Chasing the early winter blues.I have done a lot of work on our July-August 2001 trip to Nueltin Lake which straddles the northern Manitoba/ SE corner of Nunavut Canada. I have posted a lot of new stuff to our web page : http://communities.msn.com/RichWendysAwayFromHomePage including maps, equipment and food lists, for this 50 day/250 miles trip. Originally I had hopes of continuing all the way down the Thlewiaza River to Hudson Bay, adding an additional 180 miles to our route. However, after all of our grizzly bear encounters last summer on the Hiukitak/Bathurst trip , I just didn't want to deal with Polar Bears on the lower Thlewiaza/ Hudson Bay Coast. We are getting a kevlar Mad River Lamoille, to replace our OT Disc 17.4, which would certainly have been a bit more "portageable", on the Thlewiaza rapids, but have chosen to scale back our trip to a " big water" lake trip, rather than combine it with a river trip involving multiple portages around rapids. Ah.. the usual compromise between grandiose dreams and reality-based practicalities I just finished reading "Ghosts of Cape Sabine" by Leonard Guttridge (about the 1881-84 Greeley expedition to set up a scientific research center at Fort Conger, Ellesmere Island , north of latitude 81 degrees, in what is now a Canadian Provincial Park.) Slightly more uplifting was "Weird and Tragic Shores (The Story of Charles Francis Hall) by Chauncey Loomis discussing an American explorer's "adventures" in Baffin and NW Greenland in the 1850-60 period. My wife Wendy, refuses to touch these sorts of books. While waiting for our float plane ride off of MacKay Lake NWT (August of 1999) she worried incessantly about what we would do if the plane failed to arrive at our take-out point. Actually, I hadn't given it much thought! The Cape Sabine book is a pretty sobering warning about what might happen if you "miss your ride home"! . Although it is set in an earlier time. We carry an EPIRB, which provides some reassurance, although the cost of a SAR out of the Barrens, does make you wonder at what desperate point you would choose to "blow the whistle"!! Last summer on Bathurst Inlet, our last meal (the absolute last food we had) consisted of powdered milk, crushed crackers, and cocoa, when our plane trip out was delayed 24 hours. ( We were at a deserted Inuit settlement, but still could have scrounged some food if we had set our minds to it.) So I have planned to bring even more "emergency" food, although the weight of it , seems to be excessive. The last 2 years on the Barrenground, has taught me the futility of expecting to supplement food by fishing. When you really need it, it isn't there . (The old joke about "If the fish don't bite, neither will you"). Anyway. if expedition planning is of any interest to you, take a look. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ See our canoe tripping website http://communities.msn.com/RichWendysAwayFromHomePage *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Dec 27 2000 - 15:35:31 PST
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