Al Stirt, Wendy Scott and Friends: Canoe Tripping in Northern Quebec and Labrador

 

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Larch River

In 1993 we followed a route described by the geologist A.P. Low in 1898. He hired some First Nation guides to cross the Ungava Peninsula from the Hudson Bay coast to Ungava Bay.

We started in Kuujjuarapik and travelled up the coast to Richmond Gulf. We crossed the gulf and went up the Wiachouan River (now called the De Troyes) and then went from pond to pond to get to the Clearwater River. We ascended the Clearwater and travelled through Clearwater Lake and Seal Lake and then headed north to the height of land portage to the Larch River. We followed the Larch until it joined the Caniapiscau River, forming the Koksoak, and then went down the Koksoak to Kuujjuaq.

We brought a copy of A.P. Low's report with us and could compare our observations with the ones he made almost 100 years before. We had the luxury of accurate, highly detailed maps and a chance to talk with Rod Beebe, who had traveled on most of the route a few years before us.

The whole route was spectacular and very remote. There were traces of indigenous travelers in the old trails and tepee poles we found along the way. Once on the Larch, we ran into the caribou migration and saw thousands of animals in the river and on the land.

 We saw no one else for five weeks other than a few people at a fly-in fishing camp.

 

Play the slide show.