenext corner you found yourself forced to the big waterpiled up on the outside of the curve. Since the river wasso high and the main-stream current was filled with fourand five foot waves and holes, there was no safe way toferry over to the inside of the next turn so we wereforced to line. This was the trickiest lining I have everdone as I crawled from huge boulder to huge boulder orworked my way through fast waist deep water; all thewhile with the canoe immediately beside huge four-footwaves threatening to pull it away from me. Often as Itracked the canoe past one of the huge boulders I wouldhave to let the nose of the canoe follow the current outdangerously close to the very edge of these holes beforeI could reel it back in after it cleared the boulder. Iwas so concerned that I took the Personal Locator Beacon(PLB) off of my lifejacket and gave it to Lynda tellingher that if I lost the boat to the current I was going toswim with it and hope to get out at the bottom of theriver. My thinking was that with a single canoe, at leastif it all went for not Lynda would have the PLB and couldget help. In any case we made it just fine but it was avery tense two hours before we saw the calm water ofPoint Lake. As I fell asleep that night I was comfortedby the knowledge that for the next several days we wouldbe on a lake.

The Coppermine is a river whose difficulty is verydependent on water levels and many of the trip-notes fromother paddlers we had with us were of little use as theriver was so much higher than normal. Shorelines whereyou might comfortably line your canoe in lower water werenow far up into the willows, and often we had no choicebut to run the chaotic whitewater. In fact, at RocknestLake, where Franklin speaks of, "descending asuccession of strong rapids for three miles", we meta group of eight seasoned paddlers camped beside thefirst rapid. They had clawed their way back upstream fromthe second rapid and told us that it was "way out ofcontrol and running into the trees", and that theyhad radioed for a Twin Otter aircraft to take them backto Yellowknife. Knowing what we had just paddled throughand wondering what was still to come, I was reallytempted to turn around and head home with these people.Even though paddling a nearly indestructible WesternCanoeing 17 foot covered prospector canoe, and with theadded benefit of ten years of whitewater kayak experienceunder my belt, I was real nervous as Lynda and I set offin a single boat into the unknown.

We ran the first rapid river left and scouted a blindleft hand corner that we ran easily by back ferryingaround it. The next rapid was – well – it wasfreaking huge. A wild narrow half mile with the currentrunning into the willows and turning around a blindcorner to the right with no easy cheat line down eithershore. We carried past it on river right although welater met a group of six paddlers who had run it by frontferrying from river right across to the far left wherethey found a line down the center. The next rapid is ahuge smooth wave feeding out from a rock shelf on riverright. There is a narrow slot between the rock shelf andthe big wave followed by three-foot smooth well-spacedwaves that we ran. Alternativelyy it would be an easypull over the smooth rock shelf. The last rapid is wide,shallow, rock studded maze through a mile or more ofgentle S-turns. The current is much slower due to theriver's width and in the high water levels we encounteredit was a fun run as we back-ferried from side to side andfound the channels between the boulder mazes; in lowwater levels it could be a grind over the rocks. As abonus after a great day of running white water, we campedat the bottom of the last rapid and I caught a 20 poundlake trout that we feasted on for the next several meals.

The next 20 miles is slow and sluggish and thensuddenly the river starts to narrow and pick up speed.From here the next 25 miles is a blur of fun whitewater.We ran it all and the only section we scouted from shorewas at a rapid at UTM 11-6202E / 7328 N. We ran thisrapid starting river right and following the main currentas we backferried to river left. In low water theserapids apparently end in boulder fields but we neverscraped a single rock. This section of rapids ends whereFairy Lake River joins the Coppermine and from here theriver widens until Big Bend nearly 80 miles away. FromBig Bend the river again narrows and there are a numberof easily run rapids before you arrive at Rocky Defile.We scouted Rocky Defile on river left and then ferriedacross to the portage trail on river right. We portagedhere with a group of six other paddlers whom we met andwho had decided to carry although later talking toseveral of them it was obvious that the jury was out onwhether to carry or run this rapid. I think it wasrunable along the river right shore, as did several ofthem, but the group dynamic dictated carrying – socarry we all did. I am sure if we had run into this rapidthree days later after we had run Sandstone and EscapeRapids we would have run it. However I should note thatafter our trip we corresponded with and met several otherpaddlers and with the exception of a couple paddling solokayaks all of them as well carried past Rocky Defile.

