17 Days in Uncharted Wilderness | Where the Waters Begin | Full Documentary

foreign in the geographic heart of Quebec there lies a Great Wilderness of unspoiled Beauty [Music] creation of mysticity have bestowed upon this land the name ewe wash meaning placed where the waters come from here sprawl is a wild land where nature still maintains rule of law the baron Tundra Windswept tiger and great boreal forest all converge against the backdrop of the remote and secluded odish mountains [Music] the Western fringes of these isolated Peaks give rise the mysterious tishagami River until recently nearly inaccessible her turbulent Alpine Waters remained secret to all but a privileged few [Music] Oddish mountains are bust [Music] we'd begin our journey by driving one of Quebec's northernmost highways Into the Heart of the mountains nearly inaccessible until the recent construction of a remote resources Road [Music] the last documented account of the upper tishagami that we could track down was nearly a half century-old Upstream push from a camp Kuwait and Expedition following in the footsteps of the cree peoples our planned descent would be one of the few if any undertaken by modern paddlers through the place where the waters come from [Music] over the course of 17 days this Expedition will see us travel 300 kilometers through the Untamed Wilds of Northern Quebec we'll start our trip in the Valley of the odish mountains bushwhacking past turbulent Alpine flows until we reach the Waters of the mysterious tishigami River shigami will face numerous Rapids as the river tumbles Downstream through Waters which few have traveled before [Music] the sprawling lowlands and Windswept shores of Lake bedou [Music] he traced the traditional root of the cree peoples venturing Upstream through a maze of shallow Waters to the height of land before the final push Downstream to the big Waters of lakes mistasini and Avenel and a combined 17 kilometers of exposed open water crossing at the mercy of Quebec's largest lake [Music] thank you foreign I am so stoked right now we are in the Otis mountains and we've been driving for like 14 hours just in this Gravel Pit but we're in the valley of all these mountains and coming up here it was getting Barren land and like tag and Tundra Style and man this is just incredible the sun's starting to set on us and we're just looking for a good spot to set up camp for tonight because we're actually going to be bushwhacking to get to the start of the tashmi river but we're just looking for a good place to set up well the drive is what something like that but I'm gonna get a beer into me I already get a warm meal and uh I'm I'm pumped I'm ready yeah get to bed wake up early and get going so we're just kicking off this trip really excited about this one got a crew of six gonna be potentially really important because we've got some stretches of potential serious white water but flows are low so we don't know what we're gonna get when we go further down the river in terms of difficulty I'm pretty nervous actually because I was like yeah cool it's just you know a bunch of Rapids and you know quick succession like it's not gonna be a big deal and then I'm sitting in the house before we leave and I'm actually looking at the maps and I'm like holy crap like this is a lot class four class four class four false class three class three false and it's like okay so I think it's gonna really push my skills excited a little bit nervous a little antsy uh this will be my biggest trip to date so I I don't know I'm confident it'll be it'll be good I think there'll be some uh good white water hopefully really excited for this one this environment up here is just gorgeous right now we're in this gorgeous chain of mountains and we'll be doing some hikes and stuff around here too before you hit the water just because we're not going to be in the Valley of the mountains for more than two days so we really want to take advantage of it and you know poke around but let's go I'm so excited [Music] oh so we're in the oldish mountains and we're just descending to the top of the tree line here there's a range we saw before we wanted to to paddle we wanted to hike get a good view of the area and we're nearly at the top now although we are getting clipped out this is unreal stunted trees cliffs crazy [Laughter] wow [Music] absolutely incredible I'm at a loss for words up here it is just such a magical place [Music] it's worth the hike I'm just blown away by this absolutely incredible Landscapes up here [Music] located at the geographical center of Quebec the odish mountains are the life-giving source of waters for Rivers emptying into three of Quebec's major watersheds on Gava James and Hudson's Bay and the St Lawrence River the waters that begin here will flow thousands of kilometers to their eventual Oceanic Terminus providing life and energy to the lands and people along the way they tag out that way but which mountains continue that way River Valley over there we're going to be paddling unreal start to the trip can't wait to get on the water now you guys ready to paddle the gosh me yeah yeah do it thank you all right let's roll our main Creek to the tagashimi we are on the water we're in a small unnamed stream right now and we're gonna be paddling this down to the tagashmi river it's only a couple kilometers best access point really it's an old gravel pit from here we're gonna go down and there'll be a couple Rapids and stuff that will get on the tagashme river oh my God the neoprene sauce awesome long Jam despite being just a few short kilometers long the unnamed Creek proved to be a formidable warm-up for the paddle ahead with just a trickle of water to cushion our canoes the remainder of the day was spent slowly waiting Downstream eagerly anticipating deeper waters of the tishagami so we came down the creek and we're at or the North Branch of the takashimi meets up got a couple little like class ones 50 nonsense here and then it's gonna spin us into the South Branch with kashmi and it's the main tagashi River from here on in so yeah I'm really pumped it wasn't too bad a little bit of a creek whack and I'm actually gonna run some right water all right she's greater eh when we finally reached the tishagami we were awestruck with what lay before us [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] we finally made it to the tagashimi river did a nice hike up into the oldish mountains today and uh started off in the Headwater stream pushed through there but man the scenery around here is absolutely amazing we're right now in a mountain valley odish mountains are on both sides and the tagashmi just winds its way through here pretty open lots of black Spruce reindeer moss and whatnot in the background just incredible scenery water's really low though so it might be a factor in how the rest of this trip goes because we have a section later on in the trip where it's just rapid after rapid but it's low it's bouldery so we'll see how that goes when we get there but thus far loving it so far first night out here is absolutely amazing scenery is just fantastic [Applause] our first evening on the tishagami was surreal tucked away on a Bend of the river enveloped in the Mountain Valley we were in all of our surroundings as the lands faded slowly into the evening Darkness it seemed nothing could break our Spellbound captivation that is until we flip the canoes over for the night oh there is some blood on it yeah there was a nice bug that was killed and sprayed down I think like maybe two or three more and I think we're done unfortunately that seems to be quite a lot but we got other stuff so no one punch a hole in both of us barely a day into our trip and we had already experienced our first significant setback the gel coat on one of our canoes was rapidly failing we had no choice but to stay up late into the night making repairs and patches to a canoe that had not yet seen any Rapids with over two weeks of babbling ahead it was hard to shake the unnerving feeling that our trip might be doomed from the start all right [Music] perhaps all right guess what a surprising rest day today we had some unforeseen canoe repairs to make on one of the boats last night unfortunately and we're just waiting for some of the bond of the epoxy resin we put on there to set a bit of a soft spot in the middle of the canoe there had some gel coat work done on it but it looks like the gel coat work that was done on it didn't take and we've got a ton of Rapids down river we've got about seven to eight more days of travel on the river including some big potential White Water sections we don't really want to have that boat being a liability on trip so we've been doing some field repairs thankfully it's a nice sunny day so we're letting that epoxy resin cure and half of us are going to go do a hike in the meantime while the rest are just going to relax and kick back and enjoy the gorgeous scenery around here but that's why you gotta factor in some flexibility in your trip plans because you never know what you're gonna face [Applause] yeah let's get her up that mountain peak number two oh Crazy Gems around this place man little surprise Mountain Street yeah who would have thought it [Applause] man I don't know why I wore shorts and a t-shirt for this but if you move fast enough you can outrun the bugs and as we were climbing we're getting some wind but man Bush walking through here is just incredible yeah it's a dream wide open Mossy Spruce forests can have sight lines for kilometers around you this is incredible Bush walking yeah it's like open but the footings kind of sketched yeah better than clothes 100 dude we made it everyone yeah boy correct oh wow right over there Brad's dancing 800 meter peek and he's dancing [Music] just