Campfire story— Eagle Stew
In 1796, David Thompson explored the river in search of a shortcut to ship furs from Fort Chipewyan to Hudson Bay. On the return trip, Thompson and his two Dene guides, Paddy and Kosdaw, were lining the canoe up what’s now called Thompson Rapids when they lost control of the craft. The canoe overturned, and Thompson had a nasty swim. Everything was lost except the canoe, Thompson’s papers, a sextant, an axe, tent, rifle and knife. As they hurried south, Thompson and Paddy ate an immature eagle to ward off starvation and became violently ill. Had the three men not come upon a Dene family camped upriver, they likely wouldn’t have survived.
Tips
Must see—Manitou Falls. Put the falls in the right place on your topos. It’s marked one rapid too far upstream.
Best campsite—“Camping for Millions” at the confluence of the Porcupine and Fond du Lac rivers
Saskatchewan’s Fond du Lac River Mother River by Laurel Archer F
lowing northwest from Wollaston Lake to Lake Athabasca, the Fond du Lac is the mother river of Saskatchewan’s Far North. This remote wilderness waterway crosses the traditional lands of the Dene. Besides a few tiny communities, fishing
lodges and mines, its vast watershed is devoid of development. The headwaters flow briefly through the black spruce and bedrock of the Boreal Shield, but for the majority of its length, the Fond du Lac traverses the eastern reaches of the sandy Athabasca Plain, where jackpine is king. Open parkland benches slope down to meet beaches on clear lakes, making dreamy campsites. Low sandstone ledges and shallow rock aprons may surprise unwary canoeists admiring the snaking eskers and layered cliffs of yellow and red sand- stone that commonly line the river’s banks. Where the river bumps into the rugged Taiga Shield near Black Lake, ancient rock crops out again and soaring granite cliffs host great cataracts dropping steeply towards Lake Athabasca.
Info—See
www.churchillrivercanoe.com under “scheduled trips” and a river trip story at
www.churchillriverca-
noe.com/stories/fondlac.htm.
Outfitters—Guided trips, shuttles and rentals at Churchill River Canoe Outfitters,
www.churchillrivercanoe.com. Guidebook—Northern Saskatchewan Canoe Trips: A Guide to Fifteen Wilderness Rivers, by Laurel Archer.
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www.canoeroots.ca
Headlamp reading—David Thompson’s Narrative, 1784 – 1812. For modern accounts, see Joanie and Gary McGuffin’s Where Rivers Run and Max Finkelstein’s Canoeing a Continent.
Don’t forget—your Geiger counter. The Athabasca Plain holds some of the largest urani- um deposits in the world. There’s an active mine at Collins Bay on Wollaston Lake.
How to do it Paddle from Wollaston Lake to Black Lake for a two-week, 250- to 285-kilometre trip. To get there, drive the gravel highway 102/905 to Points North Landing. Park in Points North Air Services’ compound and charter a floatplane to Wollaston Lake. Book your return charter to pick you up at the beach just east of the river’s out- flow into Black Lake or at the community of Black Lake. Or you can drive in to the put-in on Wollaston Lake’s western shore and shuttle your vehicle to the community of Black Lake—this is a very rough13-hour round trip for which you must have a 4X4 vehicle and carry two spare tires and gas. Be sure to cushion your schedule with extra days in case you’re windbound cross- ing Wollaston and Black lakes.
photo by Laurel Archer
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