Our journey took us through a great variety of landscapes and conditions and although at no point is it supremely demanding, the sheer scale of the trip required careful planning.

Maps are absolutely essential. We used the 1:250,000 scale maps and found them completely adequate. It might be wise to have 1:50,000 scale maps for the delta areas, which can be very confusing.

The canoe is the most expensive piece of equipment and should be chosen carefully. I paddled an open solo canoe, 16 feet long with a beam of 26 inches. Constructed in fiberglass, I found it very good. It’s important to check the seating arrangements carefully; after all, a person is in it for over eight hours a day.

I found a nylon spray cover to be a very handy piece of equipment because it kept the packs dry during the frequent rainstorms and more than once kept me from swamping.

I used a laminated spruce bent shaft paddle with a length of about 51” and a blade area of about 160 sq. inches. I carried one spare bent shaft paddle and one double-bladed kayak paddle. I much preferred the single blade.

Four nylon packs and a Kelty pack frame carried my gear. The packs measured approximately 25x18x12 and opened at the top. They were not completely waterproof, and I relied on garbage bag liners to keep the contents dry. For portaging I strapped the packs to my pack frame. This arrangement worked very well, and I could carry very heavy loads with ease. Usually three of the packs were crammed with food and the other one with the rest of my equipment.

My cooking equipment consisted of:

  • 1 1/12 quart saucepan
  • 1 ten-inch frying pan (cast iron)
  • 1 spoon
  • 1 fork (quickly lost)
  • 2 cups
  • 2 small Tupperware containers
  • 1 coffeepot
  • 1 optimus Mini-oven (marvelous invention)
  • 1 MSR stove (rarely used)

Food is the most talked about, griped about, argued about item on a long-distance wilderness trip. For breakfast my staple was cooked oatmeal made with my recipe. I used approximately equal quantities of oatmeal and dried fruit added to boiling, salted water. When cooked I added a liberal dose of sugar or honey, fresh fruit in season, and drowned it in powdered milk (the stuff with cream is vastly superior). A cup of hot chocolate was almost always included in the menu. Hot chocolate made with mint tea instead of hot water makes a super beverage. Some mornings, pancakes and maple syrup were on the menu. Granola and cream of wheat (I hated it by the end of the trip) added variety.

For lunch crackers and bannock with peanut butter, jelly, and honey were standard fare. We usually stopped to eat lunch and often built a fire to cook a pot of soup. Chocolate bars, candy, granola bars, dried fruit, nuts, and other munchies rounded out the lunch menu.

I enjoyed the widest variety of food for supper. One of my favorite items was pizza. Ordinary pizza mixes cooked very nicely in the Mini-oven. Spaghetti was very good also, especially with a good sauce. Rice was a frequent menu item either with gravy or as a side dish for a big fillet of fish, which were a big part of our diet at certain points of the trip. Usually we would fry them, but we also attempted to roast them over the fire on a stick several times, without too much success. Lentils, chickpeas, and beans made good additions to a meal but took too long to cook. Macaroni is said by some folks to be edible, but I have my doubts. Mashed potatoes, oriental noodles, soup, and vegetables filled in the corners of a meal.

Drinking a good hot cup of tea after a long day was often the last thing we did before going to bed.

On a long trip, often one begins to crave sweets. For deserts I had pudding mixed, Jell-O mixes, cakes, brownies, cookies, fig bars, and lots of sugar to put in bannock.Edit

Clothing

The main purpose of clothing in the wilderness is to keep a person warm and protected without restricting movement. Looks are less important. My clothing list looked like this:

  • 3 pairs wool socks
  • 2 pairs cotton socks
  • 1 pair long underwear (wool)
  • 3 underwear
  • 2 blue jeans
  • 1 cotton T-shirt (worn almost constantly)
  • 2 wool shirts (one very thick)
  • 1 down jacket (a rarely used luxury)
  • 1 rain suit (pants and jacket)
  • 1 wool mitts (very nice on cold moorings)
  • 1 pair leather gloves (good when lining)
  • 1 wool hat (never on my head once)
  • 1 felt crusher hat (never off my head)
  • 1 pair tennis shoes
  • 1 pair hiking boots

We had a four-man tent for much of the trip. It was big enough for three people easily, but still, given the same trip to do over again, I would be tempted to take one tent for each person.

For sleeping gear I had a Frostline down sleeping bag with shredded foam insulation in the bottom. It is undoubtedly the most comfortable bag I have ever slept in. A full-length 3/8-inch blue foam pad added to the comfort.Edit

Other essential equipment included

  • Compass (and the knowledge to use it)
  • Water bottles (bleach bottles or plastic pop bottles work well)
  • Knife
  • Axe (very handy on wet mornings to get that fire going)
  • Saw
  • Rope (enough to line a canoe and hang food away from bears)
  • Toilet paper
  • Matches (store them in several waterproof containers)
  • Bick lighter (I rarely used matches since the lighters werequicker and more efficient.) Flashlight (superfluous in the Arctic in summer)
  • Head net
  • Mosquito repellent (high percentage of active ingredients)
  • Note book and pens
  • Candles
  • Fishing gear
  • Gun (very optional – we carried a shotgun loaded with slugs)
  • Soap
  • Washcloth (only if you want to be clean)Edit

Survival Kit

  • Matches
  • Needle and thread
  • Tinfoil
  • Water purification tablets
  • String
  • Wire
  • Fishhooks and line
  • Whistle
  • Flares
  • Fire starter
  • Plastic tarp
  • Sun block lotion
  • Sunglasses
  • Signaling mirror
  • First aid kit
  • Emergency foodEdit

Bibliography

Hancock, Lyn. The Mighty Mackenzie. Hancock House, 1974

Mead, Roberts D., Ultimate North, Canoeing Mackenzie’s Great River, Doubleday, 1976

Morse, Eric W., |Fur Trade Canoe Routes – Then and Now, Information Canada, 1969

Nickels, Nick. Canoe Canada, Van Nostrand Reinhold Ltd., 1976

Nickerson, E. I. Kayaks in the Arctic, Howell North Books, 1965

Wright, Richard; Wright , Rochelle, Canoe Routes – Yukon Territories, Antonson Publishing Ltd., 1977