Riverman:

I guess I need your email and your real name. ;-) I am using mine.

I am retired (early), so I have time. Where do you live?

So far I have researched the MacKenzie, the Horton, the Coppermine, the
Yellowknife, the Thelon, the Nahanni, the Porcupine (Alaska), the Slave,
and the Yukon. I am not saying that I am enthused about all of them,
each has it's merits and demerits. The Thelon could be the most
expensive, high floatplane costs. The Yukon is probably 80 days from
headwaters to the sea, I could not be gone that long. Some, such as the
Coppermine, are more technical than I would be comfortable with,
especially with a small group in a very remote area. The MacKenzie has
a lot of appeal, due to the history, and all the logistics could be done
with public transportation, especially with a folding canoe, so probably
the cheapest. Some of the rivers, such as the Nahanni and the
Yellowknife, are fly in, but you can drive to the takeout, so cheaper in
that sense.

Not sure what the best catastrophe plan is. The MacKenzie has enough
traffic you should be able to flag down a passing boat of some kind,
especially if you had some signaling device. The Horton is the other
way around, you might have to wait weeks for a search party. Thinking
about one's survival skills is probably critical.

Richard



riverman wrote:

"Richard Ferguson" wrote in message
...
For some reason, I have got it in my craw to canoe to the Arctic Ocean,
perhaps on the McKenzie or the Horton, the Yellowknife looks too
technical for my taste/experience. I have done a lot of research, I
have the McCreadie book, I even made up web pages for a half dozen
rivers with a summary of my research, including links to good trip
journals, etc.

What I am short is a willing partner for a month long trip. I used the
web pages as a sales tool for some of my friends who I thought might be
game. However, it is hard to find someone who can take off that much
time.


Hmm. Lets talk. I'm a teacher, so I have summers off. I've done from the
headwaters of the Snake to the Peel to the McKenzie...it was 2 weeks.
Logistics are managable, but its a pricey trip. You'd want to have two solo
canoes, I think, to carry gear and to enable you to get out in case of
catastrophe.

What rivers are you thinking of?

--riverman

"Richard Ferguson" wrote in message
...
. . .
So far I have researched the MacKenzie, the Horton, the Coppermine, the
Yellowknife, the Thelon, the Nahanni, the Porcupine (Alaska), the Slave,
and the Yukon. I am not saying that I am enthused about all of them,
each has it's merits and demerits.

Hmmm. Anyone up for a MacKenzie/Peel/Rat/Bell/Porcupine trip?

Just wondering,
Fred Klingener

How does that trip work? How many months? I am not familiar with the
Rat or the Bell, where are they?

Richard



Hmmm. Anyone up for a MacKenzie/Peel/Rat/Bell/Porcupine trip?

Just wondering,
Fred Klingener

"Richard Ferguson" wrote in message
...
How does that trip work? How many months? I am not familiar with the
Rat or the Bell, where are they?

That goes through the country traced by the original Hudson Bay Company
route into Alaska to Fort Yukon in the 1840s and was one of the very
low-success-rate routes to the Klondike 50 years later. Sooner or later,
most of it will be traced with a gas pipeline.

The Rat runs maybe 60 miles from the Peel (between Fort MacPherson and
Aklavik) up to the summit of the pass through the Richardson mountains -
only about 1000' feet above sea level, most of the gain in the 35 or so
miles between Destruction City and the summit. The books I have (more about
that later) say the trip up the Rat takes a minimum of ten days.

If I came down the MacKenzie, I'd certainly want to get a local guide to get
me around the delta.

The summit portages don't seem to be too excruciating - fractions of miles
between ponds and lakes over open country.

The trip on the Bell/Porcupine from Summit Lake on the Bell is 300 mile to
Old Crow, another 300 to Fort Yukon. There's no road to Fort Yukon, so
you'd probably continue on the Yukon to take-out at the pipeline crossing.
The

The route has a fair literature to it, some occasionally in print, some
other stuff readily available in the out-of-print or used sections of
powells, bn, or amazon. The most amazing book (still in print, I think)
tells of the most amazing traverse of the route by a pair of Victorian
ladies from England in 1926 - "The Ladies, the Gwich'in, and the Rat" by
Clara Vyvyan. Some of Eric Morse's books are available too, though I
haven't gotten around to tracking them down. Maybe a late Christmas present
for myself?

