Mt Caubvick/ Mt D’Iberville

Mt Caubvick (5,420ft) and Mt D’Iberville (5,420ft), Highpoints of Quebec and Newfoundland/Labrador

Eric, Patrick, Steven, Christina, Yeuhi

June 18, 2019

Itinerary:

June 14 – Eric departs Seattle
June 15 – Layover day in Montreal
June 16 – Flight to Kuujjuaq
June 17 – Layover day in Kuujjuaq, paddle packrafts in Koksoak River
June 18 – 9am bush flight to head of Koroc River, hike to base camp, climb Koroc Ridge route to summit at 11:55pm
June 19 – Descend from summit at 3am to base camp, Eric climbs Mt Cartwright and Cartwright South
June 20 – climb Mt Barnes-Pauze
June 21 – hike to landing strip, climb TG7
June 22 – Paddle down Koroc to km 140 in rain
June 23 – Paddle to km 110, hike Peak 2850
June 24 – Paddle to below Korluktuk falls km 92
June 25 – Paddle to km 82, climb Ilisapi Mtn
June 26 – Paddle to km 53, camp at portage
June 27 – Paddle to km 37, climb Peak 1650 (5.5 rock climb)
June 28 – Paddle to Ungava Bay, km 0, stay up all night watching for polar bears
June 29 – boat pickup to Kangiqsualujjuaq
June 30 – Hike peak 560 and Peak 620 near town
July 1 – Flight to Montreal
July 2  – Flight back to Seattle
July 3 – Arrive early AM back in seattle after delay

I decided in early 2019 to try to finish the Canada province and territory highpoints this year, and I had three left to go – Mt Columbia, Mt Caubvick, and Mt D’Iberville. This highpoint list is quite difficult, with mountains involving month-long arctic expeditions, rock climbs up to 20+ pitches, and general adventure. My plan was to climb Mt Columbia on a long-weekend drive from Seattle in the Spring whenever a weather window materialized, then climb Mt Caubvick and Mt D’Iberville immediately after my final exams finished in mid June.

While Mt Caubvick and Mt D’Iberville are technically two different highpoints, they are really just the same mountain with two different names, one for the side of the summit that is the Quebec highpoint (Mt D’Iberville), and one for the Newfoundland/Labrador summit (Mt Caubvick). There are two standard routes to the summit, the Koroc Ridge (5.6) and the Minaret Ridge (5.2). I chose to attempt the Koroc Ridge route because it has the shortest amount of technical climbing and thus could likely be done the fastest with highest chance of success.

Access to the peaks has historically been quite difficult, but over past five years Kuururjuaq national park has offered

scheduled charter bush flights to a gravel bar near the base of the mountain during the summer for 500CAD per person one way. As long as you can go in or out on the scheduled dates, this is the cheapest option.

In order to decrease cost and increase fun I planned to take a scheduled flight in, then exit by packrafting out the Koroc river to the village of Kangiqsualujjuaq which is served by scheduled flights. This trip was inspired by Jack Bennett’s climbing and paddling trip in 1996. Most groups go in July or August, and it was a bit risky going in June. The park website specifically says June is the worst month to visit the park because there’s not enough snow to snowmobile in, but there is enough snow to make travel difficult. Also, the Koroc River can still be partially snowed over in June, and sea ice can make a boat pickup at the outlet of the Koroc impossible. This was the only time I could make this summer, though, so I decided to still give it a shot.

I started corresponding with the national park staff in late January about logistics and they said the schedule for the bush flights would be set in April and the first flight would be sometime in mid June. I would need to fly to the towns of Kuujjuaq or Kangiqsualujjuaq on Ungava Bay in northern Quebec and get on the bush plane from there. The problem is a round trip ticket to these cities from Montreal is around $2500!

To reduce this price it is possible to get the Montreal-Kuujjuaq leg using Aeroplan miles. I didn’t have any Aeroplan miles, but I signed up for a TD bank credit card which came with a sign-on bonus of 25,000 miles after meeting a $3,000 minimum spend. The round trip flight to Kuujjuaq requires only 15,000 aeroplan miles, so this is actually the best mileage redemption opportunity I have ever encountered.

