Arctic Canyons of Tuktut Nogait – 11 Day Solo Packrafting Expedition

[Steven Evans]

Companion forum thread to: Arctic Canyons of Tuktut Nogait – 11 Day Solo Packrafting Expedition

I went on a very special trip this year, an 11 day, solo, Arctic Packrafting and Hiking Expedition in Tuktut Nogait National Park. Easily one of the m

[Matthew / BPL]

Can’t watch the video right now but the overall appearance in the photos reminds me of Arizona or Utah. I would not have guessed this was in the Arctic.

[Steven Evans]

It very much has that vibe – basically arctic tundra for as far as you can see, then a huge cut in the earth where the canyon runs out to the ocean. Having lived in Southern Ontario (Canada) my whole life, the first time I went hiking in Zion and the Grand Canyon was mind blowing. I thought I was on Mars.

[Philip Tschersich]

Super cool. Wild area for sure.

[peter v]

awesome trip. and lordy, the effort to film it (ohh, the pain), yikes !

.. and thank you.

went and looked at the map, i don’t know how deadly accurate the thing is, but ..(old man memory incoming Alert) if you go around the north side of Rat Lake , there’s a very sweet OHV track from the final bluff on the west bank all the way into town.

your trip reads waaay better than that painter guy who got up there and went all poetic woosy over it.

funniest thing about that area is, ranger and peter are reviewing the route and ranger points out an area that is “granite”. well … goodie goodie for me (thinks dumbo), imagining some arctic form of stunning rock slab, rife with small ponds, gentle ridgelines, and glacier polish .. and promptly routes himself directly at the now-unavoidable center of it. ya .. well … two days of rock hopping later, and foolish lad finally gets his butt out of the “granite”.

and yes .. “hunting caribou” equates roughly to “shooting cows”. i will not begin to properly spell this very gracious man’s name, but i watched George Kanuktechuk of Paulatuk,  down and dress and entire animal, in about 20 minutes, and not get blood past the second knuckle of either hand.

then, he wrapped in a garbage bag and after finding a cardboard box (this, an UN-negotiable necessity according to wife Moriya (spelled correctly, mind you)) , he brings it home, and his lovely lady whacks it apart on the kitchen floor (hence, the box) with an axe. ya kind’a had to be there.

then Moriya boiled it, and many folks from town just walk in an fed themselves out of the pot. rather much later on (like, a couple of years), and fully 300 miles to the east, peter is a lunch guest at a duck hunting camp, and while praising a plate of the most Ambrosial tasting caribou ever created on earth, is relating his experiences of meeting the Kanuctechuks. the matron of the camp, who is know far and wide as really the alpha female of Kugluktuk, is honestly praising the character of George and Moriya. and then, being the leading female that she is, and knowing that i had eaten with them, asks in that knowingly sad motherly tone that Women Who Rule occasionally use asks .. “does she still … just .. Boil it ??”

great trip. and thank you for the little jog down memory lane .. eh?

v.

 

[Steven Evans]

Hi Peter,
No too many people have made it up there, sounds like you may have spent a decent amount of time in the area. That OHV trail north of Rat Lake you speak of is the one I took back into town from the mouth of the Hornaday River as it met the Arctic Ocean.  I think it’s about 15 miles long so took most of the day. The artist that painted up in the area was Cory Trépanier, sadly he passed away a while back. Watching the videos I took up there already brings back great memories and I am always interested to hear others story of their trip up to the area, so feel free to share.

[Author]

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