From Rocky Defile to Muskox Rapids the river is fastwith lots of easy to read fun rapids. The first sectionof Muskox Rapids is easily run down the center and thento river left where you carve into a huge left bank eddywhere you can scout the second more serious part ofMuskox. Notes from other paddlers suggest that the secondsection is normally an easy run on river left with onesection that you might decide to line past. In the highwater levels we found it was just too big to safely runwith any confidence and lining was out of the questionwith the river running so high against the shore. We ranthe top quarter, carried the next quarter, then ran thebottom half; all river left. The couple in the solokayaks ran it all river left tight to the outside edge ofa four foot hole.

Sandstone Rapids is normally described as an easyrapid but what we found was far from easy. We scouted itfrom river right and it was obvious that a run down theriver right side followed by a ferry across through themain current to the inside of the left turn was the routeto take. Since the river piles up very badly into aseries of holes along the cliff face on the right shorethis ferry is critical. I have seen pictures of opencanoes ferrying through this section and have readreports where this is described as a "piece ofcake." We had no trouble but it should be noted thatwe were ferrying through three and four foot waves thatwere breaking from multiple directions. The trick here isto get out from the right shore far enough so that youare immediately beside the large main stream waves. Thenlet your canoe turn into a full front ferry and slideslowly down the river until you find your desired entrypoint. Once you commit to your ferry through the maincurrent, keep one eye on the boat and one on the pointyou are ferrying to and make sure you aren't slidingdownstream too quickly. As well, get a good high start onyour ferry as the Coppermine's current is ferocious andvery deceptive. One of the other canoes we were with herestarted their ferry too low and got swept down streaminto the main part of the river where they got blown intoone of the big surf waves on the right margin past thecorner. Luckily the wave spun them into a full frontferry and aimed them toward the left shore where they gotback to a safe line. If the wave had spit them out theother way they would have been jet ferried right into thehuge waves piling up along the cliff face on the rightshore, and a swim would have been a certainty.

From here to Escape Rapids the river is continuouswhitewater through a series of S-turns in a steep-walledcanyon. Typically the safe line is always on the insideof the corner as big waves and holes pile up along theoutside of the turns. Get ready for countless full frontferries through two and three foot waves from side toside as you work your way from inside corner to insidecorner. No doubt in lower water levels this is an easyday of whitewater but even in the levels we found it wasa great day of thrilling paddling and we scouted it allfrom the boat and ran everything.

Escape Rapids is the last major runable rapid on theCoppermine. This rapid is through a steep-walled canyonand turns to the left. Escape breaks the general rule andthe left limit that is the inside of the corner is ajumble of huge five-foot waves forcing you to enter alongthe right margin. Just as the river turns to the left youare presented with a series of holes and huge waves alongthe right side of the steep walled canyon forcing you toferry across to river left. McReadie rates this rapid asa solid 3 or 4 dependent on water level and calls it themost difficult rapid of the river. I felt it was noharder than Sandstone but another paddler we paddledthrough with called it a solid class 4. In any case theimportant thing to remember is that water levels make allthe difference on this river so don't rely on past rivernotes as much as on your own gut instincts. The techniqueto use for Escape is exactly as I described for SandstoneRapids; paddle slowly along the right margin and turnyour canoe into a full front ferry well above yourplanned ferry line. Let the canoe slide backwards withthe bow aimed into the current and start your ferry ashigh as you think possible keeping one eye on the eddyyou are aiming for. If you are sliding downstream tooquickly lessen your ferry angle and put some muscle intothe paddle – and don't worry about lookingdownstream – worry about where you are trying to getto. Also remember that you are scouting many of theserapids from high up on the edge of the canyons they runthrough; the waves are MUCH bigger than you think.

The last major obstacle on the Coppermine is Hearne'sfamous Bloody Falls where Matonabbee and his Denemassacred a group of Copper Inuit. This is a mandatoryportage on the river left shore. This portage is noteasily seen so be prepared to look for it for a fewminutes. If you nose your canoe into the sand beach theportage is directly to your right and switch-backs itsway up a steep cliff. It is a very well used and goodtrail once you claw your way to the top.