By February I had met the minimum spend, in part by paying for a packraft for Matthew, and was just waiting for the park to schedule the bush flight before getting my ticket. After my original partner for the trip had to pull out I sent an email out to the mitoc email list calling for partners, and was able to recruit Yeuhi, Pat, and Christina. I also convinced Steven from Vancouver to join.

By early April the park still hadn’t set the bush plane schedule and Pat and I were getting a bit nervous about redeeming our miles. It turns out only First Air flights to Kuujjuaq are redeemable with miles (not Air Inuit flights), and only 2 seats are reserved for mileage redemption each flight. There is generally only one flight per day. The only way to see if seats are available is to call Aeroplan and have them manually check each date, which takes quite a while.

We decided to gamble and get our Montreal-Kuujjuaq flights for the first available day after my final exams. We’d be ok waiting around in Kuujjuaq until the bush plane flight to save over 1,000 CAD on that leg. Pat spent time on the phone and got us each on a June 16 flight to Kuujjuaq, which luckily were available. The next week the park set the bush plane schedule for the first flight of the year on June 18 directly from Kuujjuaq. That was about as perfect as we could have hoped for, meaning Pat and I would just have one extra day to wait around in Kuujjuaq.

We set our itinerary then to fly back July 1 to give 5 days for the mountain and 8 for the paddle. This itinerary was consistent with a similar trip my friends Brian, Laura, and Len had done in 2014. Unfortunately there was no mileage redemption availability until July 4, which didn’t work for me, so I had to buy a full fare ticket for the return leg. I got Steven a free round trip ticket with my extra miles since he was willing to fly in early and leave later when free tickets were available. Yeuhi and Christina would fly in on June 17.

By late May I finally climbed Mt Columbia on my second attempt and was poised to go for Caubvick/D’Iberville as planned.

On June 14 I finished grading my last final exam in the afternoon and flew out that evening to Montreal. The flights

worked out that I had most of a day June 15 layover in town, and I met up with Serge to hike some local highpoints like Mont Royal. Christina, Pat and I met up in town for authentic poutine dinner, and the next morning June 16 Pat and I flew out to Kuujjuaq.

June 16

Steven had gotten to Kuujjuaq a day early and scoped out some good camping locations. We ended up dropping off

some extra gear with Michel from Air Inuit, then walked to some woods just outside the airport and set up camp. That far north the sun didn’t really set at night, and we had plenty of daylight left to explore town.

Pat and I hiked up to Colline Qarqaaluk, the hill just outside town with the big radar dome on top. On the way we passed a dozen sled dogs tied up safely away from town where people wouldn’t get annoyed by the noise. We ate dinner at the general store and then returned to camp for the night.

June 17

In the morning we hung out at the airport using the WiFi until Christina and Yeuhi arrived. We then dropped off some of their extra gear with Air Inuit and moved the rest to our camp outside. We checked in with the park staff that afternoon at their office, paid the flight and permit fees, and sorted out final logistics for the trip. That evening we ate at the restaurant (there’s only one in town) before heading back to camp in light rain.

Just before turning in we walked up to the air traffic controller building. Pat had sat next to the air traffic controller person on the flight in and he’d invited us to come visit him in the evening. He was super friendly and showed us the great view from inside the tower and told us all about airplanes. We also learned that the previous name for Kangiqsualujjuaq was George River, and many people just refer to the town as George. This is for two reasons. First, it’s much easier to say. Second, it avoids confusion with the other nearby village Kangiqsujjuaq. Apparently there’s a story of a group intending to fly to Kangiqsualujjuaq, but accidentally telling the pilot to fly to Kangiqsujjuaq, and

arriving at the wrong destination!

June 18

We were up early, packed up in the rain, and carried our gear over to the airport. There we got everything ready for the plane and by 10:00am were flying out on a twin otter. The plane was also transporting three large 550kg fuel drums to be left at the park headquarters in Kangiqsualuujjuaq after our drop off.

I was concerned about the weather since it was foggy and rainy, but the pilots took off nevertheless. Soon the weather partially cleared farther north and we got excellent views of the receding treeline along the coast of Ungava Bay. We eventually hit the Koroc River and followed the river to a small gravel bar at its head about an hour later. The pilots made one pass to check the strip was ok, then landed.

We quickly unloaded and the plane departed. At the landing strip were two wooden igloo-shaped bear-proof shelters, which we used to store our extra food and paddling gear. By noon we were packed up and hiking out. We dropped down to the Koroc River, waded across in thigh-deep water, then started hiking on the other side.

