Canoe across large lakes, up and down rivers and rapids; labour over
portages and through a miasma of blackflies; bask in the golden evenings
of the Subarctic. In this account of an 800-mile canoe trip - which
begins at Reindeer Lake on the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border, continues
into Nunavut past the treeline, and ends on Hudson Bay - Peter Kazaks
conveys the experience of being in the north by describing the daily
details that bring the trip to life. He captures the flavour of an
extended wilderness canoe trip and reflects on living in unfettered
wilderness. The reader will also grasp something of the serene beauty of
the barren lands and begin to understand why its intoxicating nature
keeps drawing some back.
The first half of the trip, essentially from Reindeer Lake to Nueltin
Lake, retraces P.G. Downes' voyage described in his classic Sleeping
Island. Next the four men of this expedition, led by George Luste,
entered the barren lands and followed the Thlewiaza River, the Kognak
River, South Henik Lake and the Maguse River north and east to the shore
of Hudson Bay. These lands, seldom visited, are close to a true
wilderness - one of the few remaining ones.