The Elk River: The Rapids

After Damant Lake, the last of the large lakes on the Elk River, the descent off the Precambrian shield begins in earnest. The elevation at Damant Lake is 390 meters above sea level, and where the Elk River enters the Thelon River the elevation is 300 meters. In the 120 km, therefore, from Damant Lake to Granite Falls (where the two rivers meet),the drop in elevation is 90 meters or 295 feet! Forty meters of that drop occurs in the last 5 km. There was some serious white water paddling to be done.

For our group the rapids presented a particular challenge. None of us was prepared for the what lay ahead, least of all my travelling partners, whom as I have already stated had no white water experience. We agreed after the first set of rapids that we would scout everything and that if any one of us felt uneasy about running we would track or portage.

I have provided as good a description of the rapids as I could from my trip journal on the Wilderness Canoe Association website (http://www.myccr.com/canoedb/routeDetails.php?routeid=876). As the route description notes, there were a few days where river travel was quite difficult and we ended up walking the through the safe water close to shore, a technique called tracking. This was difficult for me because I am not the most agile guy around. All of us found these days strenuous given the amount of hiking we did to scout the river, and given the amount of lifting the fully loaded canoes.

The days of tracking were contrasted with days when we were able to paddle 30 or so km with little difficulty through easy rapids and swifts. By about the 9th day, however, we began to worry whether we would be able to make Warden's Grove, the end point of our trip on the Thelon, by August 30th. This created some pressure to push ourselves when we could and we envisioned having to work this hard for every inch of ground even when we reached the Thelon.


The Dump at the Narrows
The Elk started to get tricky very shortly after leaving Damant Lake. The day we left Damant we were successful in running the class I and the swifts and our confidence was given a boost.

On day two things got somewhat trickier. Taras and I were the first to attempt to run a class I+ set of rapids. We had scouted the rapids and had a pretty good idea of how to approach them with a slight shift to the right after which there was an easy draw to the left. All went according to plan for the first 100 meters; I was in the bow and was able to draw right around the first submerged boulder. As is typical of guys who haven't paddled together before in white water, there were communication problems which in very short order created havoc. Before we knew it, the water was pulling us onto an submerged boulder on our right. My attempted correction, - a draw to the left- without Taras working with me, meant that we broadsided the boulder and were dumped into the river for a 400 meter swim through fast current.

We managed to recover our gear, except for Taras' fishing rod and tackle. And after changing into dry clothes we set out again. Needless to say, we were far more cautious with the rest of the rapids and made sure we tied the gear in the canoes, something we had neglected to do up to this point. In looking back on the incident I made a mental note that it is necessary when canoeing with novices to fully review the role of stern and bow paddlers. People who have only done flat water canoeing are under the impression that steering of the canoe is the job of the sternsman. And in flat water this is the case. But in white water the bowsman often sees obstacles well in advance and acts to correct the course; the sternsman then acts to move the canoe sideways in the direction set from the bow.

Unexpected Guests
On the morning of July 20th, as we ate our breakfast, we were hailed from the river by a pair of paddlers. The canoe was well fitted with deck covers and a spray skirt. The canoeists were Rob Kesselring and his friend Peter. Rob and Peter were attempting to complete a 1400 km trip across the subarctic to Baker Lake. They had to end their trip at Beverley Lake - impressive none-the-less.


The Unmarked Rapids, and Then the Falls
The drop in the last 5 km of the Elk River is about 40 meters. The majority of this drop is through Granite Falls. There is, however, about 2 km of class III+ rapids that are not marked on the topo maps. We wisely pulled out of the river upon hearing the roar and chose to portage this set. It is my opinion that Bill Layman really underestimated this set of rapids in his write up and I am doubtful they could be run in an open canoe. Check them out for yourself below.




Granite Falls is really quite a spectacular piece of real estate. I has 8 or more steps and runs over pink and red granite through a narrow gorge. I have included the video of one of the last steps on this blog. After these falls the Elk joins the flow of the mighty Thelon.




Next: The mighty Thelon - river of fish

The Upper Elk River: The Big Lakes

The Upper Elk river is characterized by several large lakes, the largest being Vermette, Rennie and Damant. The first day out saw us paddling to the northern end of Rennie, stopping where the lake branches to the west and the east. Traversing the inlets and bays of the large lakes meant that we had to check and re-check our position on the topo maps. I was glad that I had pre-loaded the waypoints into my GPS before setting out, when we were in doubt a simple check was all we needed to stay on course.


