Cross Canada Canoe Expedition
Summit Lake to Hudson's Hope BC
By Chris Koch for Joe O'Blenis / 14.08.2004
May 27th- June 3rd, 2004Well, this update will have to be short as I left my computer disks down in the canoe and am now on a public computer at the library in Fort Vermillion Alberta.
The trip from Summit Lake to Hudson’s Hope was great but had its moments to be sure. It seems that almost every leg of the expedition so far has been more difficult than I’d anticipated. That is okay though, just makes it all the more memorable! Besides, if it were easy, everybody would be doing it right?
From Summit Lake, I headed down to the very aptly named Crooked River. Crooked is an understatement. Hairpin turns, one after another, numerous class 2 rapids, all on a river that, at times, is little more than a canoe length or two wide…if it sounds like fun…well…it was! Until I came to a very NASTY section, a few hundred meters long, that took 90 minutes. The already narrow river became braided into a series of tiny channels, all running through dense alders and underbrush with no easy way through or around. It was a combination of wading with the canoe, through water ranging from waist high to ankle deep, pulling/ lifting over many, many beaver dams, working over…or under ... downed trees, breaking away dead branches to open a “channel�, hauling from one channel to the next ... Nope, that part was not all that much fun! Found an awesome campsite though less than 30 minutes after coming out of this mess!
The next day, also on the Crooked River, turned into a torrential downpour, by the time I called it a day and unloaded the canoe, I was shivering madly as I quickly changed into warm, dry clothes ....nice warm Valhalla Pure base layer and my Gore-Tex from Moonstone Mountain Equipment, two (2) of my sponsors. After changing, setting up the tarp and tent, things quickly improved. Amazing what warm, dry clothes and a pot of hot soup can do!See All Event Posts
