Winter 2007 Vol. 34 No.4 Quarterly Journal of the Wilderness Canoe Association Bloody Falls Coppermine River Text and photos by Allan Jacobs Copyright: Allan E Jacobs, October 2007. All rights reserved. Overviews: Eric Morse: c c ••• the Coppermine ... is the ultimate - even Route: better than the Thelon. The rapids, scenery, game, and Parent River from the west end of Grenville Lake, through everything put it at the top of my list." (from November Rawalpindi and Parent Lakes to Redrock Lake, then the 1966 letter to Bob Matteson). Coppermine River to Kugluktuk on Coronation Gulf. Bob Matteson: "It has everything - history, clear water, miles and miles of exciting rapids, great fishing, no peo- Comment: ple, pure air, beautiful scenery, few portages, and few A technical version of this report (with for example UTMs bugs." for campsites and rapids) is available by emailing allan.ja- The source for both quotations is Matteson's trip report, [email protected]; it will be posted at http://www.myccr.com 1970. Canyon of Escape Rapids from downstream Summary river is tough enough to discourage the 3 sizes) worked well; the several An excellent trip, about half in the bar- many. We saw only six people; we heard hours spent installing and removing the renlands, at the top of the do-again list though that tourism was way down that seats, thwarts, etc saved us a lot of for some of us; it is moderately tough year (2002) after the events of the previ- money in getting the boats back to though and not recommended for a first ous autumn. Yellowknife. north-of-60 trip. We did almost no fishing (100% If you don't use Boyd as an outfitter, We found the rapids more difficult success rate); others report very good be careful (Che-Mun, Outfit 125, sum- than expected from the information fishing. mer 2006). available to us. Depending on what you run and the conditions, in our opinion the Dates: Weather: rapids are comparable to the rock garden We landed on Grenville Lake on 16 July Most days were sunny with temperatures below the Moose Ponds, and tougher 2002 and camped there that night; we in the lOs and 20s; it was cooler near the than those on the Bonnet Plume, reached Kugluktuk (527 km down- coast. We had only a little rain, only a Mara/Burnside, Kazan, Mountain, stream) in the morning of 5 August, for few cold days, and frost only one night; Thelon and Horton. 19 days on the water. we were windbound only one day. It We portaged five times. The ones seems that we lucked out; most other around Rocky Defile, Escape and People, boats and logistics: groups had it tougher, some much Bloody Falls are not easy; they are com- WCA group: Jayne Beardsmore and tougher. The norm seems to be several parable to the ones around the Burnside, Stephen Catlin (16' red), Linda Gordon cold, rainy days and several windbound. Thelon and Horton canyons, but shorter. and Allan Jacobs (17' green), and Enid The scenery was not as good as on the Weiner and Bob Bignell (18' blue), from Water level: Horton or the upper Thelon, better than Toronto, Flamborough and Mississauga; According to Phil on his 4th trip and on the Mara/Burnside. all three boats were Novacrafts, excellent Faruk on his 11th, both of whom we met We saw less wildlife than on the performers. on the Coppermine, the level was well Thelon, MaralBurnside, Back and Boyd Warner of Bathurst Arctic below normal. Records from 1967 Kazan. Developments ([email protected] through 2002 show that water was high- For me, the main attraction of the north. com, highly recommended) est in 2001 and lowest in 2002, a differ- Coppermine is the history; to appreciate arranged boats and logistics (flights from ence of 1.3 m [Source Faruk]. it though, one has to read Richardson's or Yellowknife to Grenville and from Both we (with very low water) and Franklin's journal. Kugluktuk to Yellowknife). Layman-Holland (with very high water) The isolation is well up the scale; the Boyd's idea to nest the boats (hence found it hard to recognize some rapids 2 NASTAWGAN WINTER 2007 from the reports; the water was danger- the lower Coppermine; not needed bug shirt; it should have a cover though, ously high (in the trees!) for the latter's on the Parent (where they are worse for rainy days. trip, so high that a group ahead of them than useless since they hinder get- Good ideas: paddling gloves and hand returned upstream after calling in to be ting in an out of the boats at drag