Next Saturday, I’ll be boarding a floatplane with five other canoeists for Lac de Gras, 300 km from Yellowknife. From there, we’ll head down the Coppermine River to the community of Kugluktuk, in the Arctic Gulf.

Straddling the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, the Coppermine flows through nearly 700 km of shrub tundra. Home to caribou and muskoxen, wolves and grizzly bears… and voracious hordes of mosquitoes! Located mostly above the Arctic Circle, the Coppermine enjoys 24 hours of sunshine in summer. The Dene and Inuit peoples who have inhabited this region since immemorial times have, as of the eighteenth century, witnessed the passage of mythical historical expeditions, the most famous of which being that of Samuel Hearne and Matonabee.

It will be a pleasure to take the time, for almost a month, to live on the water in this legendary place!