Does anyone have experience or advice with canoeing across partial frozen lakes? In a week we will be heading North to Yellowknife NT for a fly-in (July 7) to the Lockhart River system (MacKay-Aylmer Lakes) for a 5 week trip across and along the western portion of that drainage. Until last week the weather up there was unseasonably cool, and we may encounter areas to the East where the lake may still be partially frozen. Or areas where wind driven ice still persists against the south shore. This is a fairly leisurely trip (<200 miles over a 5 week span) , so my caution would be reinforced by patience too. Other than having read Jon Turk’s (Cold Oceans) exploits of "ice-kayaking" near Ellesmere Island in the Arctic archipelago, and some of the early explorers such as Richardson on the approach to the Coppermine River (and journey along the Arctic Coast in 1821) , I am rather clueless about the practical aspects and methods of crossing ice, with a canoe. We are using a 17’ Old Town, and have kevlar skid plates, and good ropes. For foot wear I usually use running shoes with good soles, and neoprene socks, figuring and "dunking" will be slightly less risky without heavy foot gear. (Not that 35F water would permit a lot of time to ponder the wisdom of foot wear). Any suggestions? *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 10:40 AM 6/19/99 -0600, Rich Dempsey wrote: >Does anyone have experience or advice with canoeing across partial frozen >lakes? > Two thoughts for you. First, in an older book -- can't remember the name, for some reason, getting old, I guess -- but it was something like The Compleat Guide to Wilderness Canoeing, by John West Davidson and James Rugge (now why did I remember that) there's a shore chapter about crossing spring ice. I don't know how far to trust these guys. Better advice comes from a guy that's crossed a lot of ice on the way to both Poles -- Will Steiger. Up until last month, he was running a web page for Land's End -- it's still up -- talking about various northern adventures. This url: http://beyond.landsend.com/steger/prev_journals.html?sid=0928316683030 will take you to the journal master page. Go to early February this year -- he and his wife spent the late winter and spring living in a tent on a small island in a Minnesota lake, during spring breakup. There's some good information there, but more towards April. Also, go back to about April of last year on the same master menu. Steiger and his wife basically walked across Lake Nipigon in Ontatio (around 100 miles) close to breakup, dragging a canoe. Lots of good stuff there that may be of help to you. Hope this helps. -- Wes *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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