We were above treeline, but some bushes were still kind of annoying to hike through. However we soon stumbled across some cairns and were surprised to find a trail leading all the way to base camp. It was in good shape, following a route that mostly avoided any bushwhacking. We went down along the Koroc for a few kilometers, then turned up the next valley to the north.

By 5pm we reached the end of the cairns at a base camp of three more igloos. There was a work crew of four park

staff building a fourth igloo, and they briefly welcomed us before returning to work. I think they had just arrived a few days earlier. They had a tent set up nearby inside a bear-proof electric fence.

The weather had been improving all afternoon and was now mostly sunny. We could see up the valley to Mt Caubvick, though it was still in the clouds. Everyone was feeling strong, and we didn’t want to miss out on what could be a rare weather window.

So we dropped off most of our gear in an igloo and continued up toward the summit. I carried just the lid of my pack with a rope backpack. It was early in the season and we were concerned the summit ridge might be snowy and icy so we each brought crampons and ice axes to be safe.

We hiked to a small tarn just north of camp, then scrambled up some rocks just right of a big snow couloir. At the top we turned right and hiked up talus to the broad start of the Koroc Ridge. We followed the talus up the ridge, getting our first view of the summit of Mt Caubvick as the clouds continued to dissipate.

Eventually we reached a small emergency shelter that the park had just built, and beyond that the ridge began to get

narrower. We descended down class three terrain to a small notch, then scrambled out and along a narrow ridge. Surprisingly we encountered new bolts all along the ridge. It looked like a sport climb. I guess this route gets guided and the guides decided to put bolts in instead of using rock pro. I was kind of disappointed to see these bolts on an otherwise wild and remote mountain.

At one point the ridge narrowed enough to be considered fourth class with the exposure on both sides. So we brought

out the ropes and started simulclimbing. Steven led the way soloing while I simulclimbed with Christina on one 30m rope and Pat and Yeuhi followed on another. We did one big simul pitch until we reached the top of the Koroc Step.

Here I was again surprised to find a bolted rappel anchor. This must also have been new. I suspect the park was under some pressure to make the route safer after the fatalities that occurred on this route in 2003 from was is suspected to be a rappel anchor failure.

We rapped the route and the 30m rope doubled up comfortably reached the bottom. We left the rope there to toprope the pitch on the return. From the bottom of the notch we scrambled around a few gendarms, then roped back up and simulclimbed the last fourth class bit to the summit. It was 11:55pm and just barely dark enough to warrant headlamps.

There were two cairns on the summit, one for Mt D’Iberville and one for Mt Caubvick. I first tagged the Mt D’Iberville summit, then walked over 10m and tagged the Mt Caubvick summit. That was my final peak of the Canadian province and territory highpoints, making me the fifth person to complete the list. Interestingly, we appear to be the earliest sign in in the summit register. All other groups climbed the peak in July or August. It appeared there averaged about one or two ascents per year.

The whole crew arrived at the summit a few minutes later and we sat down to admire the view. The north was red and orange with twilight as the sun was just barely below the horizon, and the moon illuminated the mountains to the south. So we were treated to great panoramic views even though it was technically night.

Amazingly there was no wind, but it was a bit chilly. Sunrise was officially at about 2:45am, and we decided to hang out on the summit until then. We huddled together in a circle with Pat’s tarp over our laps to stay warm, and I occasionally left the circle to go do jumping jacks to warm up even more.

June 19

By 2:45am the sun broke out above the horizon for a spectacular sunrise. In theory we should have been able to see the Atlantic Ocean to the east, but it was covered in low fog. As the sun rose the wind started to pick up and we soon departed.

We simulclimbed back down to the notch, then Christina belayed me up the step on the rope we’d left. I built an anchor then belayed everyone else up. From there we retraced our route simulclimbing back to the emergency shelter, then unroping and starting to hike.

The weather continued to be great as we hiked back down the ridge, eventually reaching base camp around 9am. The rest of the team set up tents and went to bed to recover from the sleepless night, but I couldn’t resist continuing to take advantage of the good weather. So I continued hiking some nearby peaks.