And as we finished the portage and I thought of ouradventures on the Coppermine for the last thirty days, Iheld Lynda close in my arms on the top of a cliffoverlooking Bloody Falls and reflected on how we hadpaddled all but this stretch, Rocky Defile and two othershort sections of the river. My feeling of success athaving paddled through miles of huge technical rapids,often with my heart in my throats, was tempered by theknowledge that the Yellowknife Indians had somehow doneall we had in frail uncovered birch bark canoes.

DETAILS

There is a good article about the Coppermine River inCanoeing Canada's Northwest Territories: A Paddler'sGuide, edited by Mary McCreadie. This article provides anexcellent overview of the Coppermine, but my personalfeeling is that it understates the skill required topaddle the river. As noted on previous pages, thisriver's difficulty is very dependent on water levels. Atthe high levels we encountered there were many rapids Iwould rate as a solid class 3, and many of them were insteep-walled canyons with no easy portage. As well, incontrast to McCreadie's suggestion, I would say that acanoe with a spray cover is mandatory for this river. Mygeneral advice is to not underestimate this river; it isa fast, freezing cold, remote river with some veryserious rapids and the weather can change in a second.

One night we set up camp after a day of scorching hotsun and dead calm having paddled close to 40 miles. Aftersupper a slight breeze started and by two a.m. the windwas gusting at gale force, the sky was leaden gray, andthe temperature had dropped to just above freezing.Suddenly a particularly strong series of gusts hit us andflattened our four-season tent, snapping one of thealuminum tent poles. Standing naked on the tundra in thepouring rain trying to repair the tent and figure outjust how to shelter it from gale force winds if I evergot it fixed was not one of the best nights of my life.

When we arrived in Kugluktuk, the RCMP told us of agroup of six paddlers who had arrived in town in a mostdispirited fashion a few days earlier. They had lost onecanoe in a bad capsize and seriously damaged another.This group had to leave much of their gear and foodbehind and limped into Kugluktuk cold, wet, tired andhungry. The officer we spoke to told us that with theincreased interest in paddling remote northern riversmore and more ill-equipped canoeists are arriving inKugluktuk each year. He told us of a group who hadarrived last year quite upset that their brand newdigital cellular phone didn't work – they hadn'tbothered to check if there was any coverage along theCoppermine!

The Barrens, although beautiful beyond words, is alandscape that does not suffer fools gladly. A capsize inthe ice cold waters of the Coppermine could easily befatal, and in the fast current there is a good chancethat you will lose your canoe and gear. This river has alot of solid class 2 plus rapids, and several technicalclass 3 rapids (McCreadie rates Escape as a 4 at certainwater levels) that require excellent ferry skills. Aswell, you should have strong"slower-than-current" paddling skills and beable to confidently read rapids from your boat as it isimpossible to scout the miles of continuous whitewaterfrom Rocknest Lake to Fairy Lake River and from MuskoxRapids to Bloody Falls.

In addition to the regular first aid and survival gearnecessary for any canoe trip, Lynda and I carry a VHFradio that we can use to talk to aircraft. This radio isabout twice the size of a cellular phone and with thenumber of scheduled aircraft between Kugluktuk andYellowknife you can communicate any emergency situationon a nearly daily basis. If you buy or rent one of theseunits for your northern trips, familiarize yourself withthe local air schedules, the frequencies that the planesuse, and general radio protocol. I also carry a PersonalLocator Beacon that is strapped to the back of my lifejacket in case we capsize and lose our gear. This unit,when activated, sends a signal by satellite to theMission Control Centre at Canadian Forces Base, Trenton.Upon receiving a signal, the most appropriate rescue planis initiated based on your location. As well, ensure youregister and de-register your trip with the RCMP inYellowknife and Kugluktuk.

And on the topic of gear, if you are looking for aGREAT camera take a look at the Pentax point and shootEWSPIO 105WR. Pentax recommends cleaning it under thekitchen tap; what a bonus on a canoe trip! The 38-105lens lets you get some real nice pictures if you arelucky enough to get close to any wildlife.

One other company that is well worth checking out isNorthwest River Supplies in Moscow Idaho – see theircontact information at the end of the story. Althoughthey are primarily a rafting company they have a ton ofstuff from paddles to dry bags that are equally at homeon a canoe trip. Take a look at their NRS workboots– these are the best all around boots I have foundfor hiking, wading, lining, and paddling.

