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Journey Across the Barrenlands June 21-August 15, 1985
Saskatchewan-NWT Border to Chantrey Inlet 1000 miles
Dubawnt River, Thelon River, Morse River, Back River
Michael, Sean and Geoffrey Peake, Peter Scott, Peter Brewster and Bill King
![]() The trip begins on Selwyn Lake on the Sask-NWT border. | ![]() Navigating low water at the start of the trip. | ![]() The Barrenground grizzley stood up to get a sniff of us. | ![]() Camp near midnight on the hot Dubawnt River. | ![]() Slogging on Side Lake which took us four days to clear to 10 miles because of ice. | ![]() | ![]() Peter Scott finds a nice caribou rack on the icy shores of Sid Lake. |
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![]() Incoming showers make a lovely low rainbow on Sid Lake. | ![]() Sean and Geoff Peake survey the icy campsite on Sid Lake. | ![]() Working our way down the shore of Sid Lake. | ![]() Portaging through to the Thelon River. | ![]() The start of Thelon Canyon. | ![]() Getting a look before we start down the left side. | ![]() Beautiful sandstone ledges helped at the start. |
![]() Hair from shedding caribou lined the banks of the Thelon River as it dropped. | ![]() Caribou crossing in the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary. | ![]() The cabin on the Thelon where the bodies of John Hornby and his two young campanions were found in 1927. | ![]() Peter Brewster hauls a big lake trout in while drifting down the Thelon River. | ![]() The hard work of crossing over the the Morse River on wet, boggy tundra. | ![]() A nice reward on a tough day when this group of muskoxen came into view. | ![]() Sometimes you just have to haul the boats up on the days before the Morse River. |
![]() July 31, 1985, the day we built a cairn and dedicated the naming of the river to Eric Morse. | ![]() The Morse cairn with our trip flag, the HACC burgee and the NWT flag. | ![]() Garry Lake, 60 miles long, empties into the Back River. | ![]() Heading towards a giant esker cut in half by the Back River. | ![]() Sean Peake and Peter Scott atop the Back River esker at Buliard Lake. | ![]() Rock Rapids on the lower Back River. | ![]() A calm, sunny day along the lower Back River past the Baillie River. |
![]() The final big drop of the Back River at a historic fishing hole. | ![]() A rare thunderstorm on the lower Back on the last day of travel, August 14 1985. |
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