I ascended the valley northeast of camp, then hiked up talus slopes to the broad summit of Mt Cartwright. Luckily by then the low fog on the Atlantic had dissipated and I got a view of the fjords to the east. A big iceberg was floating in the fjord and I saw more far in the distance out at sea.

I took a 20 minute nap, then continued south down to a col and climbed up the Mt Cartwright South Peak. I then descended back to col and glissaded down a long snow slope back to camp by 5pm.

Most of the team was awake by then and we cooked some dinner. A black bear wandered up the valley close to camp as we were eating, and one of the Inuit park staff took his gun out and looked through the scope. However, he said it was too young so he didn’t shoot it. I was kind of relieved.

June 20

We had budgeted 5 days for the summit, so decided to stay up at base camp another day to do some more hikes with our extra time. Steven, Yeuhi, Pat and I hiked up the valley northwest then ascended a steep snow slope to gain the ridge that formed the Labrador-Quebec border at peak TG14. From there we continued following the border to Peak 3992. West of Peak 3992 a deep valley dropped down a few hundred meters with Mount Barnes-Pauze on the other side. Steven said this was the second tallest peak in Quebec and it sounded appealing.

It would add a few hours to our day and guarantee that we got back to camp late, but we all agreed to try it. We found a long snow gully to plunge step down, then traversed a steep rock slab and gained the col below the summit. We debated the route a bit but eventually decided to aim for the obvious cirque on the north end of the face and scramble up from there.

We soon gained the cirque, then scrambled up the third class headwall to gain the long talus and scree slopes above. By late afternoon we topped out at the summit cairn and found the summit register left by Greg Slayden and Jack Bennett in 2004. Surprisingly there were no other entries in the log, though this could have been because there was no pen or pencil in the log. Pat had brought a pen, so we added our names.

From the top there was an excellent view of the Tallek arm of Nachvak Fjord to the north. We found a caribou antler and added it to the cairn to make it more stylish, then started the descent. This time we found some snow slopes to glissade and got some pretty long runs in.

We dropped down to the col, then ascended the west slopes back up to Peak 3992. From there we retraced our route along the ridge heading east, and after 30 minutes took a break. There Pat noticed that his ice ax was missing. He and Yeuhi searched around the area but it was nowhere to be found.

I recalled seeing it on his pack back at Peak 3992, so I volunteered to run back and get it. For a price. My initial offer was that Pat would carry my gear on all the portages on the Koroc River. After some negotiation we settled on two portages if I found the ice axe, and one portage plus a handful of good food if I didn’t.

I jogged back to the peak in about 30 minutes and searched all over the place but there was no trace of the ice ax. In all likelihood it remains to this day on the west slope of Peak 3992. I dejectedly jogged back east along the ridge, then followed the ridge southeast to Peak TG 3840. From there I descended to a large snowfield and picked up the tracks from the rest of the group.

The snow slope was very steep, so I took out my ice ax and downclimbed until the angle eased enough to glissade. At the bottom I hiked back to camp, arriving around 11pm about an hour after the rest of the group.

Jun 21

After a sleepless night we packed up and hiked out the next morning, with the whole team finally together at the landing strip. The park staff had helicoptered down in the morning and were now working on another igloo structure. We set up tents, then Steven and I headed out to climb Peak TG7 just above camp.

We hiked east of camp then hiked up the north ridge. It was extremely mossy the whole way and we were hounded by mosquitos the entire ascent. It was actually probably the worst bug experience of the trip, with a rating of 20 mps (mosquitos per slap). We crested a false summit then dropped down and scrambled to the true summit by 9pm as the sun was getting low on the horizon.

We jogged the route back down and made it to camp around 10pm, a few hours after the rest of the team had gone to sleep.

June 22

The next phase of the expedition was about to begin – the paddle out. We packed up all our gear in the morning, including the

paddling gear from the igloo, and hauled it down to the Koroc River. I had my own boat, Steven had just bought a new packraft, and the rest of the team were renting packrafts from MITOC.

We packed up the gear and pushed off at 11am to start the 165km journey to Ungava Bay. The plan was to get to the bay by June 30, when a parks boat would pick us up and take us the remaining 30km back to Kangiqsualujjuaq. Luckily the park staff informed us that the sea ice had melted out enough that a boat could indeed pick us up and we would not have to do the portage route back to town.

The river started out shallow and wide, and the trick was always finding the deepest section. A few times we had to get out of the boats and drag them through sand, but these were brief. The packrafts could generally make it through water at least a foot deep though.