Rapids Between the lakes
For the next two days we paddled east through Rennie Lake, picking up the Elk river at the narrows between Rennie Lake and Damant Lake. It was at this point that we encountered our first set of rapids; a set of class I and a few swifts. I learned here that my travel companions had little prior experience with white water. Skills that are needed to run rapids safely include being able to, execute special strokes (draw, pry, ferries etc.), "read" the water and wave action to predict the presence of rocks and execute canoe rescues in fast water. My new canoe mates did not have practice with these skills, or any training through courses. I made a note in my journey that, we would need to be careful through the rest of the fast water that we might encounter. Fortunately, the rapids we had just completed were not technical and we were able to make a successful run with the loaded canoes.

Damant Lake
Damant Lake proved to be more confusing than Rennie, given the abundance of bays and inlets. It took us two days to traverse this large lake and we were quite fortunate not to have encountered much by way of head wind. The weather was warm, mainly clear and only moderately windy. It was very fortunate, indeed, that the wind through Damant was at our back, not only were we pushed along with a 2.5 km/hr boost, but the wind kept the black flies at bay.

On both of the days on Damant Lake Nestor showed off his fishing prowess. By trolling the large lake on the first day he and Taras were able to catch a couple of nice sized lake trout for our dinners. Nestor and I caught arctic greyling on the second afternoon. These we caught in the rapids where the Elk river leaves Damant Lake's north shore.

Bird Life

One of the delights that I appreciated on the large lakes (and throughout the trip) was he abundance of bird life. Birds that we had identified in large numbers up to now included Harris Sparrows, Hooded Mergansers, Lapland Longspurs and Arctic and Common Terns and Thayers Gulls.

On our campsite at the north end of Damant we were treated throughout the evening and next morning to the alarm calls of a pair of nesting Whimbrels (a member of the curlew family).


Whimbrel Video



Next: The Elk River white water. (click to continue)

Elk and Thelon Rivers: A Brief History

Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan

Northern Saskatchewan has been the traditional home of the Denesuliné (pronounced as Den-a-sooth-leh-na). They have survived in this landscape for millennia by hunting the Beverly Lake caribou that make annual migrations to the north through the Thelon River watershed. Stony Rapids and Black Lake, are two communities where the present day descendants of the so-called Et-en-eldili-dene or "caribou-eaters" now live.

In 1893, the Tyrrell brothers (J. W, and J. B.) travelled through Stony Rapids and Black Lake from the eastern end of Lake Athabasca on their way north and onto the Dubawnt River, a tributary of the Thelon. An excellent account of this expedition can be found at the online book archives as an e-book. In his report to the Canadian government, following the earlier 1890 expedition J. W. Tyrrell recommended that the Thelon basin be "set aside... as a game preserve" to ensure the survival of the muskoxen in the region (Pelly, 1996 pp 28).




The Elk River

I was unable to gather information prior to our trip as to the European history of the Elk River. I was able to find a description of the Bill Layman's trip (undated), but not much else. Layman's description of the rapids was generally accurate, although I think his account underestimates the seriousness of the last set of rapids before Granite Falls. In general, his account did not seem to provide sufficient information by way of a river guide, so I did not think to take it with me. Re-reading it after the trip, I realize that there may have been a couple of places where his account may have been useful.

On the morning of July 13, Nestor, Taras, Roman and I shuttled our gear down to the dock and prepared to board the Twin Otter bound for the upper end of Vermette lake on the short stretch of river that flows into Rennie Lake. In surveying the maps in advance of the trip it was the expanse of open water on the lakes of the upper Elk that caught my attention. Looking at these large lakes, I envisioned being wind bound for long stretches as we negotiated the 60 to 90 km of flat water.

As we touched down on the river, the sand spit made an excellent landing place to unload our gear and prepare for the trip. The day was an omen for the weather we were about to encounter during the rest of our trip; it was bright and warm with a slight haze in the air form the forest fires of Northern Saskatchewan to the south. The black flies were out in large numbers as we set about the task of assembling the canoes that arrived with Tundra Tom on his Cessna 180.

Before we set out Tom gave us a briefing on the indigenous and European history, points of interest along the way, several rapids to watch for on the Thelon River and the general description of the Elk as a "Class III river". It was the last statement that concerned me, given that this was the first time I had heard the Elk river described this way. Layman had referred to the rapids as "easy", Tom was giving a whole new dimension to the nature of the trip on which we were about to embark.

Despite any reservations we may have had, we were eager to get started and so headed in a northerly direction to the a peninsula where the lake swings to the east. It was on this peninsula, where the lake narrows, that we made our first camp. We were in the vicinity where the Denesuliné would camp in family units waiting for the fall caribou migration. And there was ample evidence of past hunts to be seen in the abundance of caribou bones and antlers in the sand eskers.

