Let's just say that it all started with an idea... Guillaume got this idea in my head a while ago and it made its way inside my head. Since my trip into the Grand Canyon in January my paddling focus shifted from river running, creeking and playboating to Expedition paddling. The lifestyle provided by expeditions is as simple as it gets. Sleep, eat, paddle and start over!
The Ford River is located in Nunavik, above the 56th parallel, but it might has well be in Russia. It is as expensive and complicated to get to this region than getting to Siberia. After weeks of planning and sorting out the detailed logistics, we set out to Kuujjuaq and then to the Fords River put in. Every expedition is the same, until you are not on the water, it’s always a puzzle to get everything in place, but once all the pieces are together, the sense of relief is so good!
So here is a day to day report of our trip. This expedition will also be featured in Kayak Session in the near future.
Departure
So, after flying from Montréal to Kuujjuaq, Adam and I met up with Guillaume who had just returned from a guiding trip on the Koroc. The first afternoon was spent exploding our gear and sorting what was necessary and what wasn’t. After a solid 2 hours of packing, the boats were loaded and we were off to the floatplane base just outside of Kuujjuaq on Stewart Lake. We set up camp in a cabin lent to us by Serge from Johnny May Air Charter. We settled in for the night in the mosquito filled cabin, after an hour of mosquito slapping, we resorted to sleeping with our bug nets on!
DAY 1
After a short sleepless night we got up and rallied to the floatplane dock. We had to delay the flight a bit due to satellite phone issues. After many phone calls, we decided that this piece of equipment wasn’t that necessary and finally boarded the Turbo Otter for an hour long flight. The flight was planned in such manner that we could fly over the Ford River on our way in. Anxiety was pretty high because we didn’t know what to expect from this unknown river beside the information from a local Inuit who claimed that it was filled with rapids! As we flew over the river the stress level dropped as we discovered a good flow and plenty of runnable rapids with some other major drops.
After an hour, we finally landed on Ford Lake, the headwaters of the Ford’s North fork. We knew that a side creek was coming out of some other lake at this location and we found the goods. After landing and unloading, we hiked to find some awesome looking sets of rapids and tons of blueberries and mushrooms! We set up the camp and hiked the boats up to the top of the creek section. The first two drops were good to go and the two last ones a bit too manky for our expedition’s standards. So, we lapped the first two drops all afternoon. When we were finally satisfied we headed down to the last drop and did a little fishing. We soon had our diner and headed to the beach for some cooking. After a great meal and little hick up the local summit, we settled in first the night. Just a quick dash through my tent door got at least 30 mosquitos inside. So, after a mass murder of mosquitos, I could finally sleep tight.
DAY 2
We woke up to a semi-clouded sky and had a quick breakfast due to the mosquitos. After packing, we started the long journey through the 2 lakes we had to cross before getting to the river itself. Half a day got us to the second lake discharge through a series of small R2 rapids and rock garden. We finally got to the first big obstacle. The river was split by a rocky island with a solid class 4-5 on river left and a lean rocky pass to the right. We decided to call it a day and enjoy the sun.
Just after deciding of a camp location, we spotted a bear on the river’s left bank. We ran over to take pictures and try to get him has close as possible to the other shore. It turned out that this particular bear was quite curious and not being able to smell us but see us encouraged it to sit and stare at us like we were from another planet. We used the rest of the afternoon to fish and recharge the batteries under the sun.
DAY 3
I woke up under the sun this morning and since it was still early, decided that a little fish could be good in our scrambled eggs. So I went fishing, 20 minutes did the job and I got back with two nice speckle trouts. After that filling breakfast, we packed up and started our day on the water. At our first scout we eddied on river left and headed down stream. Everything was well until Adam called for us: “Guys the boats!” Our friend the bear was back and slowly making its way to our boats. We dashed back towards our kayaks fearing that the bear was interested in the food under our hulls. When we got there the bear was less then 5 meters away and the rocks we were throwing at it didn’t seem to do the trick. It actually took two bear bags (exploding fireworks) to scare him away.
