Wilderness Canoeing in Canada

Narrow Island to Pethei Peninsula

Distance: 34km – [cumulative total 197 km ]

InReach: Day 7 Head wind less Made 34km in big waves Wind finally dropped late arvo Saw much ice out in center Both of us had quick wash in lake – cold JK

Camp: 62.453°N 111.679°W

Awake early after surprisingly good night considering we had both dozed in the canoe for much of yesterday. On the water by 7.15 am paddling into a headwind and half metre swell, hard going, continuous paddling for hours as any pause just sends you backwards. The wind and the swell continued to build so the morning was a slog. Unfortunately the conditions made it impossible to take photo’s of the wonderful rugged coast. Mid morning we met two mature women from Yellowknife in single kayaks. They had been dropped off by plane the day before and were planning a leisurely ten days back. Lunch on a shale shingle beach. After lunch we could see ice out on the lake, this had the effect of moderating the swell and eventually the headwind also dropped even so every kilometre was hard won. Soon after lunch we entered a section of the Hearn Channel with very high rugged cliffs all along the north shore. Soon this was joined by the Pethei Peninsula several kilometres to the south, the peninsula has 400 – 500 metre sheer cliffs rising up from the water, spectacular. Finally, by late afternoon the wind and swell abated and we found a camp on the shore opposite the peninsula with amazing views of the high cliffs. As with most camp sites on this trip the tent, canoe and kitchen are a distance from each other making logistics difficult.

All day it had been cold on the water requiring us to rug up, however, it had been cloudless and sunny and I had managed to get burnt. The sun heated the rocks on shore and when you paddled near the shore you could feel the heat radiating across the cold water. Once we camped it was hot and very buggy and after we both took a lightening speed dip to wash we couldn’t wait to get into the tent with a mozzie coil. Tragedy for me though as when I was cleaning my teeth I lost a large filling and suspect the rest of the tooth will soon follow.