incredible views up here literally 360 degree view of the odish mountains here to the tag over there gosh me River Valley down below just incredible [Music] here at the northern limit of the Boreal forest the lands transition to open Plains of shrubs and black Spruce known as taiga at nearly one kilometer above sea level the peaks of the Otis reveal a new landscape of fragile arctic tundra where trees give way to lichens mosses and ground-hugging shrubs [Music] like the video or pictures really can't show how incredible this place is it's just it's indescribable I'm in such all it's wow [Music] either over top you can go over top and then as I'm coming through yes I release okay okay oh perfect what's the view like from the top oh the best I've seen best on the trip so far no best ever that I've seen personally like ever yeah it was phenomenal I can't describe it 360 like panel view of like I don't know of everything tons of lakes and bogs and creeks and other Peaks you can see like just everywhere you can see it's far emptiness yeah foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] today we are going to try to get further down river for once we are starting to hit some white water hopefully the repairs we did to the canoe are going to hold up pretty crucial because we're going to be entering a big stretch of white water sets over the next couple days and we really want to make sure that Hall is dialed in and it's not going to get further damaged bit disconcerting but I think the repair job was looking pretty stellar right now there's some more rigidity back in the hall gonna be our first real day on the river I'm I'm really excited to go down river I mean we're already on day four and we've barely moved it feels really weird first day of Rapids on the water first first actual day on the river yeah it'll be good I have about three liters of water because it's super hot be good to go so the repair job in the canoe is holding up really nicely the hall got a little stiffer now that epoxy resin has really nicely set in there so I think we're going to be good for the rest of this trip just something in the back of the mind to consider when we're going through some of those Rapids yeah it's the important part about doing a trip like this you got to make sure you always carry a repair kit with you because you never know what's going to happen to your equipment so just make sure that you have the skills and the know-how to fix some of these potential repair jobs that would come up on trip oh [Music] foreign [Music] it's really tight you got stuck do you want anyone up here first rapid of the trip and a canoe was stuck broadside Midstream the risk of pinning here was precariously high and doing so could mean a lost canoe at the end of our journey just in case yeah well I'm gonna probably get on that rock maybe because else this angle you're gonna go that way I think we need to be over here eh yeah okay one two three go nice well done good job guys oh first day word I'm too worried about it so far a fantastic battle down the tishagami river lost little rapid there first real intro to White Water on the trip and uh one of the boats kind of got hung up on one of the Rocks looks like the water levels are pretty low going down here so these big sand bars make great spots to rest but that just probably means that some of the Rapids further Downstream are going to be pretty low too we're coming up to a section where there's some Falls and I've marked some class threes and twos so we'll see how they're going to be like at these flows hopefully we can actually run some decent Rapids without bouncing off Boulders and whatnot but we'll see how the river looks when we get down there really excited to see if those Falls are actually something pretty special too so let's see what the rest of the day brings we've come up to a set of small falls in the tishagami river the lead up to it is about a class one or a Swift and we're definitely not going over the run at the end here so we're just all going to try to ducky our way down one boat out for another into a little pool over here then we're gonna line and Portage our way down pull this Locker [Music] all right Bush back it is my favorite type of Adventure how's that bushrock cam pretty easy with the open Bush yeah it's nice hey open not challenging I would say first one down [Applause] the river had started to Quicken its Pace as the calm Waters of the Mountain Valley gave rise to Boulder strewn sets of Rapids [Applause] how are we looking here ready [Music] there you go nice yo that was a perfect line very very very very very hot but it's good so far all the classifications are down about one at least one class down from what we predicted um just based off the water levels they're real low so it's been good though we uh hit a perfect line earlier which is awesome so yeah it's making our way to camp even up for you foreign [Applause] oh yeah we got a line here nice good job got this positioning the stern forward that wasn't that bad good line it's just shallow all right that was a little awkward sorry good straight dude that was so like you're lying but I mean we were just hitting Boulders and stuff no I know it was like we we had good lines but we got kind of hung up on one and I was like all right late day and we are portal housing inside the river we've been running a bunch of the Rapids but at this point in time we came over to River left and we're getting bouldered out the only real option is to line on river right but to do so we'd almost need to go back upstream and then over and because it's really shallow there's not really a good spot to get your blade in the water so getting back on the other side is looking like a lengthy option too so we've all decided that we're gonna pour tires through this fairly open Woods it's actually pretty open in here so it makes trekking along pretty easy a little little lights out you know struggling with this oh okay the other thing is you think it's flat to walk through but every step you take you sink and these hummocks those down trees and stuff it's better to just drag the canoe through this it's soft [Music] late day rapid fun we just did a an hourly Little Bush back nice open sort of tundra type Meadow back here but there's a good little class to sort of run here but it pushes you right towards the brink of the Fall so what we're going to do is flows are conducive to running this section so we're gonna run the first little area and then move over to River right and then maybe a line up to the precipice of the falls and hopefully at the precipice of the falls we'll find a campsite because it is getting later in the day I think we're all a little tired and uh dehydrated bug fatigued right now Blair's the only concern Sun's going below the trees probably won't see them so yeah we'll see how this run goes but uh might lose a bit of paint on this one okay good yeah nice great yeah and then kind of straight and then do we want to go right to the right awesome day out here fantastic gorgeous sight here absolutely amazing we have Santa Pam beside this really sweeping set of waterfall here gorgeous view of the mountains over there and the Sun is just different below the horizon foreign they like me yeah tomorrow we're going to be starting a rapid section so we will see how that goes but it's going to be more of what we just did today but just endless sets after sets after set Eddie in Eddie out Scout find a line and keep going so gonna get rested up tonight making a big old pass to dinner and gonna relax by the fire and just enjoy the Splendor up here it's amazing I can't believe this is in Canada it's the scenery in this country is just so diverse constantly Blown Away [Music] foreign with the river rescue and a patch canoe fresh in the back of our minds nerves were high in anticipation of the next section our crude map was a guideline for what lay ahead a seemingly endless set of Rapids that would likely command a few days to overcome [Music] [Music] thank you good morning big day today we are making our way down the rapid section the tishagami river this section is about 20 kilometers long but contains about 50 Rapids or so with these lower flows some of the bigger sets might be able to run but then some of the smaller sets we might be lining and waiting so we'll see what happens further on in the day it's supposed to be a scorcher again today 28 degrees full sun no wind so that means clouds black flies and more heat exhaustion it's supposed to be like 28 today it's gonna kill us luckily we'll be waiting in the water a lot because a lot of the Rapids we have to like line up to and things like that so it's going to be a little dicey it was pretty pumped to have lots of Rapids hopefully we're able to run or line most of them ideally run I hope my face stops uh being swollen bug bites good news is it does look like it's going to cool off and the weather's going to break after today so this might be our last log for a while just yesterday we're all getting a little loopy and dehydrated paddling in the sun kind of just baking in our canoes there [Music] the odish mountains behind we now enter into a section of river dominated by near endless sets of challenging White Water over the course of 25 kilometers the tishagami will Quicken its pace and Tumble over 50 sets of Rapids and falls challenging part of our Expedition and successfully navigating this portion will require immense teamwork skill and patience with runnable sets flowing directly into Falls and other perils the margin for error will be clouds up there look like they are going to bring some rain in about 12 to 24 hours you can see it looks like little puffy cotton balls up there usually that precludes nasty weather coming in like a