Here's a website that is a log of a trip being done this year by some folks who met at the Scout Canoe Base.

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This group is going from Jasper Alberta to the MacKensie River delta in the Arctic.  It's a 120 day trip, covering several thousand miles.  Enjoy.  

I take my hat off to anyone braving the elements & the bugs above the 60th parallel!  

I was surprised to see 3 canoes of canoe-campers "passing through" (toward Hudson's Bay, I suppose) last week while I was up on Selwyn Lake.  A fairly intense thunderstorm flashed up on us quickly shortly after we saw them.  While our native guide was able to whisk us away in our Lund using our Honda 4 stroke 40, those paddlers had to deal with big lake wind & the hail & the waves on the spot.  I can tell you that the shoreline wouldn't offer much protection, either.  Those trees weren't very thick & couldn't have been much higher than 10 feet tall, on average (if that).  Also, protected bays were often few & far between.  My assessment: the elements are "in your face" at all times.  You need to take extraordinary care.  That's probably especially so for these Arctic river paddlers!  Anytime we got NEAR a river the bugs went WACKO!!

While staying at the Lodge (the only habitable place on that immense lake), I picked up a book about such canoeing.  It's entitled "Cold Summer Wind II" by Clayton Klein.  It's a follow-up book to - you guessed it - "Cold Summer Wind I".  So far it's a good read.  Despite the in-your-face elements, such tripping kind of caught my fancy... enough to "read" about it, anyway.  I might even consider taking a whack at it, if only I could figure a way to do it.  Logistics, money, & time requirement considerations are quite considerable, I'm sure.

There IS a stark & different kind of beauty about the landscape up there.  However, I don't see myself converting from being a Quetico paddler to an Arctic paddler anytime soon.

Thanks for sharing the link!

Jimbo   8)

~bump~

They made it!  They arrived on the shores of the Artic Ocean, in Tukatoyaktuk, on August 21.  The web site will be updated as time permits.  

BTT

I guess it's not for everybody, but I enjoyed it. Going again next year.

where did you go, and where are you going next season?

Coppermine next year.

Baillie/Back in '08. The trip report is in here a few pages down now. Lot of before trip posts, but the report is a few pages in too.

bump

Jackfish wrote on Jan 24^th, 2009 at 5:39pm:

bump

what does this mean?

thebutcher

thebutcher wrote on Jan 24^th, 2009 at 10:11pm:

Jackfish wrote on Jan 24th, 2009 at 5:39pm: bump what does this mean? thebutcher

Bump (Internet), raising a thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads
I didn't know either, being a computer moron, I had to Google it ;D

thebutcher wrote on Jan 24^th, 2009 at 10:11pm:

Jackfish wrote on Jan 24th, 2009 at 5:39pm: bump what does this mean? thebutcher

The poster is making a worthless post (i.e. "bump" or "BTT") in a thread in order to keep it at the top of the page. The poster is thereby trying to personally organize the whole forum by keeping threads of interest to them at the top. It's a filthy habit, IMO. Thankfully not very common here on QJ.

BTW, I have absolutely no problem bringing an old thread back to life. Just have something interesting to add or ask. Otherwise, let the old threads die and allow active discussions to remain at the top. It's the circle of life in a forum.

Ranger

I understand 'bump,' but why rename to 'deleted' if you want to bring it to the top?
Just curious...