The first few hours were in generally flat water, but we eventually ran some fun class two rapids. That afternoon it started raining and would not let up for the rest of the day. We paddled til 6pm hoping for a lull, but when it didn’t happen I found a decent campsite on the shore and we pulled over. We had covered about 25km for the day putting us at km 140 on the river (this refers to the Koroc River paddling map provided by the park, with distances measured from Ungava Bay). A black bear ran out of camp, and we saw bear poop all over the place. So we vowed to be careful with our food that night.

Yeuhi and I set up a tarp in the rain using paddles as poles because we were still above treeline. It was a dreary evening, but we all managed to get our tents up, dinner eaten, and food packed away in ursacks for the night without getting too wet.

June 23

The rain cleared out in the morning, and that would actually be the only rain event in the entire two-week expedition. The river had occasional patches of thick ice on the side, but it never spanned the entire river so luckily did not slow us down. That day we crossed below tundra line and started seeing our first trees.

We saw a few more black bears along the river, and ran some more class 2/3 rapids. After patching a hole in Steven’s raft we made camp around 5pm at km 110. As I went to scout out the spot I again scared a black bear away into the woods. We started to think that the best sign that we were at a good campsite was if the black bears liked it.

After setting up camp I went for another hike and made it up Peak 2850 after a short bushwhack and scramble. I got back to camp around 10pm and quietly crawled into the tent.

June 24

This day marked our first and second portages of the river. We paddled flat water with occasional rapids through the

morning, then Pat noticed his boat had a very slow leak. We pulled over and after putting soapy water on the sides discovered a few tiny holes which we patched. After testing the boat still appeared to leak after a few hours. So we pulled over again and Steven turned the boat upside down in the water to see where bubbles came out.

It was pretty clear bubbles were coming out of the cargo zip. I took some Tizip and applied the goop all over the zipper, and this solved the problem. From then on Pat had one of the firmest boats the entire rest of the trip.

In the afternoon we rounded a corner with suspiciously loud rapids, and I stopped to scout. We had arrived at the

first class 4/5 rapid and the first portage for the trip. Luckily this portage was only about 100ft over a rock slab, and we carried the boats down to the river below.

After a short paddle we reached the cabin above Korluktuk Falls and stopped to take a look. This area has a grass landing strip for twin otters and a very luxurious cabin capable of sleeping at least a dozen guests. This is where the park hosts the weekend-in-the-park events where people fly in for the weekend and hike around Korluktuk Falls. In the visitor log we noted many visitors from the winter, including two people who had snowmobiled in from Nain, and many that had snowmobiled in from Kangiqsualujjuaq. It apparently only takes 4 hours to get there in the winter by snowmobiling up the frozen river, though we would be taking many days to paddle out in the summer.

We soon returned to the boats and paddled a few more kilometers to the next portage around Korluktuk Falls at a sandy beach on the left. The falls are a 10m drop followed by big class 4 rapids I was happy to avoid. There was sort of a trail, but it was very overgrown with lots of blowdowns, and wasn’t much different than bushwhacking. We all managed to single carry, and after about 700m we found a sandy beach to put in.

It was getting late so we pitched camp there at km 92. Pat informed us that it was Quebec day, which is usually celebrated with bonfires. So Steven and I gathered a bunch of wood and made a big fire on the beach. We all took a dip in the freezing cold river for our first bath of the trip.

June 25

We noticed we were ahead of schedule for a June 30 pickup given our current pace, so decided to take a half-hike

day. We paddled a few kilometers down the river, and after passing an abandoned park kayak on a beach we pulled over just below Ilisapi Mountain. Steven had scouted this out on a good map in the cabin and decided it would be a great peak to bag.

We pulled the boats ashore, put on our hiking clothes, and plunged into the woods. Steven led the way through some light bushwhacking, then we gained the northern slopes and hiked

easily to the summit after two hours.

After returning to the boats we paddled a bit farther then found a good sandy beach above the next set of rapids for camp at km 82. I made another big fire that night by the river and we stayed up til midnight when it finally burned down.

June 26

The next day started at 10:30am with some fun class 3 rapids that flipped at least one person, but later we had an easy float down flat water. In the evening we reached what was supposed to be the crux paddle of the route, a sustained 2km stretch of class III rapids, but it actually turned out to be pretty easy.