disturbance or a cold front so when you see those little tiny cotton ball clouds all together usually means you will get a change in weather at some point in time I mean we're kind of excited for a bit of rain because it might bring the river up and it might kind of dissipate the bugs or it could just bring all the mosquitoes out we've got a bit of a two to three kilometer stretch of Where the River gets really braided looks pretty Sandy lots of beaches already beside us here and then we hit those Rapids [Music] good job left flip yes yes oh we definitely scraped on that one [Music] good job it was shallower than I thought it was eh [Applause] I think we're only gonna go about eight or ten kilometers today but it's going to take us a long time to get down there because we're gonna have to scout either line and wait and then Portage or run so of course there's all the effort of getting out of the boat checking out what's going to happen ahead of you getting back in the boat making a game plan and then deciding what you're going to do from there on in and it's just set after set after set after set like every single set flows into each other with just a little pool or a Neti line to catch so we're gonna have to keep our wits about us we're gonna have to communicate and we're just gonna have to strategize and take it safe and slow to get through this next section here all right where's our line here right in front of us so we're just gonna go slightly yeah yeah yeah yeah right here yep four that was very good [Music] bro [Music] babe that was amazing now let's just get through this spread the needle nice where are we going here turn to the right [Applause] left yeah nice no rocks that was fun we hit that line exactly hit that line I don't have anything dangerous marked up it's C2 C3 C plus for a while we get into the gnarlier stuff when I flip the map uh 4B which I haven't done yet thank you [Music] kilometer after kilometer the river flowed through Boulder strewn sets of Rapids every band in its course would reveal continuous white water that we blindly ran nice forging ahead we kept an eye open for the calmer Waters of a safe Eddy line and the only rescue at hand to avoid being swept up into dangerous obstructions we reluctantly resorted to lining and waiting [Music] there's no other way though the going was slow and demanding as Swift water and Slick rocks made for treacherous footing oh Christ man break something Jesus it's gonna it'll keep giving its lock giving its lock so that it goes out and then it'll have to go tight we'll pull it in so basically the current's gonna take it and we have to pull it before it goes all the way down river okay one more a bit more thousand stairs got to clear foreign [Music] so far so good running down these Rapids I've been actually able to line or run the majority of them and the classifications are definitely a lot lower but you can see all the weeds and the trees here that the water is normally a lot higher so we actually got pretty lucky with the water levels even though they're lower we can still run stuff if we had another foot of water though this would be a blast but we're still making it down and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous more sets on the day and hopefully this run line Eddie out pick a line sort of thing continues and uh yeah should be a good day foreign [Applause] [Applause] nice good recovery hold on oh a little more left yeah hard left hard left hard left hard left nice okay [Music] straight go straight let's move through here wedged over there I don't want to take their line left left pull me left left nice yep yeah I see the top oh that wasn't exactly what we wanted to do but it worked here they come that was good eh yeah a little Boulder Garden fun okay we're gonna thread the needle are we going center right now oh I see yeah and then right nice what's up internet land all right so we are about to enter what looks like the baron lands looks like a big forest fires came through this region and because the temperature and climb it up here facilitates very slow growing Seasons it's likely that a lot of these trees are just 30 to 40 years ago some of these fires came through yep [Applause] oh camera are stuck hold on left yeah let's go left we can weave through left left yeah nice nice left hard left turn left yeah they're stuck I don't know we just weave right past them they might need a quick rescue it doesn't look high consequence but they're stuck let's go it's a great day on the river we were able to pretty much run basically every single rapid maybe line a few little things the water levels are actually pretty good for running most of the Rapids a little technical here and there and bumping and grinding some places but there's actually a few really fun runs intersparsed day five of uh black flies that is with wearing a bug jacket we found a really nice Sandbar Island here and it's kind of smack dab in the middle of this sort of barren landscape sparse trees Labrador tea just coating the hills and lots of rough Boulders and the sight lines are pretty pretty far around here you can see the mountains way out that way and mountains out that way too so really really cool spot you're gonna enjoy our evening here and make a big old dinner thinking we're doing some black bean burgers so I'm gonna be tasty as we settled in for another evening at camp the events of the second river rescue and as many days weighed heavily on our minds we were only one third of the way through the wild waters of the tishagami with the maps hinting that tomorrow would bring lengthier sets of formidable White Water everything and everyone would need to be dialed in if we were to safely make it Beyond [Music] [Music] [Music] rainy morning today folks excited to get through this next stretch of Rapids but uh yeah the weather's kind of putting a damper on it first rainy morning on the Trip's always an adjustment change eh but road trip get through it I don't know pretty miserable Vibe right now to like go out there it's gnarly headwind with white caps and some nonsense and then probably rain later too and then running White Water it's gonna be a wet day wet cold day yeah everybody's been getting a bit tired of the Heat but this is kind of the other end of the spectrum it's good it's raining sideways got some white cats the headwind makes it feel like we're going Upstream Positive Vibes eating lots of candy today and uh lots and lots of hot chocolate looking forward to some mac and cheese beefy mac and cheese yeah food will definitely be our motivator candy on candy on sugar is how we're going to get through this do this it is driving Misty rain right now the wind is definitely gusting pretty strong out there got a mean headwind there's actually white caps on the river at times when the gusts blow through and to make matters worse we're going through an area where like all along the shoreline just past five meters of trees there's absolutely no trees and it's Barons so the wind is just whipping through here there's no protection whatsoever today yeah yell at me today because the wind's gonna drown out everything first rapid of the day in the wind still go too far see that pillow yeah perfect nice good job we're gonna get into another set of long Rapids that just flow into each other so we'll have to be editing out and lining and scouting and whatnot this weather is going to make it pretty interesting oh I see let's see oh yeah right left is too tight y nice yo so we can get into the air run the line down if we want to go Daddy [Applause] I won't run anything Eddie out over there if you can the first few kilometers revealed how the remainder of the day would unfold running Rapids to the brink of Falls or dangerous sets we would resort to lining and waiting down River's Edge [Music] okay here we go you got it you're gonna have to pull that towards me hard okay here we go right around on this corner here we'll have to get up hold the steering in pull the stern in nice there you go perfect the driving Wind and Rain chilled us to the core and threatened to Halt all progress the only way to keep warm was by moving forward overcoming the river's numerous impediments meter by meter step by step [Music] thank you nice that was a little tighter entry eh all right foot Street all right we got blown by the wind there I swear we just got blown by the wind of course pick a line any line let's go so make our way down to that next Eddie are you guys good [Music] as the morning Slipped Away to late afternoon we continue to find ourselves in the middle of unending White Water remained high as every exposed Boulder the river presented was one errant stroke Away From Another River rescue by being ready to the right no no no no nice [Music] well done are you ready with the drawer [Applause] three nice big room okay we've hard here good good all right wow that was a arm workout yeah very technical that when we were coming in there and we just that weave it was just like slow slow slow slow slow [Music] it was just a long line we're like they're gonna let us know if they're in the Neti or not oh we got it I wasn't graceful actually all that lines bad that's tricky there's no good line there trying to leave through there's a rock right ahead of us though actually I think we're good up up up up nice nice [Music] whoa yeah we just kissed that rock right there the other line actually that's where we're gonna go and now I look at it I'm like but you all went this way I was like it's because that last black rock at the end I'm like the most interesting thing on the trip so far is the fact that we haven't seen any signs of anyone really using this River at least paddlers we would assume that some of the traditional Cree Trappers have you utilized this