Canoe Journal Of the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories 400 Miles
N. Nahanni River to Tulita
July 2024
By: David H. Scott and Stormy
I had this trip planned for over a year and a half, fighting the physical battles trying to get well enough and strong enough to make the trip. With the decision being made no more solo trips, I asked Randy if he would like to go and he said yes. Over that period of time I had asked him multiple times if there was a reason he could think of why he couldn’t get across the Canadian border knowing some of his background and him telling some of his stories. Sure enough, he couldn’t get across the border. Rented a small U Haul truck and he returned to Bend and I kept going, knowing that the drive wasn’t going to be easy on me without some driving help and certainly the 1st time paddling a canoe wasn’t going to be easy on me solo either.
Taking a break some where in N Alberta on the way to the border into the NWT.
The drive wasn’t too hard on me, I stopped numerous times for Stormy and I to take a walk and rest in the back of the van and put my feet up. Obviously, it was the height of the tourist season, and there was a lot of traffic, until you get in to the norther part of Alberta. Once you cross into the NWT the traffic is very minimal.
On the fifth day we got to the ferry crossing on the Liard River that flows into the Mackenzie there and then once across the river it is only another 20 plus miles on to Ft. Simpson. As luck would have it, the Ferry blew the engine, so it was down. I called Rod and he said he had just heard that, and he would run his jet boat upriver and get me, the canoe and my gear. 3 hours later we are at his house.
Rod picking me up at the Liard Ferry Landing.
We set up a tent he had in the back yard. It was very warm so one had to wait for the sun to go down before you could go to bed. It made it hard on me because I take that dive/get fatigued about 3 or 4 and so made for a very long day for me.
Took a day to go thru my gear, eliminating a couple of things, got some supplies/food and we loaded up on the 2nd day and headed to the river. The plan was to go up to his cabin on the N. Nahanni and spend a couple of days. Then we would come back down to the Mackenzie and I would start the trip from there. I had done that section about 100 miles down river in 2022 so knew it well and anticipated smooth paddling.
This is the view looking down river from the Ft. Simpson put in.
Looking down river. Even though the river was low it is still a very big river.
Heading upriver on the N. Nahanni.
Rod’s cabin is about 40 miles upriver and this is in the bush for real.
There are also pictures of the trip in, within the 1st Journal of 2022.
Here is the woodshed I built in 2022 Rod got the roof on.
We didn’t do much but mow the grass around the cabin, used the weed eater and cleaned the place up. Spent 2 nights and headed down to the mouth on the 3rd morning sooner than later. The smoke had blown in from the fires with almost zero visibility going down river to the Mackenzie, but once we got to the Mackenzie the smoke was behind us.
Rod taking a picture of me just before he headed upriver to Ft. Simpson. Notice the smoke in the background at the top. That Butte is not very far away.
The beginning of my 1st canoe trip. Notice I secured the 2 canoe paddles together to make a kayak paddle. It increased the efficiency of the amount of distance paddled probably by 200%. Why is that? Because the paddles were in the water paddling not just one being tossed back and forth. Also notice I put a top to a spray paint can lid on the paddle to keep the water from coming into the canoe off the paddle.
Couldn’t have picked a more perfect day to start the trip.
Once again, this is a very big river.
Stormy has never had a problem relaxing on the water. Notice the cover I made for her, so she had shade and be out of the rain if it rained. Notice the In reach on the cover.
This is looking down river and this was the 1st indication that there was going to be a lot of wildfire smoke to contend with.
This was the beginning of fires and smoke for the next 300 plus or minus miles. I could even see the flames engulfing the trees.
For those of you who have read the Journal from the 2022 paddle from Hay River to Ft. Simpson and then on to the mouth of the Willow Lake River, this is where Rod came and picked me up in my van, ending the trip.
1st nights camp right on the bank. This is how I like to camp, out in the open so I have a 360-degree view, and the bears can easily see me if they are walking the bank in either direction and I can easily see them. The big umbrella the 1st couple of days was priceless, it was very hot.
This is a good time to expound on my initial experience paddling the canoe being my 1st time using a canoe to do a trip. I loved it. It was much easier to get in and out of than a kayak. And with some of the issues I am faced with, one of the biggest being my loss of muscle and strength that was a big deal. I felt safe, in control, easily maneuverable especially with the way I had the canoe paddles set up. Now I had paddled a canoe across East Lake many times using a kayak paddle I have used on all my trips, so I was confident of being in control of the canoe. Easy to set camp up and easy to break down. It was always a battle and tough on me the last few trips in the tandem kayak to get it unpacked and then packed up in the early mornings.
