Saskatchewan—Northwest Territories--Nunavut
Our expedition began on June 10th, 2013 on Black Lake, Saskatchewan, and finished 58 days later, August 6th, on the Queen Maud Gulf at the Arctic Ocean, Nunavut. In between these two points, we passed through three Canadian provinces/territories and traveled roughly 1,000 miles.
Before we set out, we congregated at Camp Kooch-i-Ching in International Falls, MN, to pack food, inspect gear and go over the route. We put in at the southwest corner of Black Lake, and spent the first day of the expedition paddling to the start of the Chipman Portage, a well-cut snowmobile trail, at the north end of the lake. The three-mile portage took the group most of the second day, as the six food packs (carrying 70 days worth of comestibles) weighed between 100 and 150 pounds each. Contending with the weight of these six packs proved a significant challenge for the first half of the trip. The next week consisted mostly of lake paddling and short portages, and the weather was warm and mild. Finding suitable campsites was difficult, however, as the trees grew thick and close to the shore. We crossed from Saskatchewan to the Northwest Territories on the morning of Day 6.
On Day 10, we reached the wide and fast-flowing Dubawnt River, around the same time that the temperate taiga began to give way to the decidedly less-hospitable tundra. The days grew longer and the nights colder. The Dubawnt River was broken up by several large lakes—Boyd, Barlow, Carey, Markham and Nicholson—each spotted with hundreds of tiny islands. We hit a significant expanse of ice for the first time on Carey Lake, on Day 15, and were forced to portage into a protected bay in order to avoid it.
On Day 20, the expedition reached Dubawnt Lake, the largest lake in Canada’s Barren Lands (1,480 square miles), shortly after crossing from the Northwest Territories into Nunavut. The lake proved the first major challenge of the trip, as it was covered by ever-shifting belts of ice of varying thickness. Strong, incessant wind necessitated hugging the north shore, but even the shoreline, being flat and featureless, provided little protection, and the going was painfully slow. It took us just under a week to cross to the northeast corner of the lake. We then spent two days portaging three miles along the unrunable Dubawnt Canyon, which empties into Grant Lake, the start of the final stretch of the Dubawnt River.
On Day 36 of the expedition—after being windbound for two days on a large island—we reached the western shore of Beverly Lake (where the Dubawnt River ends), and the delta of the aforementioned unnamed river that flows south through the Aqiliniq Hills from the headwaters of the Morse River. We spent five days dragging our canoes up the unnamed river, which to our delight held water (this was the only section of the for which we did not have logs to consult). Despite the physical difficulty of this uphill haul, made worse by the mild frostbite we all sustained from wading in frigid water for eight hours per day, the protection provided by the river’s steep and winding banks allowed for rare tree growth in the tundra, which made for a striking landscape that did not go unappreciated. We made nightly fires to dry our clothes and warm our bodies.
Two days of pothole-portaging then took us to the Morse River, which flows into Upper Garry Lake. Upper Gary, despite being several miles across, was also extremely shallow, and we had to portage to shore and across a peninsula to Garry Lake, which was deep enough to paddle. From the north shore of Garry, we spent a day portaging into Armark Lake, the last lake of the expedition. The following day, Day 51, we sailed across the lake and reached the Armark River, a rarely traveled river that would take us to the Arctic Ocean. The river proved highly technical, and we shot dozens of sets of difficult rapids each day. We reached the Armark delta on the Arctic Ocean just after noon on Day 57. We were picked up by floatplane the following day and flown to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, an Inuit hamlet on Victoria Island.
Before we set out, we congregated at Camp Kooch-i-Ching in International Falls, MN, to pack food, inspect gear and go over the route. We put in at the southwest corner of Black Lake, and spent the first day of the expedition paddling to the start of the Chipman Portage, a well-cut snowmobile trail, at the north end of the lake. The three-mile portage took the group most of the second day, as the six food packs (carrying 70 days worth of comestibles) weighed between 100 and 150 pounds each. Contending with the weight of these six packs proved a significant challenge for the first half of the trip. The next week consisted mostly of lake paddling and short portages, and the weather was warm and mild. Finding suitable campsites was difficult, however, as the trees grew thick and close to the shore. We crossed from Saskatchewan to the Northwest Territories on the morning of Day 6.
On Day 10, we reached the wide and fast-flowing Dubawnt River, around the same time that the temperate taiga began to give way to the decidedly less-hospitable tundra. The days grew longer and the nights colder. The Dubawnt River was broken up by several large lakes—Boyd, Barlow, Carey, Markham and Nicholson—each spotted with hundreds of tiny islands. We hit a significant expanse of ice for the first time on Carey Lake, on Day 15, and were forced to portage into a protected bay in order to avoid it.
On Day 20, the expedition reached Dubawnt Lake, the largest lake in Canada’s Barren Lands (1,480 square miles), shortly after crossing from the Northwest Territories into Nunavut. The lake proved the first major challenge of the trip, as it was covered by ever-shifting belts of ice of varying thickness. Strong, incessant wind necessitated hugging the north shore, but even the shoreline, being flat and featureless, provided little protection, and the going was painfully slow. It took us just under a week to cross to the northeast corner of the lake. We then spent two days portaging three miles along the unrunable Dubawnt Canyon, which empties into Grant Lake, the start of the final stretch of the Dubawnt River.
On Day 36 of the expedition—after being windbound for two days on a large island—we reached the western shore of Beverly Lake (where the Dubawnt River ends), and the delta of the aforementioned unnamed river that flows south through the Aqiliniq Hills from the headwaters of the Morse River. We spent five days dragging our canoes up the unnamed river, which to our delight held water (this was the only section of the for which we did not have logs to consult). Despite the physical difficulty of this uphill haul, made worse by the mild frostbite we all sustained from wading in frigid water for eight hours per day, the protection provided by the river’s steep and winding banks allowed for rare tree growth in the tundra, which made for a striking landscape that did not go unappreciated. We made nightly fires to dry our clothes and warm our bodies.
Two days of pothole-portaging then took us to the Morse River, which flows into Upper Garry Lake. Upper Gary, despite being several miles across, was also extremely shallow, and we had to portage to shore and across a peninsula to Garry Lake, which was deep enough to paddle. From the north shore of Garry, we spent a day portaging into Armark Lake, the last lake of the expedition. The following day, Day 51, we sailed across the lake and reached the Armark River, a rarely traveled river that would take us to the Arctic Ocean. The river proved highly technical, and we shot dozens of sets of difficult rapids each day. We reached the Armark delta on the Arctic Ocean just after noon on Day 57. We were picked up by floatplane the following day and flown to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, an Inuit hamlet on Victoria Island.
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