area obviously in the past and maybe continue to do so but we really haven't seen any signs of human use no cut logs no signs of campsites no blazes nothing really it feels like paddling down a river that no one ever has gone down before [Music] what a Scenic River just blown away by the scenery and it keeps changing coming into the mountains in the dense forest then we come down to these sort of barren landscape all the endless Rapids I can't wait to see what's around the next Bend because it just keeps changing this is incredible [Music] holy oh wow wow what a canyon what do you think Jacob outstanding crazy all right Canyon Run time baby let's do this thank you all done babes [Music] foreign [Music] on this map this is just incredible [Music] [Music] what a fun run though eh 9 30 this morning when we started and it's probably like close to three now it's barely not any Flat Water probably done like a total of a kilometer of Flat Water so um now it's just let's try to find somewhere to camp and warm up because we're literally soaked thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] a little miserable welcome to Northern Quebec where it weather changes on a dime plus 31 day and plus four and Randy the next we're just kind of high up on a bank right now there's not a whole lot of campsite options around here and these sort of barren lands are really exposed to the wind and the rain so we just kind of hunker down under the tarp had a quick dinner and now we're all back in the tents and gonna call her an early night it doesn't look like it's gonna break for a while so hopefully we do catch a break tomorrow as we make our way further down river but yeah the cold kind of miserable weather day but really exciting day too for for running white water and stuff a lot of excitement going through some of those sets and it's been really fun just running what seems to be almost endless sets where uh you're just moving along and doing quick boat scouts or or jumping out from Eddie to Eddie and continue to flush down the river so hard day good day and looking forward to the next one it's the struggle of putting away camp in the pouring rain we have a slight break right now which is kind of nice but it's still misting and blowing really hard so it still kind of feels like a full rain but you know it's kind of all part of the journey I suppose [Music] windy and cold on the tishagami river we are making our way down to the Confluence of another River I believe it's the moon I could be wrong do you have more Rapids on the day we have some more sets ahead of us maybe some bigger ones again that we're gonna have to line down and whatnot but uh Spirits are pretty high even after yesterday's foggy nonsense you might be out of the unknown section today we'll see how far we go we're getting close to it but man this is [Music] too far it's hard to believe we are basically a weekend [Music] [Music] with the early morning presenting larger sets of white water both too big to run and far too dangerous to line we shouldered our gear and portaged across the open lands [Music] I can catch it [Music] the Overland treks were a welcome departure from the lining and waiting of the days passed yet reaching the end of one Portage would only reveal another torrent of water further Downstream and a new barrier to overcome wow look at those Falls good [Music] [Applause] [Music] so Bush back Portage and it is that's what today Mother Nature's menu is serving up we're just portaging by a big rapid twin set of Falls bushwhacking through pretty open Forest thankfully it'd be easier just to drag the canoe through here eh pretty cool view up here though see the mountains in the background and the river down below at least the terrain is fairly open for finding a way through but it's still thick underbrush Labrador tea and downed trees throughout here oh definitely biting your ankles and on the hummocks and stuff in a few parts too how's it going oh you know chilling oh yeah I'm just gorgeous [Music] the bushwhack Portage [Music] what a grind man oh walk wherever you can walk uh a lot harder [Music] this little match Dude where's my this side up sticker what's going on here it's not the problem [Music] oh that was good let's just keep it beautiful this is what gave me through it that one um it wasn't too bad the hardest thing is is finding your line because if you go the wrong way the footing is just terrible but besides that it's like an easy bushwhacker not like Hawking through trees or bush or anything so I don't know not too bad fun okay ready babes all right see you guys I think we're going over these we gotta get out the wave train over there after hours of portaging we finally reached water safe enough to run with our canoes once again we faced a river choked with Boulders but this time making Swift Downstream progress I think punched right through here and see that one sticking right up we're gonna just come right next to it [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] as we near the end of a long set of Rocky White Water the Confluence of another River came into view it was here that the Waters of the tishagami would combine with that of another River doubling in size and hinting that it was leaving behind its shallow Rocky course [Music] foreign river flowing here into the 10 cheshigami River and we should pick up more volume of water hopefully continuing Downstream on the teshigami but from this point on there is more documented use of travel now it's few and far between so with traveled it looks bouldery I guess we are the front area babes once we catch us on the Stream catch it catch it nice nice good job good oh let's see a big wave train out okay with the Waters of both Rivers now flowing as one the tishagami quickened its pace and course through larger pushier rapids oh huge wave train okay big wave train [Music] dude let's try to get to the center a bit okay well done nice oh we hit something there [Music] nice very good job that was really good flat yes good nice [Music] coming down this lower portion of the tishagami river a lot of the rock is kind of giving away to these Sandy Banks and we're now picking up more jock Pine the pure Spruce forest intersparks with you know some scraggly Tamaracks has now given way to stands of Jack Pine and Spruce and we're now seeing the teshigami mountain range coming in the background over there too so we'll be actually paddling down the river until we get towards Lake bedou and then we turn down Lake bedou this range of mountains is going to flank us on our way down too so we're still going to be paddling past mountains for the next couple days it's just incredible how this River changes kilometer after kilometer and just keeps delivering impressive scenery [Music] we're going to be pushing for another few kilometers just trying to find a campsite for tonight but we're thinking down this sort of way on the river we're going to be ending up on one of these gorgeous sand Flats ah fantastic a little more paddling ahead and we'll find a campsite except for two days of cold wind and rain we finally get some sun and we found this perfect little piece of paradise keshigami gods have shined down on us today we had two days of horrible weather and we were pretty bone chilled and now we have a beautiful sunny spot on a gorgeous gorgeous Beach today was pretty good we were able to run a lot of Rapids and then we had our first like real Portage which honestly was probably a good thing it was really cold because there were no bugs because I can't imagine doing that Portage with bugs but the labrador tea is like past our waist it was in a burn spot so all the trees were down but incredible Falls beautiful beautiful spot well now we got some easier days up we have some easier days ahead it's honestly hard though when you're just doing sets after sets like those rapid days oh God no we just got to keep going there's no time there's no time I'm gonna go make time but I'm gonna go as far [Music] camped on a large sweeping Bend in the river it was almost hard to imagine that just a week ago we had been dragging through shallow streams to reach its Rocky upper stretches the tishagami had rewarded all our daily struggles with captivating Landscapes enduring Solitude and an overwhelming feeling of tranquil accomplishment tomorrow we would be leaving the tishagami river behind but our adventure was far from over [Music] [Music] foreign good morning this is our final day here on the teshigami river kind of sad actually this has been a pretty sweet Journey so far on the river but the trip is far from over I mean one of the main goals of the trip was to paddle the teshigami river up from the oldish mountains down to Lake badeaux and it kind of feels like a really important chapter on the trip is coming to a close but we have quite a bit more piling ahead of us we're not even halfway down our trip so far so I'm sure there'll be lots of excitement ahead but it's just been really amazing to see this River kind of turned from a small stream into this really really large body of water cutting through the Mountain Valley it's been an awesome trip so far hitting some nice white water and testing some skills and working on communication between bound Stern beautiful day compared to the last two days so I'm excited to not wear uh wet shoes and just paddle we're definitely not out of the woodwork for portaging yet we might have a lot more as we head Upstream to the heideland but today it is all flat water paddling save for one rapid [Music] foreign only a few clouds in the sky let's hope this weather continues and it's a lovely day on the river [Music] all right ladies and gentlemen big wave train is going to be fun all right see you guys at the bottom [Applause] [Applause] thank