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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...

One of my favorites - Lots of room for a soloist. No sign of previous human use. McArthur Lake, Taltson River, NWT Esker country, near treeline, is hard to beat for camping. -wjmc

As well as the single blade, I believe C-boat paddlers still kneel, rather than sitting? wjmc

I'm in agreement with jdeerfoot on the alders. And I'll add willows to the list.

Take this with a grain of salt, as all my northern experience has been on the other side of the Mackenzie Mountains, In the NWT. Allowing for personal preferences, your outfit looks a lot like mine. But I've mostly been packing for shield river, fairly portage intensive routes. If you are...

I believe the furthest north white Pelican colony is at Mountain Rapids on the Slave River in Alberta, just 3km south of Ft. Smith, NWT.

I ran across this "old school" -transcribed from VHS - video on YouTube. Perhaps because I'm old, I really enjoyed it. Paddling and portaging through beautiful, rugged country, rarely visited. The tandem paddlers - Alan, Dave, Ann, Wendy - were instrumental, years ago, in starting the...

I always did well with Mepps, like Paddling Pitt. Small for grayling, larger for trout. Maybe a five of diamonds for trout, or pike. These are not sophisticated fish. -wjmc

Access - at the moment, I don't believe Ft. Smith is feasible as an access point for the Thelon, assuming you are intending to use a "hard shell" canoe which would need to be carried externally on the aircraft. There is still a Loon Air in Ft. Smith, but it is now a small, one man charter...

Not to be morbid, but old graves are significant reminders that people once lived - and died - in country we now look upon as wilderness. Graves, adult and child, Roundrock Lake, NWT The Tlicho (Dogrib) Dene from the area north of Great Slave Lake make a point of visiting these old graves...

This old pickup truck marked the north end of the portage between Yen and Fishtrap lakes (just south of Great Bear Lake) in the NWT. Unexpected, as this is about 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the nearest road. It was a relic from the original ice road to the Echo Bay mine on Great Bear...

The old guy - 1999 Swift Raven in Royalite. Capacious, durable, all around boat for lakes and rivers. Not a whitewater boat by modern standards. Has survived many routes which lacked water. Here on Buchanan Lake, Saskatchewan. The new guy, 2023 PakCanoe 15 solo. I am impressed after its...