One final barren land hint. When you camp at nightstore your canoe right side up and put a half dozen rocksinto it so it won't blow away if a sudden arctic stormhits. For those who think this is a waste of time ask afriend of mine who just came back from this fall from theKazan River. He got caught in a violent storm near theThree Cascades and before he woke up and got down to theriver his canoe, that he had put to bed upside down, hadturned into a 17 foot 80 pound kite and was gone down theriver. He had only been on the river for four days andhad to set off my PLB that he had borrowed and getrescued by a helicopter from Rankin Inlet. Still thinki'ts stupid to put rocks in your canoe?

GETTING THERE

All the information you need to start and end yourtrip on the Coppermine is included in McCreadie's book orcan be obtained by phoning the Northwest TerritoriesArctic Tourism Office. Air Thelon, owned and operated byone "Tundra" Tom Faess is a great one-stopshopping centre to get you out onto the Coppermine River.From canoes to radios, to GPSs, to PLBs, the "BigGuy" can get you set up. He and Diana bent overbackward for us last year, and all we wanted was a planecharter. In my experience this kind of courtesy isn'tusually forthcoming from a regular air-charter companyany more than it would be from say a trucking company.Look at Air Thelon's web site for a wealth ofinformation. Bathurst Arctic Services in Yellowknife alsooffer canoe rentals and full trip logistic planning.Yellowknife is the capital of the Northwest Territoriesand is a full service town of 17,000. A complete range ofservices is available including several excellent hotels,restaurants, bed and breakfasts, and campgrounds areavailable. There is daily jet air service or you candrive 2 days north from Edmonton, Alberta.

Kugluktuk has two hotels and a campground. In everynorthern village, there is always someone who knows howto get everything done and in Kugluktuk it is Al Harveyat Triple "A" Taxi. He was of great help to uswhen we arrived in Kugluktuk and can assist with alllogistic organization at trip's end. If you choose to useyour own canoe it can be flown to Yellowknife on a spaceavailable basis, or it can be barged back to Hay River byNorthern Transportation Company Limited. Air service fromKugluktuk to Yellowknife with First Air is daily exceptSundays.

Good general information about Nunavut and theNorthwest Territories can be obtained from both Above andBeyond magazine and Up Here magazine. As well, NunavutTourism can provide you with their Arctic Planner touristguide that has much valuable information.

FINAL REFLECTIONS

Our trip was all we expected and more. Even though theweather was cold and wet, and we were wind-bound for sixdays, we were more than rewarded by Nunavut's bounty. Wesaw many lone male caribou awaiting the return of theherds from their calving grounds near Bathurst Inlet. Agroup of 12 muskoxen appeared on a far away hill nearMelville Creek and we watched these shaggy creaturesthrough our binoculars. Peregrine falcons wheeled highabove us as we paddled Escape Rapids and shortly after wesaw a pair of golden eagles soaring close to the river'sedge. Bald eagles seemed to be everywhere we looked thelast few days. Scores of lake trout graced our kitchen,and at Melville Creek, I caught and landed a twenty-poundarctic char whose red flesh could have easily graced thedining room table of Martha Stewart . Hearne's"grizzled bear" tracks seemed to be everywherewe camped, but much to my disappointment, and Lynda'spleasure, we didn't see one.

And as always, there were days on the river that Iswore I would never return to the mean-spiritedwind-swept mosquito and black fly infested landscape thatis the Barrens. And yet, as I now sit in my home in LaRonge in northern Saskatchewan, I know that next summerwill find me back on another river. After all, there isstill the Thelon and the Back and the Dubawnt and manyother of Nunavut's daughters to see.

