# Canoeing to Hudson Bay



## woodpecker (Mar 2, 2005)

zzzzzzzzzzzzz


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## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

I think that would be an exciting trip. Wish I had the time to do something like that.


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## zettler (Sep 7, 2002)

muskat said:


> I think that would be an exciting trip. Wish I had the time to do something like that.


I wish I had the cajones to do it!!!


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## baja (Apr 7, 2004)

I will read the article about canoeing the Red to Hudson Bay with interest. It is very probably much like Eric Severeid's trip when he was 22 and made that voyage from the Minnesota River and into the Red. 'Canoeing with the Cree'...which, after reading, prompted a couple of ND youths to:

make a trip north in 1971 with my lifelong friend. We canoed over 1200 miles of the Churchill River in Canada from the border of Alberta/Saskatchewan to the city of Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay. We were on the water..canoeing/portaging for 45 days that summer. This was total wilderness..the last paved road was 275 miles south..and no more roads at all in front of us, ...just wild lakes, rivers, and forest.

We drove a VW bus with a 18ft Grumman aluminum whitewater canoe on the top to a little village called Missinippi in northern Saskatchewan...about 60 miles north of Lac la Ronge, which is about 900 miles north of the ND/Montana/Canada border. We had researched the trip thoroughly the winter before, dehydrating our own foods, getting river whitewater maps, aerial maps, topographical maps, etc. Also got a whitewater guide map showing degrees of difficulty on all white rapids and falls...graded from 1-6 on difficulty. We decided never to shoot more than a '3', no matter how proficient we became. Back then, you had to sign in with the local RCMP post as to when and where you started, where you were going, how long, and they gave you certain windows of time where you were supposed to check in ..remote fly-in lodges, villages, outposts, etc..radio-calls... just in case they had to come look for you if you didn't check in within their limits. They made it clear we had better be in real trouble if we didn't check in!..otherwise we pay for the search!!

We had numerous great adventures on that trip...wildlife like you wouldn't believe..bears, moose, woodland caribou, deer, spruce grouse you knocked off a limb for dinner at portages, walleyes in every falls and rapids, huge pike that would scare you...once a nesting pair of bald eagles dive-bombed us when we got to close to thier aerie..we could feel the air pressure from their wings on our heads! We found one baldy splashing in the water, trying to get airborne from a bad fish retrieve...we scooped him towards an island with a paddle. One night at an island camp near the last portage of the day, we were greeted by another canoeist..a young RCMP who introduced himself politely and then asked us if we had seen any other people that day. We hadn't seen anyone for about a week! He told not to get worried, but he was looking for a Cree Indian youth who had shotgunned his uncle a couple of nights earlier in this area. The uncle was dead and the boy was on the loose. The mountie left us and we didn't go to sleep that night...I remember the kid's name was Norman.

Anyway, that was just part of the trip...which was one of the greatest water adventures I have ever had..and I've had a few..freshwater and saltwater. We ended up canoeing and portaging all the way to Churchill on Hudson Bay and paddled with some white beluga whales in the estuary of the port there. We had it made going back to Winnepeg on the CNN railway...loaded onto a flatbed and watching the scenery roll by. Wish I knew how to post pics here..cuz we have a few of that great trip I would like to share.

Gods River, Nelson River, Churchill River, Coppermine River, McKenzie River, Yukon River and delta...we eventually did a lot more..but nothing was as exciting as that first trip of our youth. I'll bet this current adventure will be the same for these canoeists.


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## Chris Benson (Apr 3, 2004)

Been done.

Only they group that did it before, didn't have modern gizmos to help them, they did have a 900 pound York Boat though, they even had to portage that sucker for over a mile. This is by far one of the best shows that has been on TV for a long time!!

Following the success of the first-rate production of Pioneer Quest (2000), Quest For the Bay is Winnipeg's Credo Productions second venture into replicating significant historical experiences in nineteenth century Western Canada. In Pioneer Quest, the participants attempted to duplicate the lives of Manitoba pioneer settlers. In this production, the adventurers were forced to face the daily tedium and danger the York men experienced, using only a historically accurate York boat, tools, tents, and clothing, and eating a vile concoction of buffalo meat fat and blueberries known as pemmican. The eight young Canadians who signed on began their quest on a warm sunny Canada Day in the summer of 2001. However, after a few short kilometers rowing down the Red River, the excitement of the adventure's beginning turned into the bleak reality of the York man's life, and modern day viewers are treated to a fascinating historical adventure that tests the octet's strength and determination to succeed. As the trip progresses down the muddy Red River and into Lake Winnipeg, the novice York men, faced with a chronically leaky boat and hordes of mosquitoes, come to the realization that their makeshift planning is a sure path to disaster. Luckily, the journey up the mighty lake to Norway House is calm, and they are able to hone their skills and strengthen their rowing muscles before facing dozens of laborious portages and the deadly rapids of the Hayes River. After 61 days of agony, they reached York factory on the coast of Hudson's Bay. The modern York men's historical journey takes them through untrammeled areas of Manitoba. Seeing and experiencing the majesty and the beauty of the province's land and the power of its great northern rivers is an inspiring experience. As they rowed and struggled and rowed some more, the character strengths and flaws are revealed in every individual, just as they would have been in the Highland lads, who laboured 150-200 years ago. Quest For the Bay is a powerful re-creation of the York man's life.


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

Is it really that far, the river must do some big circles. The ND sign used for their latest post indicates they must be canoeing in the road ditch. Very grandiose!!!!


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## woodpecker (Mar 2, 2005)

zzzzzzzz


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## Springer (Dec 21, 2004)

From Harwood to Grand Forks it is 70 miles on the Interstate and on the river by snowmoblile it is around 100 give or take.

Typical river.

From East Grand Forks to Crookston on the Red Lake River it is 50 miles and only 22 by Hwy 2.


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