The dream began in late February 2007, when I picked up a book at an Inuit art shop. Already having a passion for canoeing and remote rivers, the epic journeys in Ernie Lyall’s An Arctic Man hijacked my thoughts.
It was years later that my brother and I finally set out on a five-week expedition on one of the most remote rivers in the world—the Kuujjua, a river that was located near many of Lyall’s adventures during his 65 years living with the Inuit people.
We wanted to experience a small part of what that life was like during Lyall’s time before climate change permanently changes the North. Well-versed in the history of exploration and hardship in the area, little did we know that we’d soon face an adventure of similar proportions to An Arctic Man.
The Kuujjua’s trout-choked waters flow west from the interior of Victoria Island and pour into the Beaufort Sea. After completing 220 river miles, our plan was to paddle 70 miles on the tempestuous ocean, finishing at the community of Ulukhaktok, NWT.
Thick lake ice remained despite a mid-July fly-in date. Low river levels meant starting our journey by dragging our heavily loaded, collapsible canoe for 18 miles—two full two days. We dragged until we wore holes in the bottom of our boat and our Achilles burned…
Read the rest of this story in the October digital edition of PADDLING Magazine, on our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it on your desktop here.
