The Rae River

This is probably the last chance I will get to update my blog until 24th or 25th July but Adrian or my Dad should be able to upload our daily co-ordinates from the emergency SPOT device we'll be taking with us.

I am heading off to Yellowknife today in order to meet up with my team mates [ Dave, Mark & Gene ] for my first big northern river trip. The Rae is a river in the far north of the North West Territories and runs into the Coronation Gulf of the Artic Sea. It flows into the gulf about 20km west of a small Inuit village called Kugluktuk ( fromerly Coppermine ) which is where we catch a flight back to Yellowknife from. Named after the explorer John Rae, it is a lesser paddled river having only been paddled by one previous team that we know of - the Borealis team. We are hoping to put on the river 50km or so upstream of where they started but that is water level dependent so it will be a case of looking out the plane window to see where we shall stop ! This is an exploratory trip with the plan of being run as a commercial venture by Wanapitei Canoe next year.

Over the past few days the challenges ahead of me are starting to seem more real as I chat to Lynette and Aleks for their advice. I fell asleep last night with a a hundred thoughts in my head - have I got all the kit I need, will it all hold up to artic conditions, what will the weather be like - (it could be anything I have been told from warm & sunny to wet, cold and windy ) and on and on...

I have started to feel slightly anxious as well as excited and can summarise my 3 major concerns as follows ;

1. The quality of the tea,

2. The quantity of the bugs and

3. The proximity of the bears ( in that order !)

Of course, if major concern #1 can be overcome then all others won't seem to bad. 'As long as one can have a decent cup of tea then all other concerns can be pondered & dealt with in a rational and civilised manor' - at least that's what the rest of the world seem to think about us Brits ! In all seriousness though the toughest thing really is that it will be about 3 weeks before I'll be able to speak to Adrian or my Mum & Dad again and that's going to be really, really hard. I'll be thinking of you and sending you all my love and big hugs xxxx