Recent content by wjmc

An old "home movie" of a canoe trip on the Coppermine River, from Obstruction Rapids to Coppermine (now Kugluktuk) in 1970. This was one of 2 trips in that year organized by Eric Morse (a dean of Canadian canoeing and a pioneer in Barrenlands recreational canoeing) to commemorate the...

Why guess? - when I hover over the photo with my cursor, I see "Dave Yost and Mike Galt.jpg".

As well as the Weaver River, the 6 portages route north from Nemibien Lake would also take you to the Churchill - in Trout Lake - and set you up to paddle the whitewater on the Churchill upstream from Missinipe. The area north of the Churchill and east of the road has been my favourite area for...

Regulation here...

Assuming sufficient connective tissue survives this ski season, I hope to continue my usual practice in 2025 - 3 weeks in the NWT in late June/July, and a week in northern Saskatchewan in September. Like Keeled Over, I rarely use my boats when not tripping. -wjmc

Thanks, and the same to you. But I'm hoping for several more months of good skiing before soft water time rolls around again. "to every thing, there is a season"

Yes. "Yes" because I'm too slow a typist to produce a logical and balanced reply like Brian (Cruiser). I have primarily used a double blade on my northern trips (2-3 weeks) for the past 33 years. I wish I had started using one earlier. I have a background in, and received instruction in, both...

Still using my 1999 Swift Raven, where transport considerations don't demand the PakCanoe. Last weighing by an airline was 58 lbs. Listed at 52 - I assume the glass patches and epoxy weighed more than the plastic I scraped off. I regard it as sort of a "prospector type", jack of all trades...

ppine wrote - "I really like Phillip Goodwin." Me too - I have a few Goodwin canoeing prints, inherited from a former family cabin my parents purchased in the 50s. Goodwin was a prolific commercial artist and illustrator as well. I believe he was a contemporary and friend of the well known...

Here is a short YouTube video from a solo Waterfound/ Fond du Lac trip in September of 2022. The paddler was a guide from CRCO in Missinipe. If you are considering flying in or out, note that "Wings over Kissising", not Osprey WIngs, is now the float operator at Points North. If you take out...

Not to be outdone by their American cousins . . . https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/second-wolf-bite-near-yellowknife-1.7345161 wjmc

Very nice, nicely filmed and loved the music. Experimented by watching this while doing my blood pressure monitoring - the video knocked it down 10 points. YouTube needs more videos like this. wjmc

You should also be able to find lots of youtube videos on all those rivers. When you say "Natla", do you mean "Natla / Keele"? - just the Natla would be a long and expensive journey for a short trip. What "whitewater" are you looking for? - I think there is quite a variance in the difficulty...

Agree with clemency. I occasionally take small cans of tuna / ham / chicken. I rinse - if you're canoeing there is water even if it is not potable - burn, crush, and put in the trash bag. No odour issues, no burnt plastic. -wjmc

From the Swift website (long ago): Cold Weather Care for Royalex Canoes with Wood Gunnels Both Royalex and wood will shrink as the temperature cools, however Royalex contracts at a much higher rate than wood. As the temperature reaches extreme cold (-20 Celsius and lower), this creates...