Cabin fever dreaming in Connecticut,
Fred Klingener

If the trip is well documented, how many weeks did previous parties take?

It sounds like there would be opportunities to take a wrong fork or
wrong turn, I would imagine that the maps are not that great in such an
uninhabited area.

There are some other interesting trips that involve portages between
drainages, I think some starting at yellowknife. Pretty amazing what
some of these people did in past centuries.

Richard



Fred Klingener wrote:

"Richard Ferguson" wrote in message
...
How does that trip work? How many months? I am not familiar with the
Rat or the Bell, where are they?

That goes through the country traced by the original Hudson Bay Company
route into Alaska to Fort Yukon in the 1840s and was one of the very
low-success-rate routes to the Klondike 50 years later. Sooner or later,
most of it will be traced with a gas pipeline.

The Rat runs maybe 60 miles from the Peel (between Fort MacPherson and
Aklavik) up to the summit of the pass through the Richardson mountains -
only about 1000' feet above sea level, most of the gain in the 35 or so
miles between Destruction City and the summit. The books I have (more about
that later) say the trip up the Rat takes a minimum of ten days.

If I came down the MacKenzie, I'd certainly want to get a local guide to get
me around the delta.

The summit portages don't seem to be too excruciating - fractions of miles
between ponds and lakes over open country.

The trip on the Bell/Porcupine from Summit Lake on the Bell is 300 mile to
Old Crow, another 300 to Fort Yukon. There's no road to Fort Yukon, so
you'd probably continue on the Yukon to take-out at the pipeline crossing.
The

The route has a fair literature to it, some occasionally in print, some
other stuff readily available in the out-of-print or used sections of
powells, bn, or amazon. The most amazing book (still in print, I think)
tells of the most amazing traverse of the route by a pair of Victorian
ladies from England in 1926 - "The Ladies, the Gwich'in, and the Rat" by
Clara Vyvyan. Some of Eric Morse's books are available too, though I
haven't gotten around to tracking them down. Maybe a late Christmas present
for myself?

Cabin fever dreaming in Connecticut,
Fred Klingener

"Richard Ferguson" wrote in message
...
If the [Rat/Bell/Porcupine] trip is well documented, how many weeks did
previous parties take?

The only book I have in front of me is the Vyvyan book I mentioned earlier.
Their itinerary went like this:

7-7-26 Aklavik - Water taxi up the Peel to Husky Channel, up the Husky
Channel to the Rat, up the Rat to first rapids at:
7-8-26 Destruction City - Up the Rat to:
7-18-26 Summit - Down Little Bell, Bell, Porcupine to:
7-21-26 Old Crow - Down Porcupine to
7-27-26 Fort Yukon

The two women trekked along the Rat while their two guides took the boat up
alongside. They paddled alone from the summit to Old Crow, where they
engaged another guide for the trip to FY.

From other reading, I conclude that this must be about the fastest you could
reasonably expect to make the trip, realizing that heavy rains at the pass
could make the Rat impassable for days at a time.

It sounds like there would be opportunities to take a wrong fork or
wrong turn, I would imagine that the maps are not that great in such an
uninhabited area.

Navigation among sloughs or forks is always more critical with uptripping.
My experience with Canadian maps though has been that they are great
GPS-friendly things - for me far easier to work with than the USGS
counterparts. I haven't seen maps of the Rat, but I would be surprised to
find they weren't great.

There are some other interesting trips that involve portages between
drainages, I think some starting at yellowknife. Pretty amazing what
some of these people did in past centuries.

For sure, and the amazing thing to me is that we're not talking about that
long ago. When my grandfather was a boy, when people wanted to get
somewhere in the North anyway, they either had to pole or line or track or
hire someone to do it for them. Now, anyone who traces any of those ancient
routes is considered crazy.

Fred Klingener

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 15:25:46 GMT, "Fred Klingener"
wrote:

"Richard Ferguson" wrote in message
...
If the [Rat/Bell/Porcupine] trip ....
realizing that heavy rains at the pass
could make the Rat impassable for days at a time.

Verlen Kruger ascended the Rat during high water. Anyone
considering the Rat portage really should make an effort to see the
Verlen movie before trying it. Tom McCloud