After these rapids we rounded a corner and reached our next portage at a class 4/5 rapid. This one was a bit of a bushwhack on an abandoned trail and we had to deflate the boats and pack them up in the backpacks. We decided to make camp on the other end at km 53.

The put-in was in a very overgrown patch of slide alders, and I spent an hour breaking away branches to clear a route for us in the morning. The bugs were pretty bad at that campsite, so we ate dinner near the waterfall where it was a bit windier.

June 27

In the morning we carefully put in one at a time in the narrow corridor through the slide alder and immediately ran a class 2/3 rapid. One person flipped but was ok, and we then reached our next portage around a sustained class 4 section.

This one had almost no trail, and several members decided to double carry. Steven and I single carried and I led the half bushwhack half game trail portage to a good beach on the other side. While waiting for the rest of the crew to do their second carry we took a quick dip in the frigid river. I definitely appreciated the dry suit I wore for the paddle, because it would be hard to survive for too long in that cold water without it.

We paddled some more flat water after the rapids and found a campsite at km 37 at 4pm. We were still ahead of schedule so needed to end our days a bit early. After dinner we decided to climb up the fun-looking peak behind camp, Peak 1650. Steven led the way up what looked like an easy scramble route, but near the top it turned into steeper terrain. Pat scrambled up a sketchy-looking wet mossy corner and Steven kicked steps up some snow. I soloed up

 

a short low-5^th class section with good hand jams in cracks and Yeuhi followed me. I think my route may have been the funnest.

The terrain angle eased up above the crux and we soon reached the summit next to some alpine lakes. I noticed

shimmering water far in the distance and that was our first view of Ungava Bay. To descend we took a longer but less technical route and were back in camp with enough time to jump in the river before bed.

June 28

Our plan for the day was to paddle to km 10 just before a set of rapids and camp, so we could camp just outside polar-bear terrain and minimize our time in the danger zone while waiting for a boat pickup. There were no rapids for the entire day, but a headwind did pick up which made progress difficult. The river widened near km 10 so that it looked more like a lake, and it was hard to determine if the current was actually helping us.

By 4pm we reached a sandy beach about where we wanted to camp and pulled over. There happened to be an abandoned cabin there, but we still set up the tents. Pat, Yeuhi, Steven and I set off to hike up Peak 455 behind the cabin, which we scrambled up in about 30 minutes.

On the summit I decided to check my Inreach and got a troubling message. The park ranger said the boat pickup on June 30 would not be possible because it was Canada Day long weekend and everyone with a boat was out camping. We’d have to wait til July 2 for the pickup. This was pretty frustrating, since I had requested a June 30 boat pickup back in April and they said they would do it. They also confirmed they could do the pickup when we talked in person at the park office.

This was a major problem since most of the team had flights out of Kangiqsualujjuaq on July 1. I quickly replied to

 

say we could get to the pickup that night or the next morning if needed. We headed back to camp and discussed our options. We had already passed the normal portage route turnoff, but could possibly hike/bushwhack from our location to intersect it. The route would require 4km of bushwhacking/hiking up and over a ridge to meet some lakes, then 10km of paddling across lakes (and maybe a few portages) to reach an ATV track. The ATV track went 20km to town, which we would likely have to walk.

We had two days, plus whatever progress we could make that night, so it seemed doable though tough. We would have to start soon. I texted the ranger our plan and said we would leave in 2 hours for the portage route unless she confirmed a boat pickup the next day.

We cooked some dinner, packed up, and were ready to go when I got a text from her that Randal could pick us up the next day at Ungava Bay. She gave me coordinates of the pickup point, but didn’t say what time.

 

We were relieved to not have to do the portage, but decided to get to the pickup point that night in case he would come in the morning. After checking the coordinates we found out there was an error since they were for a point above a class 5 rapid (which the boat obviously wouldn’t do), but we decided to go to the boat pickup location marked on our river map and hope for the best.

Luckily over the last few hours the wind had died down with the setting sun and it was now much easier to paddle. We crossed the wide lake-like section, then ran two sets of class 2/3 rapids to another open section of water. By now it was 9:30pm and getting pretty dark, so we stayed close together so nobody got separated. I led the way past the big Outfitters camp on the left side of the river and we pulled over just before a class V waterfall above Ungava Bay.

