Mountain River Adventure — Part 1 - video Dailymotion

Men's Journal

Jim Baird documents the "true wilderness" experience of a 14-day, 300-km canoe expedition through the Canadian sub-Arctic in this four-part series. Episode 1 tracks the crew — which includes Baird's wife Tori and dog Buck, as well as his brother Ted and his girlfriend Heather — through a grueling approach and technical rapids in fully loaded canoes to arrive at the Northwest Territories' rugged Mountain River.

Transcript

00:00The Mountain River is a fast-flowing river of the Yukon-Mackenzie Divide.

00:06It lies in a state of true wilderness in the subarctic of Canada's Northwest Territories,

00:12hundreds of miles from an organized system of all-season roads.

00:16There, summers see 24 hours of daylight.

00:20My brother Ted and I, along with his girlfriend Heather and my wife Tori,

00:24have wanted to paddle this wilderness river for years.

00:28The four of us were finally able to put this trip together,

00:31and we brought my dog Buck along for the journey too.

00:34Our adventure starts in the community of Norman Wells, Northwest Territories,

00:39where we board a float plane, and after a long flight, we're deposited at a small mountain lake.

00:46From there, we portage into a shallow creek,

00:49which we follow to a rushing blackfeather creek that would lead us to the Mountain River.

00:54Then, we'd follow the mountain all the way to the mighty Mackenzie.

00:58If all goes well, we'd be done this trip in 14 days.

01:06There goes our plane!

01:08S*** just got real.

01:10We're all alone out here, ready to pack up and head out.

01:14We got 300 kilometers of wild, wilderness river to paddle.

01:19Our portage from Willowhandle Lake to Pushme Pullu Creek

01:23It was pretty tough because we packed really heavy for this trip,

01:26got a lot of camera gear, we haven't eaten any of our food,

01:29and we're just about to put into Pushme Pullu,

01:32and we're going to head to Blackfeather Creek where we're hoping to camp tonight.

01:37It's called Pushme Pullu Creek because you gotta push the guy in front of you and pull the guy behind you.

01:43It's about 9.30, there's another 2km to Blackfeather Creek,

01:47and we decided we should make camp because we're all tired and hungry.

01:51It's absolutely gorgeous here, absolutely beautiful.

01:53Goodnight everybody.

01:54Goodnight.

02:04Today is an absolutely gorgeous day, but it's not doing good for old Ted.

02:11Apparently he has just a ripping migraine headache,

02:15and he's just sleeping in his tent.

02:17It's 12 noon right now, and so we're wondering if we're going to be able to make it anywhere today,

02:21but basically we're just going to kind of wait around until Ted's better.

02:26One of the things you want to have on you when you're paddling wild whitewater rivers is a survival kit.

02:32Fishing line and hooks, soft bait, a lighter magnesium strip, large ferro rod,

02:38whistling flares, water tabs, 550lb test parachute cord, a good compass,

02:44trail tape, comms, this is a satellite communication device,

02:48snare wire, an emergency blanket, signal mirror, fire starter or tinder.

02:53I keep all that on me waterproofed in a fanny pack.

02:56That way if I lose the canoe in a rapid and my entire outfit's gone,

03:00I'll have what I need on me to survive around my waist all the time.

03:04Ready for the river.

03:07It looks like Ted is feeling a little better.

03:10Still have a headache, still pretty bad, but we're going to try to get some kilometers.

03:14We're a little behind schedule, but that's fine. We'll catch it back up.

03:17Luckily it doesn't ever get dark, so that gives us a much bigger window.

03:23Yeah!

03:26Black Feather Creek, we did it!

03:34Draw, draw!

03:37Draw!

03:40Okay, we're going to eddy out on the left here, okay?

03:47Well, this looks like a tricky part of the river here, coming up in a really tight,

03:52cool looking canyon, but we're just going to go have a closer look at it.

03:56The current is super fast and very pushy, so there's not a lot of room for error.

04:03You could lose a boat, and also dumping in the canyon here is kind of scary

04:07because it's not easy to get out, so it could mean for a long, chilly swim.

04:11Head back to the boat, saddle up, and get downer.

04:33Oh, we're stuck.

04:58Lean right, lean right.

05:01Get out! Hurry, hurry, hurry!

05:05Well, that was a little terrifying. Boulder's current.

05:09Tori and I were able to get out of there. A bit of a tricky situation,

05:12not really a horribly dangerous one or anything, but we're going to keep trying to stay on our toes here.

05:17Black Feather Creek seems to be full of surprises.

05:21It's a skull! Amazing!

05:33Hey Ted, let's camp over here.

05:37Here is a braid of the mountain river, and here is where Black Feather Creek enters it.

05:43So, we made it to the mountain.

05:45We made it to the mountain river!

05:48We were scared, but a little bit of fear is always good. It keeps you on your toes.

Mountain River Adventure — Part 1

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