CONTACTS

1.Above and Beyond Magazine, (613) 599-4190,pub@above-n-beyond.com

2.Up Here Magazine, (800) 661-0861, (867) 920-4343,sub_uphere@outcrop.com

3.Air Thelon, (Tundra Tom Faess), Yellowknife, (867)920-7110, tundra@thelon.com

http://www.thelon.com/nosecort.htm

4.Air Tindi, Yellowknife, (867) 669-8200,airtindi@ssimicro.com http://www.ssimicro.com/~airtindi/

5.Bathurst Arctic Services, Yellowknife, (867)873-2595, bathurst@internorth.com,

http://www.virtualnorth.com/bathurst/

6.Yellowknife RCMP, (867) 669-5100

7.Kugluktuk RCMP, (867) 982-4111

8.First Air, (800) 267-1247, reservat@firstair.cahttp://www.firstair.ca/

9.Northwest Territories Arctic Tourism Office, (800)661-0788, (867) 873-7200, arctic@nwttravel.nt.ca

10.Nunavut Tourism, (800) 491-7910,http://www.arctictravel.com/sites

11.A World of Maps, (800) 897-9969, (613) 724-6776,bgreen@worldofmaps.com

http://www.worldofmaps.com/

12.Northern Transportation Company Limited, Hay River,(867) 874-5100, ntcl@ntcl.com,

http://www.ntcl.com/

13.Triple A Taxi, (Al Harvey), Kugluktuk, (867)982-3280

14.Northwest River Supplies, 2009 Moscow, Idaho (800)635-5202, nrs@nrsweb.com,

http://www.nrsweb.com/

SELECTED READING

1.Wiebe, Rudy (1995). A Discovery of Strangers,Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited.

2.Mowat, Farley (1958). Coppermine Journey, (an editedversion of Samuel Hearne's A Journey from

Prince of Wale's Fort to the Northern Ocean ),Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd.

3.Franklin, John (1823). Narrative of a Journey to theShores of the Polar Sea, London: J. Murray.

4.Russell, Frank (1898). Explorations in the FarNorth, University of Iowa.

5.Richardson, John (1984). Arctic Ordeal, The Journalof John Richardson, Surgeon-Naturalist with

Franklin, 1820-1822, Kingston: McGill-Queen'sUniversity Press.

6.Back, George (1994). Arctic Artist, The Journal andpaintings of George Back, Midshipman with Franklin,

1819-1822, Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.

7.Houston, C. Stuart (Ed) (1974). To The Arctic ByCanoe 1819 – 1821 (The Journal and paintings of

Robert Hood, Midshipman with Franklin), Kingston:McGill-Queen's University Press.

8.McCreadie, Mary (Ed) (1995). Canoeing Canada'sNorthwest Territories: A Paddler's Guide, Hyde Park,

Ontario: Canadian Recreational Canoeing Association.

MAPS

1:250,000 Canadian National Topographical Survey (NTS)Maps required:

LAC DE GRAS 76D WINTER LAKE 76A

POINT LAKE 86H REDROCK LAKE 86G

HEPBURN LAKE 86J SLOAN RIVER 86K

DISMAL LAKE 86N COPPERMINE 860

RIVER IN A MINUTE

Hazards

Possibility of extreme arctic wind and cold weather,class 2 to class 3 rapids which fluctuate in severitywith water levels (some class 4 rapids possible),possibility of ice on large lakes even in mid-July,freezing cold water makes any capsize VERY serious.

Length of Trip

Variable due to multiple possible starting points. Forexample: 420 miles from Lac de Gras, 350 miles from PointLake, 240 miles from Rocknest Lake. Count on an easy 20miles per day BUT add a few days for weather. Add moredays for weather if you plan any large lake crossings andbe ready to paddle at night as the wind often goes down.

General Cautions

As is true of any arctic river, you will be alone forthe entire trip. Don't count on any help and plan in whatI call a "double-redundant" fashion. In otherwords, have backup plans for the eventuality that yourbackup plan doesn't work. As an example, I carry a VHFradio to talk to airplanes, I have an extra battery forit, and if it fails I have a Personal Locator Beacon.

Time to Travel

As soon after breakup as possible (about the firstweek of July) BUT phone to ensure that you aren't goingto find solid ice. Try to be off the river by mid-Augustas this is the beginning of fall and the weather canbecome a problem.

Getting There

You can drive to Yellowknife from Edmonton on a pavedhighway (all but the last 50 miles which is gravel) witha series of great campgrounds along the route. Scheduledjet air service daily arrives in Yellowknife and anytravel agent can sort out the details for you. Get thefree travel guide from the NWT Arctic Tourism Office forcomplete information

Permits and Regulations

No river permits are needed. You will need a fishinglicence for the NWT and for Nunavut. Be sure to registerand DEREGISTER your trip with the local RCMP.