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Spring 2017 Vol. 44 No. 1 Quarterly Journal of the Wilderness Canoe Association Lake Takijuq Back Door to the Hood River Story by Rob Dale Photos by Greg Konigshaus, Sara Gartlan, Rosemary Warren, Rob Dale The Hood River is the stuff of legends. In this vast tundra, the feldspar. A favourite river of both the late Bill Mason and the wildlife far outnumber the people. The muskox, an ice age sur - WCA’s late George Drought, and their writings help make the vivor, still thrive. The Caribou herds migrate hundreds of kilo - river iconic. meters during the short, but explosive summer. The midnight To reach the headwaters of the Hood, our group is taking sun casts an orange hue over the land throughout the night. As the scenic route. We will travel for a month on the Emile, a grand finale, the river tumbles over the spectacular Parent, Coppermine, and Fairly Lake Rivers. Cross Lake Wilberforce Falls and cuts through a 200-foot gorge of red Takijuq. Then resupply and spend 3 more weeks running the Hood River. All in all, it will be 50 days into camp life. For the next week, we The level gravel hills make for great on the land, spanning 3 watersheds…. travel upstream on the Emile River sys - camping and birding. Little sandpipers Some days are pure heaven. Some days tem. It’s mostly lake-hopping and dart up the beach by the canoes. Loons are tougher than boot camp. portaging. Occasionally we wade up are in a nearby pond. An arctic redpoll is Iva Kinclova, our organizer, has re - some swifts. perched on a lone black spruce. cruited both friends and strangers. Our This part of NWT is shield country. At the east end of the lake is an aban - common bond is the WCA and a strong We could squint our eyes and pretend it’s doned Dene hunt camp. By no means a desire to reach the tundra. Our crew for Temagami. However, the midnight sun is highlight, it’s mostly scraps of plywood part 1: Iva, Greg Konigshaus, Sara a clear giveaway we are north of 60. Sun- covered in scruffy willow bushes. This is Gartlan, Curt Gellerman, Lisa Goodman, bleached bones and caribou antlers are a the start of our first height-of-land and Rob Dale. Additions for part 2: common sight. The black spruce trees are portage with 2 days of lugging and haul - Hugh Westheuser, Silvain Plagnol and a little thin and the portage trails are ing to Grenville Lake. There is no clear Rosemary Warren. rough. trail. It’s a matter of wading through Finding a rusty kettle is cause for cel - thigh-high bushes. Today isn’t the day to Emile River ebration. Some rusty old metal confirms find zen in the wilderness. It’s a grueling Day 1 to 9: July1st, 2016 – From the we found the overgrown portage trail. We day of bootcamp, “I didn’t sign up for Air Tindi floatbase in Yellowknife, we are not just aimlessly wandering through this… wait… yes I did.” fly via Twin Otter to our starting point the bush. The reward is experiencing a land on Balser Lake. On our first afternoon On Mesa Lake, an eroded and frac - seen by so few. During our 50 day trip we we assemble the pakCanoes and settle tured esker creates a chain of islands. will not see another human. 2 NASTAWGAN SPRING 2017 Parent River Days 10 to 15: To break up the routine we change paddling partners every week. From Grenville Lake we are starting to transition out of the boreal forest and a vast horizon opens up. The lake is large and shallow. The blue sky dominates the view like a prairie sky. We set up camp and watch a massive thunderhead and rain storm drifts by in the distance. Its vector is a good distance from us, so it is safe entertainment. We just need a few extra rocks to hold down the group shel - ter as winds pick up. Under the midnight sun, I assumed my watch would be a useless item. However, in the early days of summer it’s hard to judge the time without it. A mid - night pee break or 6 am breakfast call has the same quality of light. To sleep without a mask and or toque over the eyes is not possible. We break camp extremely early and leave Rawalpindi Lake. With no wind, this large lake is unbelievably calm and glassy. Soon our first respite, the first downstream trickle at the headwaters of the Parent River. At this hour, the low sun is blinding. With one eye shut and other one desperately squinting, we blindly navigate the channel. Our respite on this little tundra river was short lived. 