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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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