Uncharted ARCTIC CANYONS Expedition (E2) - 11 Day Solo Wilderness Camping & Packrafting
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 พ.ย. 2023
- An 11 day, solo, Arctic Packrafting and Hiking Expedition in Tuktut Nogait National Park, over 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, to paddle the dormant white water Hornaday Canyons from Uyarsivik Lake to the Arctic Ocean. This is the least visited National Park in North America, one of the most remote and isolated. In 2023, a single visitor permit was issued, and I was lucky enough to be the recipient. I worked and researched for over 2 years to put this trip together. I would traverse, chart, and paddle the Hornaday River through the Canyons, publish a map with the details needed for others to follow and visit this beautiful section of river. This section of river was first attempted in 1977 by Larry Osgood and team. They were successful in paddling a good portion of the canyons, portaging out of the canyons when needed. In July of 1999, the Beaudry Team, comprised of professional kayakers, became the first and only full descent of the Hornaday Canyons. No one has attempted it since.
For the Hornaday Canyon Map, Gear List, River History and relevant info for planning your trip to Tuktut Nogait and paddling the canyons: suluk46.com/arctic-canyons
Episode 2 covers my scout of the upper second canyon, and paddling pinball canyon before embarking on the first 600m class 3 rapid of the upper third canyon.
I would like to personally thank the people of Paulatuk for their extremely warm hospitality towards me. I was welcomed with open arms and cannot even begin to express how lovely everyone was. The Inuvialuit are a kind and caring community and I hope to go back and visit my friends again in the future.
FOR THOSE LOOKING TO PADDLE THE CANYONS:
Parks Canada will LIKELY not endorse your trip, since rescue capacity is very limited in Tuktut Nogait National Park due to it’s remote location, and an uncomplicated rescue could take up to 4 days. The park has no high angle rescue capacity in the North, so extraction from high walled canyons would require up to a week for a certified rescue team to arrive. Should you decide to continue with your trip plan, Parks Canada MAY advise you to obtain private rescue insurance, come fully prepared for self-rescue and emergencies, such as cold water submersion, hypothermia, and bear encounters. Be sure to carry equipment for a cold weather climate and extreme winds, first aid, and emergency beacon or satellite radio.
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Thanks for spreading the word about the dangers of squirrels! Their the number one cause of limb dismemberment and death in the northern hemisphere
That was f amazing, thnx for sharing!
Glad you liked it buddy. Enjoy the rest of the series!
Crazy footage of this place. Unreal man. That footage of the caribou was really cool. Awesome part 2 can’t wait for the rest of the series.
Happy you guys liked it. Everything about this trip was kind of insane, crazy animals, wild land formations. It's not even real. I'm going back in 2025. And next episode in 2 weeks, I make it to the big waterfall in it...
Man this is an awesome expedition- glad I found your channel!
Awesome. Glad you like it. The trip was pretty wild.
I held my breath watching the caribou struggling in the rapids. I’m so glad they made it out ok! Very tricky paddling in the slot canyon. You are very good at taking your time and making decisions focused on safety. Loving the series!
That caribou encounter was wild! Couldn't believe it happened. And yes, definitely have to be cautious when you are this far out and solo.
loved it.
Thanks Marty.
A great way to get out of your boat: place the shaft of the paddle behind you on the rim of the cockpit. One of the blades will be on the shore stabilizing you. The blade on shore is what holds you against the bank. It is your anchor. Now you can push down on the shaft and lift yourself up and out of your boat.
Fantastic video and trip! Rare to see a packraft video with exemplary paddling safety practices
Thanks! It was wild for sure. Gotta be careful out there, it's a pretty remote area so you have to be cautious.
Unbelievable man! What a trip, really well done again!
Thanks dude. I want to go back.
Absolutely unreal man. That water is incredible, It’d take everything in me not to guzzle it off the side of the boat😂
No need to filter water up there...I find the gopro actually tames the colour down a bit too.
exellent... I felt like I was paddling with you!
Glad you liked it man.
Of all the government reports sitting on a shelf collecting dust, I sure am glad that the 1999 trip report was safely kept by Parks Canada for 24 years! Caribous crossing rapids! What a sight.
I know right! When I first reached out to the park about paddling the canyons the ranger was like "I think some guys paddled the canyons a while ago, I remember seeing a report in the library, I'll scan it for you"....and that's how it all began.
Crazy caribou. I remember wondering why the mom decided to cross there, and then essentially cross back 5 minutes later. Right in the meat of the rapids.
@equalbones Well done Stevie. You captured everything perfectly.
Next one is even better.
Sick video dude ❤
Hope you liked it, got a few more episodes to go and it only gets better.