This is the way it was all the way to Tulita.
The sun coming up. It has always been a way of mine to be on the water just as the sun is coming up over the hills.
I can’t remember if this was the 2nd night or 3rd night’s camp.
On all my trips I would at the end of the days paddle, once camp was set up and we were secure I would do the days journal. On this trip that didn’t happen. I was tired from the drive, stressed from the smoke and unsettled because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to paddle the 700 miles left to Inuvik without a paddling partner. So, I never once got the lap top out and started the journal let alone do it daily.
Constant smoke. If you were in the middle of the river, you could barely see either side. If you were on one side of the river you couldn’t see the other side.
Wrigley boat ramp.
We were at the Wrigley boat ramp, the 1st Community down river from Ft. Simpson mid morning the 3rd day if I remember correctly. Rod had a friend there that he had asked to meet me and see if I could use some help. He was waiting for us when we got there. He said if I wanted him to, he would run me down river in his jet boat, he was going moose hunting for awhile that afternoon. It was about 70 miles if I remember correctly. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to paddle it for a day and a half or even 2 days, I was just tired of the smoke. So that is what we did, loaded up, one of his sons went with us and for a couple hundred dollars helping on gas we took off. I don’t know why I didn’t get any pictures. I didn’t even take pictures of the camp set up that night at the mouth of the Black River I think it was where he was going to try and spot a moose.
Another day of smoke.
I spotted a Wolf with her 2 pups. She saw me and took off and left the pups on the bank. One headed up the bank and got in some brush. This one was slow in moving.
This was the male sitting up on the bank watching us.
I paddled the 5th day for over 40 miles against a strong breeze. I should have just stopped and set up camp, but I have never done well sitting on the bank. Never. It got us to Tulita but I was tired and had over worked my shoulders. A clear indication of the amount of muscle and strength I have lost over the last two years.
Once we got to the boat ramp, I had to rest awhile and then took off walking to town. There was the Community campground just up the road and one of the Community workers was mowing the grass. He turned the mower off, and I said I was looking for a guy that Rod had texted me on my In reach to ask for and find. He was out of town. So, he took me to a guy named Bennie that owned an Oil Services Construction company. We found him at his house. We didn’t talk 5 minutes, and I never even really told him “My” story and he said take that truck right there, it is my wife’s, and she is gone and keep it if you need to.
Set up in the Community Campground.
As you can see it cleared up the next day and I contemplated heading down river.
But my upper body was sore. I knew the smoke was going to continue to be an issue. Bennie let me store the canoe in a woodshed and all the gear on a shelf up in one of his work shops. If I would have gone on down to Norman Wells no guarantees I was going to have a Bennie to make it easy to store everything safely.
It took 3 days to get a flight out of Tulita to Yellowknife. An1 ½ hour flight on North Wright Air. Debbie helped me get the right paperwork to them just in time for Stormy to fly with me in the plane. There was not one single mid to large dog kennel in the entire community for me to beg, borrow or buy. It was extremely stessful. I will never again not have the “paperwork” for her as a Service Dog with me physically and here is why. My laptop would not power up; therefore, I could not e-mail them the proper/new paperwork required. Debbie knew how to get into my email and sent it to them.
Once to Yellowknife I got a good hotel room and settled in. This was Thursday and couldn’t get a flight to Ft. Simpson to where the van was parked until Sunday AM. I got caught on my sleep, bought a new laptop from Staples. Found a computer repair place to transfer the data from the old to the new. Went to a great NWT museum and spent an afternoon. Walked a couple of hours to the Fire Station in Yellowknife and met some guys who new some of the Firemen who knew Rod and had been to his cabin with him in their own boats.
Once back to Ft. Simpson, Rod met me, we went and got the Van, the ferry was running. Went back to his place said our goodbyes and then headed South for the long drive back. Made the drive in 4 days. On the drive up I had worn my back brace the whole way. The last day’s drive was about 700 miles without enough stops. The back brace had caused some very significant swelling in my lower legs/ankles/feet. Brutal. It took 5 days for the swelling to dissipate. No swollen feet/ankles/legs on the drive south because I didn’t wear the back brace and stopped multiple times.
One of the good things to come out of stopping where I did in Tulita was Rod said if I wanted him to next year, him and a friend of his, would run his jet boat down river and they would meet me and whom ever the paddling partner ends up being in Tulita once we caught flights back out of Inuvik. We would go up the Bear River, which the mouth of it is right there at Tulita and go into the Great Bear Lake, the 3rd largest lake in the world and fish for the large lake trout, he has done it over the years several times before.
If it all works out that is what will happen.
