Thelon River, Northwest Territories & Nunavut (1993)

[Mason]

The big lakes on the Thelon can get pretty tedious, especially after spending six days on the larger Dubawnt Lake (81 miles long!). We entered the Thelon below Beverly Lake, but got to paddle the much larger Aberdeen Lake (61 miles). We only got windbound one day on Aberdeen--much of the rest was mirror smooth. PakCanoes are not known for their flatwater speed, so patience and perseverance was needed.

 

[ppine]

Great reporting Pitt. The allure of the North has always been irresistable.
Now it looks wide open, windy and foreboding. My time has passed.

 

[Kestrel]

What a wonderful trip and well-written report! I would love to read it again sometime and wonder if you have the entire report available as one report without the many interspersed comments?

 

[PaddlingPitt]

What a wonderful trip and well-written report! I would love to read it again sometime and wonder if you have the entire report available as one report without the many interspersed comments?

Kestrel,

Glad you enjoyed the report. I do have two versions of the entire report. One is a hard copy book that Kathleen and I published titled Three Seasons In The Wind - 950 Kilometres Down Northern Canada’s Thelon River. It has the complete story, but was published as a “print on demand“ book, which means that the paper quality did not support colour images. In fact, I was limited to a maximum of 15 B & W images in the text. I still have almost 100 mint copies in the basement.

I also converted our book to a PDF (ebook) with the same name, and posted it for sale on Lulu.com, for $4.95 CAN. Amazon has only used copies available, generally at exorbitant prices.

What’s your interest in wanting to read the story again, as one report? Are you planning to paddle the Thelon?

 

[Kestrel]

Kestrel,

Glad you enjoyed the report. I do have two versions of the entire report. One is a hard copy book that Kathleen and I published titled Three Seasons In The Wind - 950 Kilometres Down Northern Canada’s Thelon River. It has the complete story, but was published as a “print on demand“ book, which means that the paper quality did not support colour images. In fact, I was limited to a maximum of 15 B & W images in the text. I still have almost 100 mint copies in the basement.

I also converted our book to a PDF (ebook) with the same name, and posted it for sale on Lulu.com, for $4.95 CAN. Amazon has only used copies available, generally at exorbitant prices.

What’s your interest in wanting to read the story again, as one report? Are you planning to paddle the Thelon?

Thanks very much for the information! I loved reading about your trip and would like to read it again as one report without all the comments, more like a book, to see what I missed and to enjoy the trip again through your eyes. Sadly, we don't have plans to paddle the Thelon - too many health issues at this point in our lives. We paddle mostly short trips in the Adirondacks in New York State or Algonquin Provincial Park. Thanks again! I hope you have more wonderful trips in the works.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Kestel,

I infer that you would like me to send you a book. If so, please private message me for details.

Michael

 

[riverstrider]

I'd like to thank Kestrel for replying to this thread a few weeks back and bumping it up. Otherwise I may have missed out on reading one of the best trip reports I can remember! What an epic trip, with very good descriptions of what it is like to be living in nature instead of just with it. I have to say that it probably has turned me off of a Barren Lands trip...I find such wide-open landscapes unsettling. I guess I prefer forested trips with plenty of firewood. But I appreciate the depth of narrative that allowed me to experience it vicariously through your eyes. Thank you, Michael! I'll have to search for some more of your TR's.

-rs

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Michael! I'll have to search for some more of your TR's.

RS, Michael Pitt has posted many Canadian trip reports on this site, and they are all written with his elegant and addictive prose style. Just go into the Canadian Trip Reports forum. Then go to the search function, select to search in "this forum", and to search by the author "PaddlingPitt".

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Very glad that you enjoyed my trip report, riverstrider. After all, that’s why I post. I very much appreciate and welcome positive feedback.

Thanks, Glenn, for explaining how to somewhat easily find my other trip reports.

You are not alone, riverstrider, in declaring that you would not enjoy the wide open spaces of the Barren Grounds. Kathleen and I were a little apprehensive ourselves before our Thelon trip. We always enjoyed British Columbia campgrounds because they were so treed and private, compared to the much more open campgrounds in Alberta.

But Kathleen and I began our outdoor life together as backpackers in the mountains of British Columbia. We welcomed the long, uphill slogs to reach the alpine. That was our goal. That was where we wanted to be. The Barren Grounds are a huge, horizontal alpine. Indeed, vegetation classification systems often include “Alpine/Tundra.” The former is due to harsh high elevation conditions.. The latter is due to harsh arctic conditions. The two have many characteristics in common.

And, as Kathleen says, she likes being in the alpine and the Barrens, as opposed to dense forests, because it’s easier to see the grizzly bears coming.