you [Applause] first like real big pushy rapid on the trip it was so sorry oh my God unfortunately it's like our last one but that was bomber so it's a really good send-off of the uh teshigami River wow [Applause] so that was a last rapid on the teshigami river we've got about 20 kilometers of Flat Water paddling ahead of us before we get to Lake Meadow and then we're gonna find ourselves a lovely little spot but yeah that one was nice and pushy so it's a shame that we didn't have more of that it'd be great to continue all the way down to the East Main River but that's not what our plans are calling for so yeah Rapids are done flat water ahead should be a great day at paddling I think we curved to the bend here this should be a big point we should curve but generally if you see like a big cut Bank like that it means the current's been flowing through here anyways yeah so we've reached the end of the tishagami river for us it continues down that way towards the East Main and behind me here lake bedou is where we are headed now so we're going to be going down Lake but oh gorgeous gorgeous Lake flanked by mountains down there pretty safe fabulous going to celebrate with some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies on the reflector oven tonight Super Soap we're actually gonna take a rest day down there too well deserved the big unknown of our trips done going down the river and now we get a enjoy this wonderful Lake for a few days after more than a week of Westerly paddling on the tishagami we would now steer to the South embarking on a new part of the journey with our sights set firmly on the height of land [Music] oh Lake bedou Paradise found on a gorgeous Sandy Beach on the North End of the lake flanked by mountains over there Sun's gonna set over there perfect spot hammered out about 32 kilometers today of Flat Water paddling mostly one really nice quick pushy little white water run and it's all worth it because we get this gorgeous Sandy Beach which we're going to stay here for two days because we're going to use this as our rest day stop we're about the Midway point of our trip right now from here on in we're gonna be going upstream and crossing the height of land before we go down the wabasini river and then out to Lake mistasini and Avenel but the weather's looking good we're going to enjoy ourselves Midway part of the trip well deserved rest what a perfect spot to do it on this gorgeous Sandy Beach everyone is super excited to be hanging out here for a couple days it's just it's Paradise you know I think you'd find something like this in the tropics but uh we're up here in Northern Quebec perfect we are attempting oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for the first time it was a just add water mix so I'm hoping that they turn out well after a nice hard day of paddling and celebration ending our River cart cooking them on the reflector oven and then you're going to eat the entire thing so good this is uh well worth it after 30k of paddling today this is exactly what I want it's really regular flag there's like there's like four cookies in one definitely would make again and I'm going to make again [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] brunch some apple crisp courtesy of Emily hopefully it turns out well it's been some coffee some Cowboy Coffee cookies got pancakes going over there courtesy of Maggie Lee and Jacob and there's some sausage over there foreign [Music] foreign oh okay boys and girls Lawn Bowling just got a whole lot more serious the hair was in my eyes obviously blonde boys not his first talent oh pigtails are good luck they're working celebratory dance [Applause] it's been amazing that beautiful weather actually yeah and only two days ago we could not ask cannot ask for a better rest day yeah no bugs even though we're on a beach computer beautiful as we finally swim yeah we watched our hair felt so good we all got a bit burnt yeah a great great trip so far what are you doing Brad more field repairs because this canoe went in for a gel coat but I don't think the gel coat adhered properly I don't know if enough hardener was used the new gel coat's flaking off and in turn it's taking off parts of the old gel coat so I'm putting some goop as a barrier to all the exposed weaves right now we've tied down the skid plate because it flaked up so now we have a Trucker's Hitch on the other side pulling tension down put the skid plate down we've ramped up the goose so it's not as dramatic of a flare this Hall is just a mess of different Back Country engineering and repair jobs to get us through this I mean once it's back in the back in town it'll need a full re-gel coat for sure the weave itself is still fine but the gel coat that's on top of the weave is not fine the rest of the gel coat in the bow looks really good but in the stern it's probably just the mix ratio wasn't done properly so it's unfortunate but this is why you bring a repair kit because things can happen unfortunately looking forward to tomorrow we are going down Lake bedou I think it's about 26 kilometers in length supposed to have favorable winds I think the wind is switching to a Tailwind so that should facilitate some easier travel down the lake but uh we're basically just on the Northern tip of the lake right now so we have the full length of the lake to go um well rested ready to go continue our trip things are going to get interesting now we are kind of into the second leg of the journey we'll be going down the lake and then paddling up to the height of land and then taking the wabasin river down to the larger Lakes [Music] please [Music] it's day 10 on our canoe trip we just had our rest day and we're heading down Lake bedou it's about 23 kilometers we have a wicked Tailwind today so we're gonna probably fly down this Lake it's a pretty long Lake but yeah we're pretty excited we're starting that second half of our trip which will be down the lake Upstream over High to land down another River and then out to the big lakes [Music] oh [Music] oh another one oh this one's wet nice [Applause] Lake bedou stretches for 25 kilometers in a mostly north south Direction with the tishagami mountains rising to the East and broader flat lands to the West we had worried that high winds funneling down the lake could be a potential problem instead we were surprised with some of the best possible paddling conditions afternoon here making our way down Lake Meadow we've got the tishagami mountains off to our left and an old bird off to our right here open blast through the forest on both sides so cool that there's absolutely no development out here there's a few Cree Camp buildings on lake bedok and that's pretty much the only people Beyond recreational canoes who would really get into this just nothing but Wilderness and wild it's spectacular all right we have made it to the south end of Lake but dough campsites down on this end of the lake a few and far between but we did find a little beach where we get our three tents on not the most level spot but it will definitely do in a pinch and then there's a bit of a breeze here to keep the block flies out they it's either on your path so why do we want to get rid of the blue bag though well we got a lot of Port Dodgers the next few days and uh just getting rid of one less carryable item is a huge achievement in my book means we finally ate enough food that our remaining food fits in the food barrel and we're halfway through trip and trip and Barrel still full yeah I don't know that's a lot of food yeah our Barrel has not gone later but our day our regular gear pack has because our pot set now fits in there yeah that's nice and we don't have to hand bomb this thingy anymore pretty full for Dayton of trip yeah yeah our pack like reduced by half at least keep in mind that we haven't like we haven't really like in the shoving and just organizing it's kind of just like chucked in there I mean I think it's pretty good A daytime a trip we still have enough food to fill a food Barrel makes me not concerned weed good A bit of both yeah no one's going hungry on this trip we're about to start our Upstream travel tomorrow 17 kilometers Upstream hopefully it only lasts a day so we're having popcorn tonight to lighten the load for someone to the popcorn oh God uh we currently have some popcorn popping inside this pot um probably the creamiest way to say that yeah [Music] I mean maybe for the audience they could hear the pops and they could probably figure it out but I'm just gonna tell them I'm like yeah it's popping popcorn's in here a lot of kernels in there thank you cards freshly popped popcorn in the pot flavor jalapeno flavor popcorn for the win this is actually pretty good I didn't even effort to get the popcorn popped a bit of stress a little anxious uh waiting for it to pop and it popped I have poo it's good popcorn of this message foreign [Music] we are back to River travel today we're going Upstream on an unnamed Creek we are traveling up to the height of land today the trekop shouldn't be too tricky there are a couple waterfalls and Rapids that we will have to either Portage around or Wade and stream up and around all bugs suited up we're expecting a lot of bugs today so everyone's putting on the Watkins cream and getting their bug jackets ready um I'm expecting it to be pretty bad in the Little Creek the bushwhat creek and in the Portage is suited up the cree First Nations come up here they have a camp on the North End of This Lake where they do hunting and fishing activities we're hoping that those portages are in good condition and that travel is actually relatively easy today because Upstream travel can be fairly arduous if there are no portages in place so we're pretty excited it could be a slog but I'm thinking