NWT Canada Canoe trip Photo Gallery by Suze at pbase.com

NWT Canada Canoe trip

Our trip included the lower Anderson River, the lower Carnwath, Liverpool Bay, then up the Kugaluk River.
It was quite an adventure: a lot of different types of terrain: big and small rivers, deltas, coastal, sea ice (!), upriver over 135 miles (paddling and tracking-walking) as well as down. We put in as soon as we could after ice break-up, June 11th and went for 46 days. We saw numerous cabins of various sorts, but not a single person during the whole time, a record I don't expect to match during this lifetime. We saw grizzlies (4x; 8 bears), caribou, muskoxen, wolves, seals, a moose, beaver, muskrats, many peregrines and lovely tundra swans, plus LOTS of other engaging birds, from nesting through raising chicks.
Permafrost exposures. Wonderful wildflowers, and the berries were just starting to ripen as we left.
Hunting (2 ptarmigan and 2 geese) and a bit o' fishing (2). Hiking... the mysterious and raw Sherbert Hills with the strong smell of sulfur and beautiful colors. Mosquitos. More mosquitos. Cold days (34 degrees) and Hot days (80's)... and only on the last day did the black flies really come out.
And all with my best friend (plus). Not a bad deal.
What else? The very day our stove died, we found a fire grate.
The Universe is magic; enjoy it.