2016 will be the hottest year in arctic to date and the water levels are extremely low. Sections of river are Map Overview reduced to a boulder garden. Half of the rapids are unrunnable, forcing us to wade, line, and portage. few days we are on the main stream. velocity. We hit our dry line. The other rapids are fun class II-tech - I always assumed the Coppermine There are a few portages, but we nicals. The goal is to simply find any would be a good first-time arctic river. cover a great distance in a mere 3 days channel with enough water to float a boat It’s well documented and there are com - with the aid of a good current. An end - and avoid the pillow rocks concealed an mercial flights out of Kuglugtuk. Don’t less stretch of class II rapids brings us to inch below the surface. Keen eyes in the underestimate this river as a “first- the confluence of Fairy Lake River. Sara bow and decisive action is needed. timer”. It’s a high volume river. For and Iva are thrilled at the fishing in the Bystanders get a kick out of watching some, including myself, it was a shock to cobblestone shallows. The arctic grayling Lisa and me on this slalom course. There go from shallows and class II rapids of are jumping right and left going for the is often a barrage of “Left-left-left, more the Parent into the fast currents of the fly. LEFT” and other shouting. We’re de - Coppermine. scribed as an old married couple. The first two rapids are power chutes Fairy Lake River. with big wave trains. Runnable, but inti - Days 19 to 24: If you imagine a road Coppermine River mating. Iva points out our line. We must map, here is where we get off the high - Days 16 to 18: We join the Coppermine lace the canoe between the standing way and head up some lonely dirt road. River at Rocknest Lake and black spruce waves and the eddy line. The pakCanoe The next leg will be the most challeng - forests once again cover the land. For a flexes in the waves and races down with ing. It’s all upstream. NASTAWGAN SPRING 2017 3 I imagine only a handful of people have seen it and think: What would it be like to run? But it’s impossible to be to senti - mental. Under grey skies and bitter winds, this fortress of rock must be portaged. It’s a steep rise onto a rolling plateau and the winds are strong. Curt muscles through it. Iva and I choose to wait. We’ll haul the packs across, and we’ll get the canoe in the morning hop - ing the winds will calm…. But the arctic isn’t the safest place to make a bet. The wind increases overnight and our morn - ing chore to retrieve the canoe is ardu - ous. Day 24: The river valley opens up. We have entered the tundra and start stock - piling wood. It’s mostly gangly sun- Camped on a beautiful esker, Parent Lake bleached twigs and roots. Overlooking the final set of swifts, we get our first We portage 4km to bypass the long there is plenty of daylight. glance at Lake Takijuq and we cross stretch of rapids at the confluence. Like For the next few days the temperature paths with some young bulls. That grace - all big tasks, it has to be broken into drops. It’s time for balaclavas and extra ful stride is undoubtedly caribou. They small pieces. Our golden rule is in full layers. July 21 is a date I will never for - are lingering, as the big herds migrated effect: “Only Portage Your Gear”. It is get. We get a dusting of snow… 4 times. north weeks earlier. far too easy to lose or misplace gear in A northwest squall blows in with intense the dense scrub and black spruce. wind. On one instance, Iva and I were Lake Takijuq Honestly, I misplaced a red canoe for 10 paddling hard up a swift when the squall Days 25 to 28: This is my new favorite minutes. To my knowledge, there is no returned. I stopped paddling in the bow lake and months earlier I knew this actual portage trail, just a couple of to put on my rain coat, yet the canoe kept would be good. The contour lines on the game trails that braid, overlap and ran - moving forward. The gust was strong maps reveal impressive cliffs on the domly disappear. It takes 11 hour to enough to push us upstream while Iva Hinigaluk Peninsula. The ancient moun - complete the portage and we still need merely steered the canoe.

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