Peqetuaz Hill, Aberdeen Lake - Illurjualik Narrows, Qamanaarjuk Lake
Distance 36 km [1095 km]
Portage 0 [20]
Very Fast Water 0 [40]
Rapids 0 [36]
We woke to another smoky white morning with limited distance vision. Once again our camp was very ‘buggy’, thousands of dead insects on the floor of the annex where there was a mosquito coil burning.
We are both tired and found it hard to get going with the pack up. Went for a walk around the point taking photographs of the ‘bulldozer effect’ of ice rafting.
Head wind but of no consequence and we made excellent time reaching the end of Aberdeen Lake and entering a very broad section of the Thelon River. On route we saw a young caribou which appeared unwell as she was lying down. We stopped to check her out and got within twenty metres of her before she moved away. On an island at the river entrance there were two large beautifully built Inukshuks, someone must have had a lot of time on their hands.
The caribou we thought might be ill, we know thet suffer terribly from the flies, just as we do
Prominent cairns on an island where the Thelon River leaves Aberdeen Lake
There were a number of these cairns, all carefully built, whether by canoeists or Inuit we have no idea
Rest stop, Thelon River below Aberdeen Lake
The river is very wide with little current but what wind there was died so paddling was not a problem. Just before turning into the Illurjualik Narrows we saw what appeared to be three canoes up ahead. We caught up and they were a group of six young women associated with an outward bound type camp in Minnesota. They had been canoeing the Hanbury and Thelon Rivers in the NWT and were due to finish in Baker Lake. It was great to see young women out testing themselves and enjoying it. They paddled on and we did not see them again.
We are camped on a beach in the narrows immediately before Qumanaarjuk Lake in what must be the ‘buggiest’ camp possible. Even in the tent with a mosquito coil burning they are continually harassing us. This evening a young caribou with a full rack of antlers walked past quite close to the tent.
The black flies just kept getting worse, initially when you step out of the canoe you are deluded into thinking it’s relatively bug free, but wait a few minutes and hoards of them appear out of nowhere!
Camp, Illurjualik Narrows, 1km west of Qamanaarjuk Lake, caribou have been walking on the sandy gravel behind the tent
NOTE
Inukshuks: Monuments made of unworked stones and used by the Inuit to indicate navigation or directional aids, to mark a place of respect, a food cache, or to indicate migration routes or where fish can be found. Now a days they are sometimes built by wildness canoeists to mark campsites.