Phenomenal episode bud, shots are unmatched! 👏👏👏
Thanks man. Side note: I just subscribed to you, Dude...I need to learn some of your editing skills. Incredible!
@@Suluk46 thanks, but we all learn with each new video
Wonderful... You did such a great job putting it together. I loved watching every second of it!!! I can't help but think that perhaps if you hiked the Canyon Ridge and left the pack at home.. it would have been easier :) That being said... I would loved to paddle it!!
It's a long story, but the original plan was to hike the entire canyon ridge to scout the river from the Arctic Ocean down, and then go back and paddle it. That plan didn't work out so I brought eveything I needed for an all hiking trip, and an all paddling trip. Ended up being both!
@@Suluk46 Sounded like a great "first plan"... yet like all great adventures, they never go as planned. It appears to have turned into a spectacular adventure (Although I have only seen the first 2 episodes, I assume you didn't die :))
what a river! looks like a perfect amount of whitewater for packrafting. were there any fish in the river? and did you see any bears?
I'm not sure if there are any fish in the actual canyons, they are definitely upriver in the lake (Uyarsivik) I flew into and definitely closer to the Arctic Ocean as I ran into the D.F.O. doing some Artic Char research on on my last day. Water levels were low, but was fine. a tad rocky for my style. I saw a grizzly bear on day 8 or 9 in what is called the "Grizzly Corrdior", he checked me out and then went on his way. Once I finished paddling the canyons (on my day 10 of the trip), it is wildlife galore, Caribou all day every day, Bear, Wolves, and lots of ground squirrels.
@@Suluk46 wow, sounds amazing. really want to go there someday:D
This was great to watch. Are there any sections you would have done if you had a different type of kayak or another person with you? I recently started looking up packrafting and I can't get enough these videos. Thanks for the time you put into the filming and editing.
Nice to hear you enjoyed it. For me, I don't think a different boat would have mattered, although very skilled kayakers would easily run most of this river. If someone were with me for safety, I definitely would have run most of the rapids I walked, but that is mostly because of the holes. A packraft tends to stick very easily compared to a hard kayak, so that was one of the main reasons to walk alot of rapids. Then of course any that had too many obstacles to get pinned on was a concern that a hard kayak may not have. In the end, I was pretty happy with what I did. Hopefully someone uses my map one day to do another full descent of the river. It's an incredible place. And just so you know, nothing will make you smile more than a packraft 😁
@@Suluk46 thanks for the reply! I've subscribed to your channel. Look forward to exploring it.
Hope you all enjoyed Chapter 2 of the video series, covering days 5 and 6 of the trip.
1) For Gear List, Canyon Map, and other relevant info on this trip: suluk46.com/arctic-canyons
2) My boat is an Alpacka Gnarwhal packraft, with full white water rigging (thigh straps, backband, skirt) and my gear stores inside the inflated tubes
3) Want to know more details about this trip? th-cam.com/users/livezYne_egt3fQ?si=QJTUilwHig0XfgkB I was on the Canoehound Outdoor Adventure Show and did a 2 hour interview about this trip.
4) I walked many of the rapids I would typically run in Canyon 2. This is because you can't climb out of the canyon once you enter, although the wide angle of the gopro may make it look like you can. So if you lose your boat downriver, you are stuck. I highly doubt you could swim up river through the current, or ferry across the rapids without a boat, and I don't know if an inreach would even work inside it. Better to be safe.
Great video. Defiantly ballsy doing that much WW on your own. Sometimes it just has to be done I guess. I have a question about your PFD. What is that thing that looks like a tube on your left side chest? Are you wearing an inflatable PFD?
Yeah, you have to be really cautious in these places, especially when you are alone. I'm wearing a hybrid PFD, it's basically a blend of type 3 and type 5, essentially a white water PFD with an inflatable ring around my neck and back of head. That's why the spray skirt can't go under, it attaches around my thighs. To make a long story short, I wanted to have something that would keep my head above water if I was bonked on the head or stuck in a hole. The production version of it is way more refined.
What are your thoughts on the Gnarwal? Is it the packraft to get for expedition whitewater runs?
The Garwhal is awesome. A perfect big water, stable, and high floatation packraft with plenty of capacity. Less maneuverable and nimble than my wolverine, and certainly better equipped for high class rapids than my Refuge. I'm gonna give the wolverine a shot on this year's trips to see if the performance improvement is worth the smaller carrying capacity. So I guess it really depends on what you are looking for in a boat.
@@Suluk46 Thanks for the prompt reply! I am just now off the phone with Alpacka. It’s a lot of dough $$ but it looks like such an incredible back country tool to have in the quiver.