it's not either way I think it's going to be pretty dang buggy in there and uh definitely going to be a bit of a push today no matter what really excited to see what lies in store because we're kind of leaving Behind these lazy lake days and getting back to that sort of backcountry grind [Music] [Music] we just left the big lake lake Widow we're making our way up in a new Creek it's we'll have a series of some smaller Rapids that we all have to probably line up about 17 to 20K not particularly extreme and not really knowing if we'll have to Portage or if we can just line just wanted to give ourselves a lot of time today [Music] all right [Applause] [Music] continuing south from bedou will approach the height of land it's located in a broad lower plane bordered by Rolling Hills and the tishagami mountains to get there navigate Upstream All Rivers Lake and bogs if all goes well it should take just a day to reach then we can begin the downstream approach to the big Waters of lake mistasini and albanel what's up let's go turbo so we couldn't really find any Portage this year did a quick Bush Scout couldn't find anything the good news is the current's not too strong so we're just waiting Upstream which is actually quite refreshing today and you know then we don't have to get everything out of the boat put it back in the boat and hop from pool the pool we're coming up to a set where it's kind of pool and drop with a lot of little Swifts and class one stuff so we're just going to Pond hop our way up the creek past all these little sets most of them seem pretty small we've been pretty much just like lining and waiting falling up to our necks sometimes um up this kind of unnamed Creek and then it's an 800 meter title and Crossing and we haven't decided if we're gonna stay on this side or the other side of how to land for tonight this side looks like it's more conducive too better camping so let's see maybe we'll get lucky and like the entrance to the Portage for the heideland will be a beach because we've been rocking the beach sites this entire trip pretty much and then we can just Portage our boats across and have a little beach party have some cocktails leaving paint green paint yellow paint and red paint everywhere all day waiting of the unnamed River thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] all right so after a good Upstream push there if we have made it to the height of land Lake fantastic really shallow going up there but thankfully we're able to wait up most of that line up a few sections and we only had two really Portage oh no my flats mud flats head water special all right oh I am Sun Pride we made it to the height of land everything around here drops off optical illusion too it looks like we're on the edge of the world very cool Straight Shot Through The Bog that way and we'll be on what's it called lostinabani Creek so it's a river yeah you're going Downstream that's a very nice thing Downstream what what is that all right time to do the Highland Portage 800 meters looks pretty boggy just zip this thing up because no more swollen face no bugs bug-free Zone geared up and ready to go we lifted packs and canoes and set out over the Watershed divide foreign [Music] [Music] ourselves following in the footsteps of the cree peoples as a well-defined trail likely centuries old guided us across the divide and down to the shimmering Waters Beyond [Music] there we go that's the ridge into a new watershed and we're going back Downstream for the rest of our journey from here on in all right we've made it to Camp decent sight here at the end of the Portage Trail at the height of land it's all downhill from here now so we're gonna be going down river tomorrow next couple days before we get down to Lake Miss Destiny hopefully a little easier travel today wasn't too tricky just some shallow water lining and waiting Upstream just arduous at times but really wasn't too challenging this Trip's actually been a lot easier than anticipated too the river coming down the mountains a lot of those Rapids we could run we didn't have to resort to bushwhack portages coming down here this is a somewhat utilized route by the the cree and kuwadin camps in the past so there are traces that has been used and these trails are still in existence too our travel's been relatively easy at this point in time too allocated a bunch of extra days just because we didn't know what the unknowns we'd be facing out here and so far we haven't had to use them up but we do have Lake mistacity a couple days away and if the weather is bad that Crossing might have to be delayed or we might have to skirt the sides of the lake or we just have some extra days to play with so we'll see I've been read past uh no we got some pizzoli noodles which I almost touched with my hand which I shouldn't do one boiling hot water um and then we're rehydrating beef and tomato sauce with some mushrooms and fresh Romano foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] it is the morning of day 12 and we are going to be heading down the wabissanane river we are basically at the height of land right now all the waters from here on in are going to flow Downstream to Lake Miss Destiny good news for us because if it's shallow and bony like the waters we had yesterday we'll have a little more flow for lining and waiting the canoes through gorgeous day not a cloud in the sky really hot as well black flies are out unfortunately but if we get a bit of a slight wind whipping up later in the day hopefully it'll blow them away lots of little Rapids and Swifts and stuff on our day maybe a few waterfalls and such but we're aiming to go around anywhere from 20 to 30 kilometers depending upon you know how the day shapes up to get to a campsite [Music] thank you [Music] thank you this area around here definitely burned over at some point in the last 20 to 30 years lots of small growth we have a lot more Jack Pine since we left the mountains we left a lot of those black Spruce and Tamarack for us still have a lot of Tamarack and black Spruce around but now he's got a lot of these Jack Pine stands still nice to see some of the pine trees popping up here and there but I do think as we go further down the river we'll get back into some of those more Barren Landscapes as well too [Music] I know it's fun so there you go a little action on the day we're not done Rapids yet apparently wob's got some fun in store for us shallow in part so kind of in and out of the boat but not too bad we can kind of pull our way through this our first rapid had way more water than we were expecting so high hopes for the rest of the day because we're about to enter a rapid Zone foreign weighed and go down some cheese grater Rapids thankfully it's a warm day and we don't mind getting wet because on a cold day this would be kind of crappy but that's a downstream travel from the height of land in July everything is [Music] down the cheese grater [Music] foreign travel was slow but steady each passing rapid gained a little more volume as the river gradually started to take shape leave it oh yeah nice I always got to get lifted up yeah there we go perfect oh the bow got wedged oh eight the uh Portage has been getting better and better Highland Crossing was great but this is well used super clear nice Jack Pine Forest so the tree species have definitely changed to be predominantly Jack Pine around here nice Sandy soils really holds a path for a long time [Applause] absolute gorgeous Portage to uh walk through down here yeah it's not too bad we've got a couple other people coming this way traffic jam traffic jams nice Portage it's about 450 meters of portaging and actually that's surprisingly really pretty bush and then um I think we paddle for a couple k ay yeah [Applause] all right camp for the night this old burn area right on the Portage Trail overlooking this Gorge gorgeous spot really open back here you can see well off into the distance just a few little scraggly Jack Pine other than that pretty barren going down river on the wob the trails are quite maintained very surprising actually compared to some of the other stuff we were going through earlier in the trip but we'll take it and it's nice to see that we have easy trails and established campsites along the way here where people have stayed before so I think the harder stuff is behind us now tomorrow though we do have to get down to Lake mistasany and we'll see what the weather's doing we might have to stay wind Bound for a few days if it's bad because we do have some big Open Water Crossings so even though this portion of our journey has been relatively easy we're still not out of the woods yet on the trip and we still have a few more days ahead of us of potentially trickier travel so we'll see how that goes welcome to Back Country cocktails with Leah we're making painkillers because it's a long trip and we all need a painkiller at this part so what you do is you start with a little well a lot of vodka [Music] and then you take some powdered coconut milk that you mix with water a little stir and then you just pour it on and then we have Tang pineapple Orange and you squirt a bunch in there [Music] let's take some lime [Music] that's so good so strong so good [Music] thank you we stayed up late that night making the most of our final hours on a river tomorrow would be our last day of river travel the big lakes Beyond promise new challenges and experiences but Above All Else the Open Water Crossings for now top of mind [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] so today we are going down river to get to Lake mistasany not a big day in terms of kilometers we've got a couple Rapids on the day that we might be able to run maybe a set of Falls you have to Portage but for the most part fairly easy