The Thelon and Elk Rivers

There is a good article about the Thelon River in Canoeing Canada's Northwest Territories: A Paddler's Guide, edited by Mary McCreadie. By barren land standards this river is easy—especially the middle section—but don't forget where you are. Any mistake, no matter how small, when you are so far from help can have serious consequences.

Plan in a double redundant fashion; have a back-up plan when your first plan fails! As the famous arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefanson said, "An adventure is a sign of incompetence . . . If everything is well managed, if there are no miscalculations or mistakes, then the things that happen are only the things you expected to happen, for which you are ready and with which you can therefore deal."

Registration
One final safety note—Ensure you register and de-register your trip with the RCMP at the beginning and end of your trip.

Equipment: If you want to take a look at some real good canoe equipment that will make your trips a lot more fun and comfortable, take a look at the following suppliers. Carlisle Paddles (http://www.carlislepaddles.com/), Marmot Mountain Limited (http://www.marmot.com/, Northwest River Supplies (http://www.nrsweb.com/), Zaveral Racing Paddles (http://www.zre.com/) and Coleman Company Limited (http://www.coleman.com/).

Food: And last but not least, for camp food that is inexpensive and doesn't taste like cardboard take a look at http://www.bearcreekfoods.com/ for Bear Creek Country Kitchens. Try their Spinach Parmesan Bread with "Damn" Good Chili for a meal to die for—and for desserts, you haven't lived until you have tried their Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies or Lemon Poppy Seed Cake!

Getting There
All the information you need to start and end your trip on the Thelon River out of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, is included in McCreadie's book or can be obtained by phoning the Northwest Territories Arctic Tourism Office. There is also a new way to get into Thelon country from Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan with Northern Dene Airway's (NDA)—they have a Single Otter, a Beaver and Cessna 185s for charter. You can drive to Stony Rapids from La Ronge on the new 'tote' road from Points North Landing, or if you choose you can take the daily scheduled flight from Saskatoon to Stony with Athabaska Airways. Things change fast in the north so phone Dave Webster at NDA to get an update on the best current options and whether your vehicle is suitable for the 'tote' road. On the topic of fast changes, I recently stayed at The Whitewater Inn in Stony Rapids. The room, food and service were excellent and reasonably priced—a big change from years back. NDA has 17-foot covered Nova Craft (http://www.novacraft.com/) prospector canoes for rent. You can also rent canoes from Ric Driediger at Horizon's Unlimited 50 miles north of La Ronge (http://www.churchillrivercanoe.com/).

At trip's end you can camp in a nice little community campground for $5 per person per night at Baker Lake, but for my money I'd stay at the Baker Lake Lodge run by Boris and Liz Kotelewetz. They run a great facility and Boris has his finger on the pulse of the area. Phone him before you start your trip to establish the best ways of getting you and your canoe home from Baker. He also has canoes to rent and usually has a tundra tire Twin Otter that you can charter if you choose to start and end your trip at Baker Lake. Faye at North Star Tours in Churchill, Manitoba, can get all your arrangements made for flights from Baker, including train tickets from Churchill and hotel rooms. Talk to Liz and Faye about what there is to see and do in Baker Lake and Churchill and consider spending at least a day in each place if you can. These are both great communities to visit.