Willis,
Since you asked, here is a brief trip report on that trip a friend and I took in July-August 2010. We wanted to experience paddling the arctic and meeting the people that have lived there for generations. We chose the hamlet of Pond Inlet at the northern part of Baffin Island in eastern Canada as our starting point because it had scheduled flights AND was pretty far north. It is 430 miles above the Arctic Circle and near the eastern end of the Northwest Passage. We paddled folding kayaks (Feathercraft K-1 Expedition and my friend was in a Feathercraft Khatsalano, the wrong boat for him for a couple of reasons). Sorry, but canoes would have been the wrong boats for these waters which can get rough very quickly and had open water crossings. I actually practised rolling the fully loaded kayak which included deck gear and was surprised to find it rolled more easily loaded than empty! These kayaks travel well on planes and are tough as nails. We researched, planned and prepared for this trip for seven months. We were to spend 21 days out on the land paddling Eclipse Sound and west. We were each carrying about 200 lbs of food and gear. This may seem like a lot (it was!) but we needed winter gear, weapons and ammo (polar bear country) and four weeks of food which accounted for 60 lbs each ( I still lost 15 lbs in 21 days.) We had an extensive first aid kit, general repair kit, a dry bag of 10 small battery powered infrared motion detectors to set up an early warning perimeter around camp so we could sleep without standing watch (did you know the male polar bear is considered the largest land carnivore?), SAT phone, a SPOT to track our position for the entertainment of the folks back home. The ice broke up about a week before we flew up there so we had the opportunity to paddle in pack ice and see icebergs. I have a photo presentation in Picassa that I prepared for a few presentations I have given, all captioned, that pretty much tells the story. Here it is:
https://picasaweb.google.com/101178211036772879744/2010JulyBAFFINISLAND#
I'd go again in a minute!! It was great.
Enjoy
Dave
Since you asked, here is a brief trip report on that trip a friend and I took in July-August 2010. We wanted to experience paddling the arctic and meeting the people that have lived there for generations. We chose the hamlet of Pond Inlet at the northern part of Baffin Island in eastern Canada as our starting point because it had scheduled flights AND was pretty far north. It is 430 miles above the Arctic Circle and near the eastern end of the Northwest Passage. We paddled folding kayaks (Feathercraft K-1 Expedition and my friend was in a Feathercraft Khatsalano, the wrong boat for him for a couple of reasons). Sorry, but canoes would have been the wrong boats for these waters which can get rough very quickly and had open water crossings. I actually practised rolling the fully loaded kayak which included deck gear and was surprised to find it rolled more easily loaded than empty! These kayaks travel well on planes and are tough as nails. We researched, planned and prepared for this trip for seven months. We were to spend 21 days out on the land paddling Eclipse Sound and west. We were each carrying about 200 lbs of food and gear. This may seem like a lot (it was!) but we needed winter gear, weapons and ammo (polar bear country) and four weeks of food which accounted for 60 lbs each ( I still lost 15 lbs in 21 days.) We had an extensive first aid kit, general repair kit, a dry bag of 10 small battery powered infrared motion detectors to set up an early warning perimeter around camp so we could sleep without standing watch (did you know the male polar bear is considered the largest land carnivore?), SAT phone, a SPOT to track our position for the entertainment of the folks back home. The ice broke up about a week before we flew up there so we had the opportunity to paddle in pack ice and see icebergs. I have a photo presentation in Picassa that I prepared for a few presentations I have given, all captioned, that pretty much tells the story. Here it is:
https://picasaweb.google.com/101178211036772879744/2010JulyBAFFINISLAND#
I'd go again in a minute!! It was great.
Enjoy
Dave
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