cream (fingers crack); waterproof cam- flown out. time). era or case; folding plastic food pots The main point of these comments is Bugs: weren't as bad as on the Kazan (Pak-Bowls from Backpackers Pantry); that the rapids descriptions to follow may and Thelon, but "few bugs" seems inac- big carabiners; fungicide (feet got wet be dangerously inaccurate at different curate. and stayed wet too long); a saw (even if levels. Bug shirts: next to essential; head nets you plan to use stoves exclusively; if you There is supposed to be water-level are not so good but your group might need a tree as a pry, I assure you from ex- information that can be found at carry one as backup. perience that a Swiss army knife doesn't http://atlas.mcan.gc.ca/site/englishimaps/ Bug tent: the greatest idea since the cut it). 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 the Coronation Gulf outlet from Point Lake; from there, click on "Get Info from Map", but it's any- one's guess where you go from there to get historical information. Emergency Preparedness: There's no reason these days not to carry a satellite phone, a PLB or some such means of getting help. Do NOT carry an EPRIRB; see articles in Kanawa. There are only two places on the Parent/Coppermine where you can get help. Max Ward's place is on Redrock Lake (not occupied when we checked). Coppermine And, in case of emergency only (under- River standably if true, there's a rumour that the owner wants only paying guests), there's a camp on the south shore of Point Lake, about 25 krn upstream from Ward's place. Great Bear Lake Check with your outfitter, and maybe the RCMP, to try to find out whether other canoe parties are on, or will be on, the river at the same time. Comments on gear etc. Tent, pfd, sleeping bag, rain gear and clothing must all be of high quality. Boats: I'm not confident enough to use a wooden, Kevlar or aluminum boat on this river. PakCanoes would be great on the Coppermine but Mark Fels and Put-in- his group couldn't avoid damaging their Greneille Lake rentals on the Parent. Wet/dry suit: highly desirable, espe- r cially on the lower Coppermine; we N didn't dump there but would have felt un- comfortable not wearing one. Helmets: We didn't take them, but o lOOkm Mark Fels's group did. Spray skirts: almost essential on Coppermine Map NASTAWGAN WINTER 20073 Esker complex on the Parent Flashlight was not needed (16 July to Cleaning: It is an extremely sensitive Wisconsin, one tough group of pros, 5 August). area. We used no detergent; we used travelling fast (3 days to our 4 or so for Barrels: The big blue guys worked gravel and sand for cleaning pots except the same distance); two started at Rae great; olive barrels leaked, as did Seal occasionally we used biodegradable soap and the others at Mesa Lake; all did the 4 bags not properly closed. to cut grease (then rinsed thoroughly and mile portage to the Parent. Thanks for Bear protection: We carried pepper dumped away from river; I've heard hor- help with the pin. spray and bangers; we had access to a ror stories of people getting sick from in- Fishermen Faruk Ekich ("Flytying shotgun but voted not to bring it. gesting soap). We rinsed bodies in river Enhancements", [email protected]) from Cooking: We used wood mostly. The or sponge bathed, using bdg soap occa- Brampton and Bill Blatch from upper Parent and the Coppermine below sionally. Bordeaux. Thanks for tips on rapids and Escape are in the barrenlands but drift- Water filters: Some filtered (you're campsites. In Bob's words, they "were fly wood is usually available; we needed our crazy if you don't) and some didn't fisher aficionados, so despite being in- naphtha stoves at some sites. Next time I (you're crazy if you do); I haven't heard vited to cast a lure where they were fish- might take my Sierra stove. of anyone getting sick on the big north- ing I declined. They were the consum- Wayfinding: A pocket compass is not ern rivers. mate sport fishers and I didn't wish to of- reliable (the dip is large, the maps are old Waste: We covered poo and burned fend their ideals of what fishing should and the declination is changing rapidly). toilet paper. be. It is rare to see this "class" of fisher- The OPS was only occasionally useful. Again, better: men. They probably debate if fishing is Maps: We had 4 complete sets Carry longer ropes and a satellite an art or science!" (copies) of 1:50k topos (all NAD27).