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HACC Odyssey to Ungava and Labrador
For many years the HACC was known for doing arduous trips that had a great historical connection. Then we changed focus a bit and branch out into our Onriver.Online series of routes that were straightforward down river journeys.
Now, with Labrador Odyssey 2001, we are ready to combine the two. Part of the reason we chose simpler trips was because of the technical demands of gathering and sending photos and stories using digital cameras, solar power and satellite phones. After two digital trips on the George and Winisk we feel comfortable to tackle a much tougher canoeing challenge.
And the Labrador Odyssey should give us that.
We begin the trip in Prince Edward Island at CJ'01, the giant Scouts Canada Jamboree. Our principal sponsor, Woods Canada, is an exhibitor there and we will do a final trip pack while speaking to the kids. This trip's crew includes three Peake brothers; Michael, Sean and Geoffrey and regulars Peter Scott, Peter Brewster and young, fresh-faced Andrew Macdonald.
We board an Air Labrador Twin Otter for a long charter north with gas stops at Natashquan on the North Shore and Goose Bay on the way to Nain. From Nain, where we stay overnight, we head north on a longliner and an overnight stay at a remote cabin to the abandoned mission of Hebron.
We will stop to visit this large wooden structure on the barren shores of Labrador assembled from pieces brought over in the 1820s by Moravian missionaries (the first Ikea?). The mission served the Inuit of the area right up until 1959 when the Newfoundland government of Joey Smallwood moved them south.
We will then take the boat a bit futher north around the steep cliffs before Saglek Fjord where we will begin paddling. Here the rugged and steep, 3 billion year old Torngat Mountains rise from the Labrador Sea. Following the coast north we turn west into huge Nachvak Fjord, one of the scenic wonder of the north, with its steep valley and many rivers entering.
At the end of Nachvak our work begins as we enter the outflow of the Palmer River and take the traditional route between Labrador and Ungava. Up the Palmer until we start to walk for up to 15 miles and over the height-of-land into Quebec and the Korok River which will drop 700 feet in 90 miles into Ungava Bay.
While this area is not rich in exploratory history there is one particular trip that many know about. For most people the Hubbard-Wallace journey to Ungava ended at the mouth of the George River. Here, Mina Hubbard, who showed up her rival Dillon Wallace by beating him to the coast departed southbound with Wallace in the steamer Pelican. But shortly after leaving, Wallace and partner Clifford Easton left the boat and headed to Kuujjuaq to wait for freezeup. That winter of 1906 they travelled up the Korok River and down the Palmer to Nachvak and then south down the coast with a dog team. We will reverse the process.
All of this info in available on our complete Web site at www.canoe.ca/labrador2001 .We will have the trip stories beginning July 10 and besides journal and photo submissions we will have video packages and QuickTime VR panoramas to offer - all done in the field. The site also has an extensive history on the areas we are travelling in plus complete canoe tripping info on our equipment, food and communications. The site was designed by Sean Peake, the HACC director of Research and now official Webmaster.
We hope you will join us and follow along - those of your who aren't paddling yourselves! Despite all the high-tech gear, the travel remains the same. You have to deal with the elements and harsh weather and haul everything by hand. That includes our one big change this trip. Given the vagaries of Labrador weather we though solar power would be risky. So that least coveted load on our long portage will be our 1000 watt generator!
This story first appeared in Che-Mun Outfit 105 in 2001.
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