As you know I taught in Inuvik for three years from 1963 to 1966. I was very active outdoors. I boated and fished. In the winter I snowshoed and ice fished.
Every once in a while I'd hear someone say, "Wouldn't it be nice to go up the Mackenzie river." These were people without a boat or experience. You soon didn't hear much more of this idea. I thought it would be interesting but you had to have the right equipment and crew. I didn't have the right boat and I wasn't about to campaign for a crew.
So I met the Micro Manager and she was gung ho about going up the river. So I began thinking about a trip. We planned and organized until it looked like it was doable.
We had a good river boat that was flat bottomed and 6 ft wide and 16 feet long. I had two 35 horse outboards for power. We had a canvas to cover the boat and slept on the boat. So with a stove , lots of food and life jackets we set off in Aug of 1966.
Now there was an awful lot that the two of us didn't know. The Micro Manager didn't know anything about boating. There were parts of the river that were dangerous. But off we went. We had a chart that showed where to travel on the river channels. A young RCMP had got this chart and wanted it back but he wouldn't tell how he got it. We notified all the RCMP posts that we were coming and to watch for us. We knew most of the RCMP.
The navigation was fairly simple. There were large white square signs that you had to line up. Stay in the line between the two signs. The signs were about 20 by 20. Sometimes it was about 10 miles between signs. The chart we had was full of information so we followed it very carefully. Most of the current was quiet and the river very wide. There were a few challenging places and they were worrisome.
The first challenging part was called the Ramparts. It was an area that cut through some very hard rock so the channel was narrow and the current strong. We were told to slow down and take it easy. This worked well but took time.
Leaving Inuvik
The Ramparts
The next very scary part was called the San Sault Rapids. We'd heard much about it and that there had been may deaths in the San Sault. However, many everyday people travelled through this area. It was worse than we thought and was pretty scary in some spots. It was about ten miles long and charted. If you stayed in the channel you would be alright. Again , slow down and take it easy. It was a place where we wondered about the wisdom of doing this trip. In places there was a 4 to 5 ft. wave. When you went down some of them you wondered if you were coming back up.
A very poor photo of Point Separation
