Don's Blog Sailing by Kugluktuk

After our tundra walk in the flowers at  the mouth of the Nakyoktok River we went west in the Coronation Gulf

sailing by Kugluktuk (lower left on map)which is in western Nunavut  near the border of the Northwest Territory. I was disappointed that we did not stop. It was here in 2000 that I canoed the Coppermine River with my son Lee ending up at the hamlet which until 1996 was called Coppermine. During the trip we saw green deposits of copper along the shore. Its current name,Kugluktuk, means place of the moving water.

The river has a rich history. British explorer Samuel Hearne led by Chipewyan guide Motanobee descended the Coppermine River  reaching its mouth  at the Coronation Gulf in 1771. John Franklin reached the mouth of the river on his land expedition of 1819 to 1822. It was on the way home after this that Franklin became known as the 'man who ate his boots' and some of his men became known for eating each other. 

Canoeing the Coppermine River is an extraordinary challenge. It has many named difficult rapids. Here I am atop a cliff overlooking Rocky Defile, the most dangerous of the rapids, which we portaged around.

 

This is a photo of Escape Rapids (internet image) which Lee and I ran in our covered canoe. It is the singularly most exciting set of rapids in my canoeing experience. At one point we had to go over a large standing wave to bypass a huge boulder. Our canoe rose up and then I remember screaming with excitement as we  torpedoed down into the wave with a full frontal dive into the cold water and then we broke free.

This is Bloody Falls, the last rapid and falls on the river (internet image). It got its name because Samuel Hearne's guide, Matonobee and his band of Indians massacred a band of sleeping Inuit here in 1771. It was a definite portage for us. 

 

Below Bloody Falls is the hamlet of Kugluktuk(internet image) on the Coronation Gulf of the Arctic Ocean.

At the time of our trip in 1994 we were fortunate to meet Peter Irnik, who was then the Premier of Nunavut. He was in town to celebrate the journey of the docked ship, the St Roch II, which was retracing the route of Henry Larsen's St Roch I. Remember Larsen's Sound where we met the Icebreaker? These Inuit are talented carvers. This is an igloo that I obtained from a local artist.

The top of the igloo comes off revealing this detailed tableau.

I had the opportunity to visit with the nurse at the town health facility. If she had questions about patients she could radio for answers and said she often did. I asked her what were the major health issues that she dealt with. She said that this included: alcoholism and drug abuse, spousal assault and sexual abuse, and suicide mostly in children. I asked her how they did it and she said they overdosed on tylenol.