 

We packed up, hiked an easy and open 600m portage, and made it to Ungava Bay around 11pm. It was low tide, and amazingly this area sees what may be the largest tides in the world. According to the rangers the tides can be even greater than those in the Bay of Fundy.

I texted the ranger we were there, and we checked the tide charts we’d brought with us. The rangers had told us the boat operators generally like to pick up at high tide, and the next one was at 5:30am. We picked a campsite up on some ledges well above the high-tide line and set about gathering fire wood for a big fire. We were in polar bear country now, and the rangers advised us to have a fire all night with someone standing watch.

June 29

By midnight I had started a fire, and we all just decided to stay up all night and stand watch together. By 2am it was getting light out again, and by 5:45 am with no boat in sight we decided they were probably waiting til the next high tide at 5:30pm.

I took a nap for a few hours, then by 8am we were all up again. To kill some time I tried to improvise a fishing rod

and line with my hiking pole, thread, a safety pin, and some horseflies I’d caught over the previous days. Unfortunately I didn’t get any bites, though I’d heard there are big arctic char in the water there.

Pat and I also went for a quick swim in the Arctic Ocean, and as we were there we saw two boats pull in. They didn’t come anywhere near us though. I checked my inreach and the ranger just sent a message that Randal would come around 4pm. So these were just some other boats cruising around for the long weekend.

By 3:30pm we packed up our bags and waited around at the waters edge. We each took bets on when the boat would come. Nobody bet 4pm. 4pm came and went, then Pat’s guess of 4:25pm came and went, and my guess of 4:30pm turned out incorrect. Christina’s bet of 4:45pm also came and went, but at 4:46pm I spotted a boat on the horizon approaching very quickly. Christina turned out to be the winner.

Randal and Jeremy motored over to us at a deep part of the water and we all threw our bags in the boat. We were soon motoring back out of the bay. The boat ride cost 400CAD for the group and I’d say it was totally worth it. The guys drove really fast and it felt like a roller coaster ride going over the waves. We each just stood up in the back and held on to the side as we got almost continuously sprayed with water. I wish I’d worn my dry suit.

The scenery was amazing, with desolate granite shorelines and only the occasional small cabin on the shore. We travelled for about an hour before finally seeing a few trees on shore when we approached Kangiqsualujjuaq. We pulled into the takeout, then Randal jumped out, backed up a truck, and Jeremy motored the boat onto the trailer.

Randal pulled the boat with us in it into town to the parks office to pick up some gear we’d left there, then he dropped us off near the airport just outside of town. We pitched tents just across the gravel road from the small airport building, next to a few dozen oil drums full of arctic diesel. We all went on a short hike up the ridge above camp before bed and saw an amazing sunset over Ungava Bay.

June 30

In the morning I went for another hike up above camp, then we went into the airport around 11:30am. There was a

1:30pm flight out to Kuujjuaq, and Yeuhi decided to get on it to make some progress in case the flight the next day got cancelled, even though it was not possible to get all the way to Montreal that day. The change fee was a bit steep for the rest of us so we just decided to spend another day in town and wait.

Steven stayed in camp to catch up on sleep while Pat, Christina and I went into town to catch up on calories. The only restaurant in town hadn’t been open in months since the cook left, and one of the general stores was closed for Canada Day weekend. The Northern was open, though, so we gorged on pizza poppers, 2 liters of ice cream, and a bunch of chips.

That evening we hiked up a few peaks north of the airport, then pitched camp up on the ridge above the airport to try to get away from the bugs.

July 1

The next morning we made our flight out on time, and interestingly noticed a lot of sea ice just off the coast. We had apparently gotten lucky that it hadn’t prevented our boat pickup. In Kuujjuaq we had a few-hours layover and went to chat with our air traffic controller friend again.

In the afternoon we flew out and made it to Montreal that night. We celebrated with dinner at a St Hubert’s in the evening and spent the night at Pat’s parent’s house.

July 2

We all left Montreal by various means in the morning (flying, driving, or train), except for Steven, who was still spending a few more days in Kangiqsualujjuaq to wait for the later flight out. After United messed up my flights I managed to eventually get home to Seattle by 1am that night. I would then have a 3-day rest in Seattle before departing for another month-long expedition to Tajikistan.

 

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