We continued our way down stream quickly through good class 3-4 rapids. We reached a spotted we the river was divided in 3 channels and we ran all the possible lines before continuing. We finally reached the crux of the river that we had spotted from the plane. It turned out to be a 75m long slide with a huge hole at the bottom, after which the river was flowing directly into a wall! Even if the slide itself was looking really nice and fun, the nasty hole/wall pillow discouraged us from running the line. We opted for a portage on river left along the rocky outcrop. We ran a little section of class 3 before reaching a second set of slides with 4 consecutive drops all backed by nasty holes with almost no pools between them. Again we opted on portaging but this time on river right.
Half way through the portage we spotted a nice camp area along the slab and putted up our tents. This place was paradise! Sunny, big whitewater, swimming pound and great artic char fishing. We enjoyed a good afternoon and went to bed after another glorious sunset with our bellies filled with fish and Arpik berries (cloudberries).
DAY 4
We woke up under the rain... Instead of a lazy morning fishing and cooking eggs, we got dress for river in our tents and had breakfast under the tent. After packing our wet gear, we started by running the chicken line of the last slide. This day was amazing as for river, not for weather. Shitty rain made it hard/impossible to take stills with my camera so we dashed down the river pretty fast. We got to a good slide set with numerous lines to be run. We elected to stop on river right and gave the first drop a go.
After seeing both Adam (caught by a nasty hole at the bottom) and Guillaume being deported off line, I chose a more conservative line. We then got to the second drop. The main line seemed too narrow and pushy so the boys ran a river right smaller line. Guillaume’s run was really good and then Adam got down. Everything was perfect until he rode an underestimated wave directly into a pretty dynamic hidden hole. The colour of the water sometimes makes it hard to see certain river features. He was in for a good 35 second beat down with numerous ends and a final back flip, all of that with a 80 lbs boat!
After paddling a somewhat long flat section with a face wind we settled on a beach campsite. Again the sun greeted us for the end of the day. Time was spent drying the wet gear, charging batteries and trying to catch some fish. The spot wasn’t the best for fishing so we only ate our dried dinners and we to bed to a cold night.
DAY 5
We again woke up under the rain, so we ate and packed quickly. The day was cold and foggy as we launched in the river. Fortunately we were granted with a nice stretch of almost none stop class 2-3-4 read and run rapids all the way to the end of the Ford. After only an hour and a half of paddling we were in the Georges River, the end of our journey...
We paddled to the end of Helens Falls rapid and found a huge beach for camping. After walking 1km upstream to scout this large volume river rapid, we headed back to our boats and pitched the tents. Since, we were tired and the weather was still pretty wet, we all spent the afternoon napping and reading in our tents. Again, the sun came out at diner time and gave us yet another beautiful sunset. We then went back to sleep, but the cold and lack of fatigue made for a long night.
DAY 6
That morning, we headed up the portage trail to the top of Helens Falls. After scouting the right line, we elected not to run it. Too may moves and too many big holes were in the way. So, we decided to fire up the 15 feet waterfall besides it. We ran it over 5 times each and enjoyed the sun. After a good and satisfying session, we headed downstream, running the left lines. We reached the second ledge and found a thigh line between two holes at the top and practically no time to make a ferry to avoid to other holes at the bottom. Guillaume felt lucky and went for it. He stuck the line and claimed it!
When we reached the bottom, through a series of amazing wave trains and the boys from Kangiqsualujjuaq were waiting at the bottom of the rapid in their fishing boats. After, some quick presentation, we helped them set up camp until Adam found a porcupine! I thought it was pretty cute and gave it a good photo shoot. That’s until the guys saw it and came running with their iphone and ipads taking pictures. Up until now it was ok, but I didn’t expect the end of the encounter… Jaiku clubbed it and proceeded to skin it and cut it in quarters. So after some boiling and seasoning we ate a pretty good meal!
This marks the END of the first part of our trip. The Ford River is done and it seems to be a good candidate for guided trips. With 5-6 days of cool rapids and amazing scenery, this river would be perfect for tourists with little time and good budgets!!!!
The second part of our trip will be coming soon, filled with rafting, kayak lessons, a second first descent and other adventures!
