- SwampyBayMap.jpg
Swampy Bay River.
- SwampyBay-1.jpg
Casades on the upper river.
Dave Brown photo. - SwampyBay-2.jpg
Caribou in the rapids.
This was the start of several
days in the middle of the herd.
Dave Brown photo. - SwampyBay-2-3.jpg
Caribou gathering at a crossing point.
We camped nearby. - SwampyBay-3-3.jpg
Caribou at dawn.
Dave Brown photo. - SwampyBay-4.jpg
Among the herd.
- SwampyBayTall-2.jpg
Wendy and Ann at the first canyon falls.
- SwampyBay-9.jpg
The portage around the first canyon.
Dave Brown photo. - SwampyBay-10-2.jpg
Portaging some ledges.
Dave Brown photo. - SwampyBayTall-1.jpg
A difficult put in.
Wendy Scott photo. - SwampyBayTall-3.jpg
Lake Trout.
Dave Brown photo. - SwampyBayTall-4.jpg
Big Lake Trout.
Ann Ingerson photo. - SwampyBay-13-2.jpg
Dawn on the lower river.
Dave Brown photo. - SwampyBay-11-2.jpg
Limestone Falls.
- SwampyBay-13.jpg
Manitou Gorge.
Al Stirt, Wendy Scott and Friends: Canoe Tripping in Northern Quebec and Labrador
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Swampy Bay River
In 1989 we paddled with Dave and Ann on the Swampy Bay River from Schefferville to Kuujjuaq. It was a
scenic and remote feeling trip. We ran into a few people at a fly-in fishing camp but saw no other canoeists.
The fishing for Brook Trout and Lake Trout was excellent.
On the fourth or fifth day out from Schefferville, Ann got up just before sunrise to start the breakfast fire. We heard the snapping of twigs in the bush and Annquietly said "caribou.” We were in the middle of the migrating herd. They were walking around our campsite and we had to slow down while padding the rapids because we didn't want to spook them. We saw thousands of caribou during the next several days while on the river and in camp. At one campsite, they walked right next to our tents all night long. We could hear the clicking of their anklebones as they walked.
We portaged two major canyons and numerous ledges and steep drops but also had miles of runnable rapids before the Swampy Bay spilled into the Caniapiscau River. After the junction of the Larch River we were on the Koksoak, which took us to Kuujjuaq and a flight back home. The canoes stayed in Kuujjuaq until early fall when they were shipped to Montreal on a freighter.