HeatherThis is one of our first ever blog posts about our time paddling on the Horton River in Northern Canada in 2012. It has been edited to make it easier to read and images have been added. We still talk about this adventure and we sure hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed paddling it!
About the River
The Horton River, in the Northwest Territories of Canada, is approximately 600km long and is entirely above the Arctic Circle. We spent 30 days paddling the river and didn’t see another human for the entire time!
The river starts at Horton Lake (the small white dot) and flows northward to the Arctic Ocean (the red dot).
The river flows through a semi-forested area, through 3 beautiful canyons, and finishes above treeline on the tundra in the barren lands. Ancient bedrock, crumbly sandstone, sand, and tundra hummocks were our bedroom and kitchen.
We paddled by hillsides where the permafrost is melting and the “drip, drip” would sometimes turn into “boom” as large chunks of the earth fell into the water.
We dodged the smelly wind as we paddled through the sulphurous smoke from the smoking hills. The smoke is caused when naturally occurring lignite spontaneously combusts as a result of exposure to the air.
In the canyons, we lined and portaged (~200m) around massive standing waves, ledges, and holes. We finished the trip on the Arctic Ocean sharing the beach with some curious seals.
The semi-arid region meant we encountered minimal rain and the 24-hour sunlight allowed for some late evening suntanning. As the Horton River neared the Arctic Ocean the winds picked up and we both enjoyed the feeling of our muscles growing when it was a headwind, the relaxation of a tailwind, and the fun game of: “is that sand or pepper I am eating?”
Horton River Animal Encounters
Because the entire length of the Horton River is so remote we had no shortage of animal encounters.
The first 450 km of the river were absolutely clear and pristine (the last 150 or so had lots more sediment and sand). The arctic char, grayling and lake trout would regularly dash under the boat and it seemed as if a well-timed grasp would result in a fishy dinner.
On day 2 we saw a family of 6 Muskox which solidified for both of us that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. We regularly shared the beach, campsites, and river with Caribou. We watched one wolf hunting ducks, and another chase a caribou across a gravel bar. The ground squirrels constantly chirped at us letting us know we were not welcome on their beach!
Caribou
And the birds….wow.
We had Gulls dive-bomb us, Peregrine and Gyrfalcons soar overhead expressing their displeasure with our proximity to their nests. Bald and Golden Eagles kept their eyes on us as they soared overhead in search of dinner. The many varieties of ducks entertained us with their quarks, quacks, and whistles.
There were some bugs… and 3 bears too.
Life On The River
Our days consisted of the duties of living:
- getting enough firewood to make coffee, breakfast and dinner,
- packing and unpacking the boat,
- setting up and taking down the tent (and fixing the damn poles),
- paddling for 20-40 km,
- putting on and taking off the clothes according to the weather, and
- sleeping.
To shake things up a bit we also had a riverside bath or two, went for hikes, played crib, and read. This was simple living at it’s finest! Here are a few pics of our day to day life:
We had 2 “officially sanctioned” games we played every day: ‘What time do you think it is’, and ‘What should we have for dinner tonight.’ Matt regularly tried to play: “Let’s swap pillows.” This didn’t get sanctioned because I brought a pillow and he didn’t. We are still unsure how a game gets sanctioned, but I know for a fact the pillow one did not pass the test!
2012 Reflections on Paddling the Horton River:
We are both missing the Horton River and the environment a bunch, and can’t wait for the next time we are back in the wilderness. That said, we are both happy to be back in civilization for many reasons: warm running water, fresh fruits and veggies, warm running water, porcelain, warm running water, unlimited hand cream, warm running water, food that isn’t stored in a ziplock, warm running water, unlimited toilet paper, warm running water, centralized heating/air conditioning, warm running water, laundry machines, and warm running water.
All of these reasons do not trump the best one: the wonderful people we have in our lives that we get to spend time with this week before climbing on a plane for our next adventures.
2020 Reflections:
This paddling trip was one of our first truly remote extended trips in the wilderness together. The sights, sounds and memories still come up in our conversations. It also laid the foundation for many of our more recent northern Canadian adventures like hiking the Canol Road, and Auyuittuq National Park.
Perhaps the most incredible part about reflecting on this trip is that the things we were happy to have at the end of the trip we are still lucky to have in our lives.