Crossing the Arctic Circle.jpg	Dall sheep by road; also lynx, fox, b-bear.jpg	Waiting for the ferry to open for season.jpg	MacKenzie River ice.jpg
Finally we arrive.jpg	We waited a week to fly in.jpg	Waiting for flooding river to recede.jpg	Our rte, R to L, yes maps DO match.jpg
How can the boat carry this much crap?!.jpg	River ice on the Anderson.jpg	Mud and ice, scarred banks.jpg	Cooking behind boat: wind break.jpg
No bugs yet. Ice-scarred island.jpg	More practice.jpg	Not too bad for second day.jpg	Wolf prints (saw many) and natural oil.jpg
Grizzy trx (saw many), men's size 7 boot.jpg	While I was walking for a break.jpg	Wolverine trx! Many tracks, no critters.jpg	More tracking; now Carnwath River.jpg
Nice do-rag, eh?.jpg	Watched them swim, cub dance on ice.jpg	I learned to track upriver.jpg	Native fish-hunt camp.jpg
Traps and snares.jpg	Tracking up Carnwath River.jpg	Nice weather to bivy out.jpg	Larry.jpg
Late night rainbow.jpg	This is the day we watched 3 wolves.jpg	Heading up the Carnwath.jpg	Lots of cutbanks, also landslides.jpg
Spent a week going upriver.jpg	Lupine, delightfully scented.jpg	Tracking is a form of ferrying.jpg	Hike in boreal/tiaga forest.jpg
Overlooking Wolverine River.jpg	One of many peregrines.jpg	Muskoxen! Arctic bison.jpg	Muskox; beautiful coats.jpg
sweet pea or vetch.jpg	Now heading down Anderson.jpg	Govt Water Survey cabin.jpg	Lifejacket still on for warmth!.jpg
Seagull nest, guarded by winged missiles.jpg	Ft. Anderson ruins.jpg	Checking out trappers' cabin.jpg	Ft. Anderson ruins site, 1800's.jpg
Cowering from the wind again.jpg	Solstice midnight sun.jpg	Hiking the Sherbert Hills.jpg	Overlooking the Anderson.jpg
HOT but have to dress for bugs, ugh.jpg	Mud coming out of Sherbert Hills.jpg	Sticky mud!.jpg	Acidic outflow from Sherbert Hills.jpg
Sherbert Hills, pervasive sulfur smell.jpg	Sulfuric acid clay-ifying sed. rock?.jpg	Calcite? Sulfuric terrain.jpg	In hopes of not losing all pack-carrying fitness.jpg
Interesting terrain, great to explore.jpg	veget clumps holding wind-scoured soil.jpg	We spent 4 nights in area, much hiking.jpg	Permafrost exposure above S. Hills.jpg
Sherbert Hills, Andeson River.jpg	Arctic veget above Sherbert Hills.jpg	Crazy colorful clay mud.jpg	Fascinating geology. Clay, not algae.jpg
Chemical alteration due to sulfuric acid.jpg	Where ice chunks were buried, melted.jpg	Larry the Popcorn Master.jpg	Beautiful colors and topography.jpg
I think I know why he took this shot.jpg	Old golden eagle nest in crags.jpg	Enough wind to blow bugs away!.jpg	Female, books say can raise chicks herself.jpg
Stalking the male ptarmigan.jpg	Wow, here he is. Thank-you, poor sweet bird.jpg	Here's the crop full of willow leaves.jpg	Preparing the ptarmigan.jpg
Ptarmigan and risotto.jpg	Yes, more of the amazing hills.jpg	Fun ridgewalk.jpg	Hydrogen sulfide smell in whole area.jpg
The colors were so wonderful.jpg	Hot buggy camp, ugh!.jpg	Got H2O from across river where not acidic.jpg	Rough-legged hawks nesting here.jpg
Mud camp! Wood Bay, river delta; tidal.jpg	One of many tundra swans.jpg	Our crew of two.jpg	Windbound here 2 days (4 days here).jpg
Canadian goose nest by Mud Camp.jpg	To overlook to check sea ice out in Bay.jpg	Krekovich Landing, multi-use hut.jpg	Cute little eggs!.jpg
Larry's driftwood bridge.jpg	Tied so wind can't take it; windbound at Mud Camp.jpg	Lupine, wind (clouds) keeping us off water.jpg	Fog and some rain, tent time.jpg
On the move again: boat ready for ocean.jpg	Tundra swans of which we saw many.jpg	Yea, a nice camp!.jpg	Much nicer camp, now on Wood Bay.jpg
Brants geese; first chicks of year.jpg	Cow caribou antler.jpg	Windbound again: waves.jpg	Peeing in the blessed bug toilet-net.jpg
SEA ICE! Liverpool Bay.jpg	Exposed permafrost.jpg	Summit pose on sea ice.jpg	Summit pose ice floe.jpg
ALWAYS on the move: mosquitos.jpg	Full mosquito season.jpg	We ate well.jpg	L out in Liverpool Bay while I walked.jpg
Me on photo, leg-stretch walk.jpg	Tundra polygons: permafrost effect.jpg	Liverpool Bay. At times much more pack ice.jpg	Taking bug-free break on ice floe.jpg
Ice breaks were the coolest!.jpg	(Gas can we found on beach).jpg	Sneaking through the floes.jpg	A seal popped up a few times to investigate.jpg
Glassy water.jpg	Chunks that had rafted onto each other.jpg	This day the ice was dense, moving with tide-current.jpg	For a while we had to steer among the floes.jpg
And once we had to thread the needle as a gap closed.jpg	Despite appearances, he's NOT fishing.jpg	I just loved the ice, some floes big.jpg	Dark sow, blonde cub, pipeline trash.jpg
Tundra swans among the floes.jpg	One of our great estuary camps, low tide.jpg	A bull in rare stillness (run from bugs).jpg	Delightful lupine, heinous bugs.jpg
Heat made bugs hell: bug shirts are HOT!.jpg	Five minutes later... this was NOT staged!.jpg	A novel type of bollard; I was psyched.jpg	Thank-godz for bug-free breaks.jpg
Just that VERY morning the stove had died.jpg	Shallow water as we scoped out camp area.jpg	Grateful for the Great Grate.jpg	Desperate to cool off; tide-stranded ice.jpg
Tides took ice fast, noisy-crushing, thru' narrows deep into estuary.jpg	Caught one on his first cast, then no more.jpg	Big sardine! Didn't know marine species.jpg	Another good meal by Larry.jpg
Night paddle to ride the tide.jpg	Riding the tide deep into the night.jpg	Arriving at camp 1 or 2am.jpg	cool sea foam.jpg
bigger view of the foam.jpg	Better maintained, multi-family subsistence camp.jpg	Looks like 3 families (whole family) come here.jpg	Years worth of native 'bou hunting.jpg
Fish drying racks, native seasonal camp.jpg	On a walk up estuary looking for fresh water.jpg	Wonderful cottongrass!.jpg	First camp in Kugaluk, still tidal.jpg
Can we make it up the Kugaluk River?.jpg	Rough-legged hawk chicks.jpg	Looking up Kugaluk.jpg	Didn't know if we'd be able to go all the way up.jpg
Fun to be back on a small river.jpg	Canadian gosling playing dead!.jpg	Ice damage along bank.jpg	More sedimentary outcrops.jpg
"Canyon" with no beaches for miles.jpg	Canadian geese raise families in groups.jpg	A wee bit o' whitewater (class 1.5).jpg	Tracking isn't easy without a gravel bar.jpg
Bald eagles nesting.jpg	Spent about 10 days on this river.jpg	More tracking up the Kugaluk, 400+' vert worth.jpg	Arrival at first lake, on to second.jpg
Final camp, on shore of lake.jpg	I caught this pike! My first fish.jpg	Back in the boreal forest, last camp.jpg	Nearby commercial hunting camp.jpg
A lot different than native subsistence camps.jpg	Attaching canoe to Cessna 185.jpg	Here's the route again.jpg

comment |

peterv		01-Jan-2010 18:00
greetings: floated the lower anderson summer '09 on a walk to paulatuk. stopped at the location shown as ft. anderson, and it's quite the interesting (bug infested) place. more research shows us ft anderson was on a bluff downriver, on the east side. am basing this on a book called "cold summer wind 2" , and an aerial photo off site about the eskimo curlew. i however, did not stop and look atop the bluff. thank you so much for the great pictures, they helped me plan that 5th, and finally successful, effort to walk inuvik to p-tuk. take care.

Bernard A. Bast		22-Jun-2009 00:41
I am interested in canoeing the Anderson R. in July 09, this summer. I plan to solo, roughly the lower 200 miles. I did a long section of the Horton some years ago, also solo. My understanding is that this river has limited whitewater. My age does does not encourage too much stress. Your thoughts will be appreciated.

Laura Stevens		28-May-2008 19:18
My hustband and I are hoping to canoe the Anderson this summer, at least the lower 200 miles or so. We would love to talk to you about it. Your pictures are wonderful. I am a lawyer in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Laura Stevens

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