Next: Travelling on the large lakes; of wind, lake trout, swifts and Class I rapids.

The Elk River: Getting There

Planning and executing a trip into remote areas takes a considerable amount of work to address the logistics of transport, equipment needs, and scheduling. Having completed this work on previous trips, for example the Nahanni River in 2007, I am grateful to Nestor Lewyckyj for his role in arranging the outfitting of canoes and air transport with the "legendary" Tundra Tom. (I have listed a number of recommendations at the end of this blog for those considering this trip concerning logistics).

My travel companions, Nestor Lewyckyj, Taras Gula and Roman Poluha have known each other since childhood and have trekked together on other occasions. One of the dynamics that played out on the trip was my need to adjust to a cohesive group with whom I did not share prior history. That being said, I felt welcomed from the outset and my travelling partners were generally agreeable and easy to get along with. The fact that we had all participated in the scouting movement provided a reference point for the ethics associated with camping and group cooperation.

We had arranged that I meet with the others in Winnipeg on July 10th and from there we would drive the 1800 kilometres to Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan. The guys picked me up at the Winnipeg airport at about noon on the 10th and we arrived at our destination in the mid afternoon of the 11th. It is interesting to note that the original end point for our journey was to be Points North Landing, SK some 200 km. south of Stony Rapids, but due to contractual difficulties between Tundra Tom and Tindi Air our plans were changed at the last minute. Our new carrier was to be Transwest Air. This change meant that we would have to drive an additional 200 km, taking us nearly 7 hours, over an extremely rough road, that a regular sedan would not have survived.

The trip from Winnipeg provided myself and my travel-mates an opportunity to get to know each other. We took turns being driver, co-pilot and backseat sleepers as we drove continuously for the thirty-something hours. This road trip became an adventure in its own right as we witnessed changes in the terrain, wildlife sightings and a forest fire in progress. The road trip was, in fact, a continuation of a much longer journey that Nestor, Taras and Roman had begun in Montreal on July 8th. Needless to say, we were all glad to have arrived at the Whitewater Inn and receive the hospitality of our hosts, Tim and Pearl.

Once we were settled in at the Whitewater Inn we learned that our flight onto the Elk River would be delayed a day due to unforeseen damage to the pontoon of the Twin Otter that would carry us. While somewhat concerning, given that it would mean one less day on the river, this delay allowed us to organize our gear and to rest after the road trip. We took the opportunity to explore the waterfront at Stony Rapids and take in the local scene. Given that Stony Rapids and the neighbouring community of Black Lake are dry and the fact that we had failed to buy beer or wine en route, were consigned to drinking Roman's whiskey in our rooms!

For access to my still pictures of the trip visit Elk River And Thelon Rivers pictures.




Recommendations Re: logistics

• Points North and Stony Rapids are excellent locations from which to launch your expedition into this region of the Northwest Territories, as they are served by an excellent air carrier in Transwest Air
• The difficulty in road travel to Stony Rapids can be avoided by taking a Transwest flight from Saskatoon, SK to Points North, SK
• Churchill River Canoe Outfitters can provide canoes and gear out of both Points North and Stony Rapids

Next: Brief History and the Trip begins
(click to continue)

Elk and Thelon Rivers

On Saturday I leave for a 3 week trip down the Elk River to where it meets the Thelon River at Granite falls. From there we will canoe down the Thelon to Warden's Grove just after the confluence with the Hanbury River.

I will be travelling with Nestor Nestor Lewyckyj, Taras Gula and Roman Poluha on what promises to be a terrific exploration of the Canadian subarctic. I hope to re-count the trip highlights from my journal once I return.

Anyone interested in tracking our progress can visit the link to our satellite beacon at after July 11 here.

Barry

The Rankin River

One of my favourite places to spend an afternoon in the canoe in spring is the Rankin River. The Rankin River comprises a chain of small lakes and marshland between Georgian Bay to the east and Lake Huron to the west. It is home for a variety of marshland inhabitants such as terns, marsh wrens, red wing black birds, great blue herons, bitterns, osprey, several species of ducks, Canada geese, muskrats and beaver. In the spring the place is a very busy with activity.

I had an opportunity today to watch a muskrat forage for food, seemingly unaware of my presence. I also watched a pair of osprey jealously guarding their nest of eggs.

Value of Education - Part two

A few weeks back I spoke about the value of education contrasting a skills based (vocational) versus a knowledge based (liberal studies) approach.

One of my colleagues provided me with an excellent article that recently appeared in "The Chronicle of Higher Education" on March 1. The article is worth a read and can be found here.

Diane Auer Jones has hit the nail on the head here!