River paddling until we get down to the lake um and then we'll set up there so that we can hopefully get a push across the lake when the water is calm lake Miss Destiny it's like superior but in Quebec should be good I'm kind of pumped to get on the lake and just like look down and see like just blue on the horizon I think that'll be kind of cool I think we'll have a nice campsite for tonight too a little beach with a little Inland Lake getting prepped and packed as we make our way down towards Lake mistasini really kind of the next big lake of our journey and hopefully the weather is good when we get down there because those Lakes apparently can be very much like an inland sea they are absolutely massive good way to start your day a little rapid action picking our way down a nice little mold to reset [Applause] always good today start your day with a little bit of Rapid action keeps the doctor away [Music] the final push to Lake mistosity it's about 5k away right now is definitely picked up compared to the last couple days winds are about 20 kilometers an hour 30 minimum over these wins foreign all right last rapid of our trip we're going to run the first part then Eddie out and line the remainder a bit of a techie wave train with a few hidden Boulders so hopefully we don't scrape [Music] but we will see okay let's get some power not the most graceful [Applause] nice that was well done though that was a good the entry was a little sketchy because it was kind of like the current kind of took us funky but we hit the bottom oh yeah [Music] foreign [Music] to the lake the big Waters were now Within Reach all that stood in our way was the boulder strewn outflow of the wabissonane river there he goes perfect with the final rapid now behind us we found ourselves in a sheltered Inlet on Lake mistasany eager to tackle the openness that lay Beyond we made it I was like okay I'm snagged and then because I think we can get them on Shore and we can net them at the same time you're gonna you're probably gonna have to Tire them out for a few minutes yeah what a monster an absolute snake dude everybody it's like six times literally a meter long [Applause] oh yeah [Applause] [Laughter] oh man this thing huge I like no more than that I think he annihilated yeah oh yo they're like two millimeters long the biggest fish I've ever caught in my life and you caught it on canoe trip with probably not thank you it's not your first big lake of rodeo made it huge way bigger in person than looking at the squares on a map we have made it to Lake mistasini 13 days later we're gonna be heading down the coast trying to find a campsite right now and uh yeah 4 30. good time to relax and celebrate a little daunting the fact that we have to cross that in a couple days just straight across boom it'll be uh a bit of a White Knuckle paddle I don't know we'll see see what the weather is like you can see the other Shoreline just on the horizon Thin Blue Line of ridges that's about eight kilometers away it's a big Peninsula and then straight across there's another six kilometers of open water so quite a lot of Open Water paddling to get over there thank you [Applause] foreign Lake we have found ourselves a little slice of paradise here gorgeous Big Sandy Beach and behind there's a little lake and a stream trickling down cobbles on the one side nice fine sand here just perfect [Applause] gorgeous day the winds actually die down quite a bit we're supposed to be getting weather tomorrow so we're planning on hunkering down here for potentially two nights right now we could attempt an open Crossing but it is Tuesday and we still have time on the trip we're going to enjoy ourselves and you know use up the time here because we had to factor in those extra days because Miss Destiny can be quite the angry lake at times but right now she's a gentle giant and she is absolutely breathtaking [Applause] we have a lentil shepherd's pie with garlic mashed potatoes currently in the reflector oven getting all brown on top and then after for dessert we have a chocolate peanut butter Walnut brownie creation definitely nice have a nice warm meal as it's cooling down for the night [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] we actually knew the weather was going to be potentially a little hairier today because we have that open water crossing we didn't want to go out there with rains and heavy surf kind of forecasted doesn't look like it's too crazy from here but further out in the middle of the lake could be a lot worse because that's an open water crossing if you commit to that that's an hour and a half two hours of paddling and with these storms rolling through you could get caught in something out there and it would be a hairier deal there are white caps pounding into the shore here decent sized waves but further out there it's not where you want to get caught this is a large lake and it commands respect we do have the time so we're just hunkered down today it's been raining off and on we're just hanging out in the bug shelter relaxing playing some games enjoying ourselves [Music] so Cam's the vegan right what happened to your gloves bro well I haven't been gloves accessible with my bug jacket or my bug gloves and my work gloves so but we caught a big big Pike and uh figured they're the quickest gloves that to reach to reach uh for the pike so I chucked them to Jacob and now they're very slimy apparently sitting in the bottom of my canoe and he'll stay there until he'll stay there till it trips over and then I throw them in the garden no we're part of a team you uh you can use my gloves Cam's the MVP yeah just just wash them that's all I have basically [Applause] with the surface area over 2.3 000 square kilometers lake mistasini is Quebec's largest natural Lake Crossing it requires paddling two stretches of Open Water totaling 14 kilometers once across an additional three kilometers of open waters on Lake albinel also awaits tomorrow the plan is to get up hopefully before Sunrise hit the lake when it's calm hopefully like glass make a beeline for that first Peninsula and knock off at least the first eight kilometer open water crossing after that we've got at least another six kilometers of Open Water to get across before we can call it a day so tomorrow is definitely going to be big lake travel but we need decent conditions before we attempt such a Crossing because we don't want to get out there and have a canoe capsize Lakes like this large and unpredictable not something you want to temptate with I have never done like Open Cross like a big open Crossing like this before so it'll be kind of a new thing for me dealing with like wavy Waters and big open I guess the open winds and hopefully the wind cooperates with us and we don't get any crazy uh headwinds or anything but I think it's going to be a pretty uh interesting part of the trip getting through this big big lake I'm just yeah I'm excited for that just looking out and seeing like you know way off the distance or Target and then just looking the other way like just nothing like Horizon I think that's going to be super cool a little scary too a little bit exciting that evening our thoughts were occupied with the wind and waves buffeting our beach if the weather didn't begin to clear we'd have to begin assessing our backup options the thought of paddling 100 kilometers down the coast or being penned down on the beach for days was not appealing and we remained hopeful that tomorrow would bring fair weather to attempt The Crossing thank you [Music] morning of day 15. we are about to cross Lake mistasany kicking things off with an eight kilometer open water crossing we're just gonna go down about a kilometer down the point here and then we're gonna take a straight bearing across the lake once we get to the Midway Point it'll be a bit of shelter between two peninsulas uh and then from then on we have a further six kilometer Crossing to get to the other side and that's the Portage area to Lake Avenel we're all pretty amped up about it because we had weather day yesterday to get across this big lake pretty calm up there there's no White Caps or any big rolling waves coming in so that's a good sign um so I think we're anticipating a pretty straightforward kind of easier Crossing hopefully and it looks like the weather will hold for at least a few hours as we're crossing the chop is pretty mild right now and the pressure is rising which is really good behind me looks like a high pressure system is moving in the low pressure system that was predominant yesterday is moving out so there's less cloud cover means the chop should get better as we're out there longer so it looks like we have probably about a four to five hour window to play with so that gives us ample time to cross both open bodies of water this is going to be interesting to be out there like pretty in the middle the lake and then just not really being able to see anything on either side or see things really far in a distance it's going to be a pretty unique experience and I'm looking forward to it I'm pretty excited I think it'll be a good once we get out there three canoes decks on in case we have any issues we have the numbers we have the spray decks should be fine out there but of course with any open water crossing there's always a bit of nerves when you're going out there because you are in the middle of the lake and you're far from Shore but conditions today are looking really favorable for this Crossing so I think it's going to be really good thank you so we are currently out in the middle of Lake mistasini right now pretty much the halfway point of our Crossing making Swift progress here looks like there's a bit of a fall weather to the south west of us right now but it's tracking to the east which