Searching for a place to land in July 1983 on the swollen waters of the massive upper George River in Quebec. This DeHavilland Beaver dropped us along this esker in Lac Resolution just in time to head back for the rest of our group. Didn't return until the next day. Luckily we had the tents with us.

An HBC steamer stops at Wrigley on the Mackenzie River, July 4, 1911. On board was the George Douglas party and writer Robert Service. This is Douglas' shot of loading and unloading of supplies. The boat's next stop is Fort Norman (Tulita) where Douglas would depart en route to the Coppermine River.

The Rupert River flows into southeast James Bay. The lower 60 miles were a series of tortuous rapids heading to the Bay at Waskaganish. This rapid, one of The Fours, was roaring in June 1982 when the we passed through. Most of the water has now been diverted further north. Only memories remain.

Getting a close look at the raging Thunder House Falls on the Missinaibi River in early June 1981. The river runs north falling off the Canadian Shield at this spot and on to merge with the Moose River and then to James Bay at Moosonee.

MacDougall Pass, the lowest point of the western cordillera. Yukon on the left, N.W.T. on the right. We had just ascended the Rat River from the Mackenzie in August 1994. We were heading for the Porcupine River to Old Crow, Yukon. Our tents can be seen to the right of Summit Lake on the left.

Tracking our canoes at the very top of the Palmer River following an ascent from the Labrador Sea. We were close to the border of Quebec and would cross over to the Korok River and follow it to Ungava Bay. Labrador Odyssey trip. August 2001.

The Korok River in far northern Quebec below Koraluktuk Falls. This truly wild river is seldom paddled and flows into Ungava Bay. The HACC did it in 2001 on a trip from the Labrador Sea.

Portaging through the dark and brooding Torngat Mountains on the Quebec-Labrador border leaving the Palmer River, heading to the Korok River. Our 2001 Labrador Odyssey trip from the Labrador Sea to Ungava Bay was a tough one but very rewarding.

Far northern Quebec, aka Nunavik or Ungava, is one of the most punishing and demanding places to canoe. In July 1988, we were heading south from the Pingualuit crater on our way to Hudson Bay following a 1912 Quebec traverse by Robert Flaherty who later filmed Nanook of the North in this region.

The massive 3.5 km wide Pingualuit meteorite crater in northern Quebec is a geological marvel. This million year old impact crater in solid granite left a 800 foot deep lake with a 400 foot rim. Now a Quebec park, it has few visitors. We had it to ourselves on a 30-day trip across of Quebec in 1988.

Prof. Jacques Rousseau with his blackfly friends in Northern Quebec in 1948. The famed botanist crisscrossed the Ungava Peninsula as a scientist but also a lover of canoeing. The HACC retraced several of his trips, usually made with indigenous crews. He is featured in our book Ungava. hacc.ca/ungava

The HACC hauling up the Rat River in August 1994 from the Mackenzie R. It was the 'back door to Alaska' during the gold rush. The river drains the lowest point in the western cordillera, MacDougall Pass, a route to the Yukon via the Porcupine River. This is the route Robert Service took in 1911.

Prof. Jacques Rousseau photographed Hudson's Bay Company manager Bob May in Kangiqsualujjuaq at the mouth of the George River in 1951 with a massive caribou rack. May was a legendary figure in Ungava and the father of Canada's Governor-General Mary Simon.
www.hacc.ca/ungava

One of many remarkable photos by botanist Prof. Jacques Rousseau. Here at the Mistassini Post 1946 summer gathering of James Bay Crees; this group was from Neoskweskau on the Eastmain River. Rousseau canoed all across northern Quebec in the 1940s and 50s. We followed many of his routes years later.

Bard of the Yukon. Robert Service, stands by a cabin on the Mackenzie River near Tulita, NWT July 4, 1911. He was a passenger on the Mackenzie River steamship en route to Yukon by canoe. The cabin contained two dead trappers, victims of a murder suicide.
Photo by George Douglas, Archives of Canada.

HACC members scout the formidable Rocky Defile Rapids on the Coppermine River prior to running it. August 1993.

George Douglas‘s remarkable photograph of Copper Inuit meeting his party on the Dismal Lakes, between Great Bear Lake and the Coppermine river, in the summer of 1912.
Photo credit: National Archives of Canada.

A forest fire builds on the north side of the Rupert River, Quebec about 100 km east of James Bay. The date was June 1982 when the river ran freely. It is now heavily damned and diverted north, part of the James Bay project.