Hubbard Rock
(Click on image for larger view) |
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 I allowed three days to reach my put-in point: North West River. |
 The Trans Labrador highway is hard on tires but it seems to get a little better each year. |
 My 2007 trip appropriately started at the Hudson's Bay Post at North West River early in the morning. |
 of July 16. Hubbard expedition aficionados will recall that Leonidas Hubbard and Dillon Wallace both left from here. |
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 Ready for a night on the north shore of Grand Lake. Canoe is loaded with rocks and painters are tied to the bushes ready for some expected winds.. |
 Getting underway at 6:20 a.m. along the north shore of Grand lake. |
 Ideal paddling on Grand lake with calm waters and a beautiful sky. On the left is the Beaver river and the Susan brook. |
 The Naskaupi river is straight ahead, just around the bend on the right. |
 I pulled in for the night at 1:00 p.m. after just a few km on the Naskaupi due to storms. This trip was slowed by frequent storms, including some spectacular nearby lightening strikes and a heavy hailstorm. |
 Underway on the Naskaupi again the next morning at 6:00 a.m.. |
 Large otters that many mistake for seals often swim out to greet you along the Naskaupi. |
 Beaver activity is common |
 Leaving the Naskaupi for a run up the Red Wine river and into the unknown. |
 Each day brings more boulders, sandy beaches and mountains. |
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 There are a few osprey here and there that aren't ... |
 ... used to humans. |
 An isolated sandbar provides a nice campsite for my first ... |
 ... night on the Red Wine. |
 Good protection from the wind |
 Looking downriver from inside the tent. |
 Getting underway around 5:30 a.m.. Note the bright orange dry-bag on the ground to the right of the large red pack. More on this later. |
 A look back downriver at the mist on the mountain a couple of minutes later. |
 It was mostly mostly lining along the inside of the switchbacks and not much paddling on the way up the Red Wine. To lighten the load I left the spray deck and most surplus food in a cache at the confluence of the Red Wine and the Naskaupi. |
 A cold mountain spring flows into the Red Wine which at this point has transformed from a slow, murky, body of water where it empties into the Naskaupi, to a swift, pristine, crystal clear river. |
 This is the take out point where the 20km hike to the Hubbard rock begins. What a feeling of accomplishment to make it this far! A few years earlier Philip Schubert required just two days to make his way up the Red Wine to this point. I had needed 2 1/2 days. Daytime temperatures remained above 40 degrees throughout this part of the trip. Even five litres of water a day wasn't enough to keep me hydrated while moving upriver. This campsite was easy to find using Philip's coordinates. And at first glance the ready-made clearing that required just a few swipes with my machete to make it habitable was inviting. There was an abundance of firewood, pleasant view, and surrounding bush to protect against high winds. |
 I quickly noticed however that there was a vast network of animal trails surrounding the area and crisscrossing each other frequently. With a little imagination this spot could remind you of a major interchange on a highway like the 401 at Toronto. I soon found signs of moose, caribou and bears. Lots and lots of bears. |
 Nevertheless, I tied my canoe securely, deep in the forest and spent the next day resting and resorting gear, in preparation for the hike to the monument. |
 It's a beautiful part of the world that few people ever see. |
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 I had only two worries in the world: How to stay hydrated on an all day-climb up a mountain during high temperatures and how to avoid getting caught on the mountain during the violent electrical storms that had become a part of the daily routine. I ... |
 ... decided to wait for a weather forecast that promised freedom from electrical storms and then take a chance on finding water somewhere on the mountain. The waiting gave me a chance to enjoy some tasty meals and explore the area. |
 As the days went by I even got some laundry done and dried some things out that had become damp during the daily rains. |
 Food for the hike was stored in a small bear vault and the bright orange dry-bag mentioned earlier. I secured the dry-bag to a tree about 50 feet from my tent and left the bear vault on the ground along with this blue drum which contained all food not needed for the hike. I've always left food drums on the ground and never had a problem with bears stealing food. Given the large number of bears circulating near my tent, the fact I was alone and the fact I stayed in one place for such a long time it was inevitable I suppose, that a bear would become curious. One evening I noticed that the dry bag was missing from the tree. I spent the next hour searching for it along the vast network of trails but didn't see a sign of the bag or any food. The bear vault and the blue drum remained untouched and I had a large food cache back at the Nascaupi so I wasn't going to go hungry. The dry-bag however contained my most critical freeze dried rationsfor the hike. Furthermore the heat and electrical storms had still not subsided so it was an easy decision to turn back. |
 The next morning I was on my way down the Red Wine. It took just 4 1/2-hours to paddle back to the Naskaupi. |
 The first hour was marked by a fast moving series of class I & II rapids . In some places forest fires have accelerated the erosion and trees have been swept ... |
 ... into the river, meaning that you have to watch for the occasional sweeper or strainer in the fast moving sections |
 Things would have gone more quickly but in some places the river splits into three or more distinct beds making it hard to decide which route has enough water. A wrong choice can result in a little unplanned lining. |
 I took advantage of the fact that I was well ahead of schedule, to explore the Naskaupi river and the Innu trail (see 2006 Hubbard trip). This interlude marked the beginning of a series of up-close bear encounters. The first was such a surprise and so close that I had no time or inclination to reach for a camera. I eventually refitted my spray deck, collected my cached food and equipment and headed for home. |
 For the rest of the trip I was the one surprising the bears. This scene with a sow and her cubs perhaps 25 metres away, unaware of my presence was repeated often . As Tove mentioned during our Quebec trip later in the summer: "Bears are like people they enjoy going to the beach." |
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The return trip down Grand Lake was otherwise uneventful although on my last night I managed to get my tent set up and everything secured minutes ahead of a violent hail storm, that I thought at one point, might destroy my tent. I want to thank Dan and his family as well as Louie. The support and encouragement of these great people from North West River has made it easy for me to enjoy some of my most memorable trips ever. |
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 Robert, Dillon Wallace III and Philip Schubert (l to rt) |
Late this summer, after our canoe tripping had ended for the year, Philip Schubert and I visited Dillon Wallace III at his home in Vermont. Dillon is the son of the original explorer who eventually completed the trip that had claimed the life of his close friend Leonidas Hubbard. During our three-day trip Philip, Dillon and I visited the graves and homes of the original explorers, located a few miles north of New York City. We wanted to learn as much as we could about their lives by talking to those who knew them. Dillon III, a wonderful man, who at 83 years old, was able to recall with precision, many of the roads he travelled as well as events that occurred during his youth. We were fortunate to meet one of Dillon's close boyhood friends, who provided us with copies from a scrapbook about Dillon's father, that he has maintained over the years. |