One Warm Line:
Coppermine River by Raft, from Rocknest Lake to the Arctic Ocean,
July 23rd to August 3rd, 2014
Fifteen intrepid souls embarked on an adventure to raft the wild Coppermine River through Canada's Northwest Territories and Nunavut to the Arctic Ocean. Here is our story set in historical context...
Like yesterday, we encountered a lot of flat water but occasionally hit some swifter water and smaller rapids with a little white water. The challenging aspect of the flat water was finding a channel with deeper water. Often we would find ourselves in but a few inches of water that requires us to step out of the rafts and push into deeper water. Again, every opportunity was seized to use the kickers to make up the time expended in getting though the first two daunting rapids earlier on.
Day Seven: Tuesday, July 29th – Rocky Defile Rapids
First up was Greg, as usual, around 6:30 a.m. Coffee was made and breakfast consisted of fresh fish sandwiches; Greg caught three pike earlier—one probably in the range of 6 pounds. Doug again did his magic in fileting them. We broke camp around 10:30.
As it says in the Book of Hesitations, "cleanliness is next to godliness..." Better late than never, Max.
Morning joes for Luke and Karl.
Over the course of the past couple of days we saw many bald eagles and golden eagles, in pairs or solo, always very curious about our colorful flotilla invading their summer territory. I saw a lone caribou charging up an embankment on the west side of the river. Doug and Carina, Dwight and Linda spotted a grizzly bear on the east side. As is typical, the bear reared up on its hind legs to get a better view. Greg and I wondered how many animals spotted us while we were completely unaware of their presence, likely a great number. So far we have not seen any muskox. It would have been a highlight of the trip to spot even one.
Sometime this day we figured Big Bend was passed, a point where the river takes a more distinct northerly course. I think we were all focused so much on spotting rocks and avoiding becoming grounded on mud flats we did not observe very closely the wider landscape and its distinctive features. We were always guessing where we might be on the Coppermine, trying to match the map with the shoreline, islands, bends and rapids of the actual river. This was not an easy task.
Having not seen again the canoeists and kayakers we met earlier, we don’t expect to see them from this point on. We have the advantage of the kickers to make better time that they ever could through the flat water.
Into the unknown, Doug, Carina, Michelle and Julia (sleeping amonst the cargo) lead us on.
Mid-afternoon, Greg and I noticed we were floating increasingly lower in the water. Soon we were up to or knees in water and the pontoons seemed rather spongy. Clearly, we were losing air, but why? We signaled to the others we had to go to shore to figure out what was the problem. As it turned out it was a leaky value and not a rip in the pontoon. We pumped up the floor, keel and pontoons and the air seemed to hold. We continued on.
Headwaters of Rocky Defile Rapids
(L-R): Dwight, Ben, Karl, Max, Luke (I guess the women folk are sleeping through the morning...)
Around 6:00 p.m. we arrived at the famed Rocky Defile Rapids and canyon, the first named rapid and what I regard as the most dramatic rapids on the Coppermine.
The first question to answer was whether or not it could be descended by raft or would we have to portage. All climbed the path to the top of the canyon wall to have a better look. After much discussion, everyone felt it could be traversed despite the rather ominous cairn at the peak of the canyon marking the drowning of Dave and Carol Jones in these rapids on August 14, 1972. Given the great volume of water rushing through the canyon, kickers could be used to control and steer the rafts. Some significant standing water on the west side would have to be avoided. In certain respects, these rapids seemed less daunting than the two rapids on Day Three and Day Five.
Carina, Linda and Michelle opted to walk the portage as this would lighten the rafts. I, too, opted for the path as I wanted to get photos of the rafts coming through the canyon. The rest of the crew hiked back to the beached rafts and started through. Some used the kickers and others decided to paddle. All went through quite well, though each raft took on significant water. Thankfully, no cargo was lost. The hikers and the rafters met at a beach area below the rapids on the east side of the river.
See Day 7.5 for photos of the rest of the day.
Nice legs, Nick. (Well, there goes his leg-modelling career...)