is good and our heading is bang on these waves aren't bad at all [Music] right we are across the first part not bad that took us um about an hour 15. and thankfully it was getting calmer and calmer as we were going we are now between a giant point and a big island it's kind of forming the middle Arc of the lake and then after that we've got more open water crossing though it's about two kilometers less than the last one we did there so not out of the woods yet but the weather is looking very favorable and so far so good picked a good date across this Lake First Crossing was amazing it was uh really really calm it was um quite easy actually yeah I mean like we could see the opening from pretty far away so it was um encouraging I guess we just have about like another six kilometer Crossing to do in this like once we get through this like little Gateway it's very much akin to paddling an inland sea at times apparently and as the largest natural freshwater lake in Quebec it is quite a massive body of water so we've done a lot of big water paddling before Lake Superior Lake Huron uh the ocean every time something different but so far so good on this Lake [Music] so we're about to start the second open water crossing fairly clear skies again today we can see our trajectory which makes it really nice you don't have to just shoot a compass bearing if you have a day with low disability you're definitely gonna have to follow a bearing to get across wind has definitely shifted we have a headwind now and it's cooled off a bit but so far these guys are still looking favorable for the second part of our crossing here all right successfully across Lake mistacity it wasn't too tricky at all and the water actually got calmer the more we paddled right now we're camped at the start of the Portage between Lake mistasini and Lake Avenel we already Port charged the canoes over it's about 925 meters oh wow three in my bow trees I cannot see because there's a tree right in front of me Portage I am soaked on that that's the rest of the trail and I'm definitely not doing that today who else likes Portage and in the rain it's a pain makes you go a bit insane shorter day tomorrow not too crazy but thankfully Miss Destiny wasn't a harrowing Crossing after all and um yeah we made a short work of it so we're just going to kick back relax on this sort of dark gloomy rainy evening and hang out in the bug tent make some dinner and enjoy one of our last nights out here people like I kind of see like be honest if we're not feeling platform it seems like it's a hard note [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning it is day 16. we are kicking things off with a Portage last night we camped at the start of the Miss Destiny albanel Portage and today we are going to be continuing across it we've already got the canoes across now we're going to do the packs after this 925 meter Portage is a bit of a marshy bog area which you paddle through then we do about a 550 meter pop out on the river and do a 150 meter and then we're down at the lake so I'm like starting the day off marching through the bush with packs at least they're light because we're at the end of our trip now I already hammered up the canoes yesterday so it'll be an easy day for the boys we went for torch to the Jungle that's okay no clue yeah all right starting the day off right trekking that is in fact the trail hey bro [Applause] branches that overlaid the trail I got stuck and was like every single time go figure pretty much the last Portage in the area closest to a large population in a park in the First Nation Reserve where they use hunting and fishing and it's the bushiest how is this possible anyways almost done yay so we're currently on like a creek Pond hop sort of thing between Lake albanal and mistasney these are two massive massive lakes that are used by fishermen and the First Nations and they're connected with a series of three little portagers okay go back apparently on this Pond searching for this elusive 550 Portage we keep seeing Trails but they're just really well used Beaver Trails so they'll go they look really defined and then they go into the woods and just lead you to a bunch of fallen down trees that beavers have been eating we've been looking for about 30 minutes determined to not have to bushwhack we've been going on and on about how this has been such a trip where everything works out and it's so perfect and blah blah blah and now our last day our literal last day and this is what we get as our send-off [Music] so we ended up finding the Portage turns out it was actually a pond back but I thought he saw a blaze but we're like the map and all the notes were saying oh it's at the far north end of the chain of Creek Pond things old place but what we realized though was that a beaver dam have been recently erected those guys can change the nature of the lake a lot so that's why we ended up just kind of missing it we ended up actually just kind of bushwhacking 125 meters to the Trail instead of going back down this like five foot Beaver Dam and continuing paddling so we're just making our way [Music] [Applause] oh he's a fight [Applause] oh you slippery little demon there we go there are fish in the waters here whoo [Applause] with the portages complete all that remained was one final rapid and we'd find ourselves on the Waters of Lake Alba now [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] just as we were nearing camp for the night we noticed movement on the shore the encounter was brief but we all managed to catch a glimpse of the Elusive and endangered Woodland caribou [Music] it's our last night of the trip we're here on Lake albinel gorgeous Lake very similar to Lake Miss Destiny but there's a lot more exposed rock on here very like fractured sweeping expanses gorgeous Lake really fitting into our trip it's bittersweet that our trip is coming to an end the last 16 days really flew by it doesn't feel like the trip should be ending because it feels like it's just kind of getting started um but yeah no it's been it's been a wonderful experience [Music] I learned a lot on this ship like I think it was a really solid group of people a lot of good skills too um you know of course I had to get rescued maybe twice uh regarding the Rapids was was tons of fun just days like you know four or five days of just non-stop Rapids every day and even though we had some bad weather days like that was just still a really good time we got really lucky with some nice big sets I mean there was a lot of lining and waiting but we're lucky we could do that instead of having a Portage around it the whole dynamic of the trip was amazing everybody getting along everybody just laughing as never laughed as much as this a year of covid and being by myself it's nice to get out on the river and just forget that that's going on and just get no good group of people I haven't laughed as much on a trip my abs are not sore from canoeing my abs are sore from laughing which is a fun change of pace foreign it's a little sad I it's weird that it's our last night out on the out on the water these are the types of trips that make you want to go on trip because they make it you don't want to end you could easily be out here for two months once you get in the groove you just you go and if we'd have more food we could keep going for as long as we could it's been quite the experience it's been quite the trip and it's bittersweet that it's all coming to an end right now but it's been one incredible journey [Music] thank you [Music] thank you thank you [Music] [Applause] [Applause] good morning day 17 and our final day on the water we're going to be paddling across Lake albanel today we've got about five kilometers to get to our takeout and then we have a long shuttle to do to get our vehicles back from the oldish mountains so it'll be a short day the sun is already blazing hot it's seven o'clock the water is very calm we have about a two kilometer open water crossing but we should make quick work of that but uh yeah just a brief paddle and the trip comes to a close to us anymore after our big Crossings a couple days ago we can ask for better whether it's sunny it's an early morning it's beautiful it feels surreal that it's already over yeah I feel like we can stay out here forever now that we have our Rhythm and groove is gonna be pretty awesome nice cold beer two [Music] it's bittersweet our trip is coming to an end but it has been an unforgettable 17 days paddling through the Wilds of the odish mountains through the Barons the canyons and the large lakes out here to Lake Alba now finishing our trip one fantastic journey through Northern Quebec and we'll definitely be back to this area to explore more in the future fantastic [Music] our adventure across the Wilds of Northern Quebec was coming to a close at times the lands and Waters challenged our Headway yet there was always a reward for our efforts as we ventured across the tundra top mountains through the baron Taiga and into the great boreal forest all told we had journeyed over 300 kilometers through a vast unspoiled wilderness though we set out to discover the secrets of a river we left with far more forming Newfound bonds and memories that would last a lifetime while the end of a trip is always Bittersweet it had been one incredible journey through the place where the waters began [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Explore The Backcountry

Views: 220,734

Keywords: explore, backcounty, canoeing, paddling, camping, unknown, trip, adventure, remote, northern, harsh, challenge, rough, undocumented, undiscovered, otish, whitewater, rapids, doc, full video, brad jennings

Id: Fn1oXFAofRE

Length: 163min 52sec (9832 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 30 2023