Many thanks to Fred Sparling for allowing the use of his photos on this site thanks Fred Hopefully see you soon
And the same thank you to Joyce Sparling for her permission to use her photos here. And you exceptionally good humour during this trip! See you soon!
Loading up the Otter at Baker Lake
Birds eye view of the Kazan River
Our first campsite where the plane dropped us off. We had to haul all our gear over a mile and a half to get to the river the next morning
Putting the PakCanoes together
A typical lake trout on the Kazan River
Arctic Grayling are also common along the river
Caribou trails litter the land
It's hard to see but there is a line of caribou going across the lower part of the photograph. We watched this movement of caribou for over three hours and estimated that we had seen over 12,000 caribou in that period alone. We stopped watching when it was getting too dark but you could still see an unbroken line of animals stretch to the north for as far as we could see. WHo know how many caribou were in that group.
You can see the caribou easier here
Caribou fence made up of rocks that were placed in a line. From a distance they stick up like they are 10 times higher. The Inuit hunters used these to drive the caribou in a certain direction for hunting
Bone marrow pit. The Inuit would crack open the large bones of the caribou to extract the marrow for food. These sites are usually located on the tops of hills so that the wind would drive the bugs away.
Could be part of a kayak. Wood would be slotted into the holes and then tied in using sinew of some sort
Inuit grave of unknown age
Inukshuk on an island in Thirty Mile Lake
There is a story of a man that carried this stone up the hill and placed it there because he was challenged by his wifes lover to do it. The lover told him that if he could carry it up the hill he would leave his wife alone. The stone is about 8 feet high and would weigh hundreds of pounds. It is said that his footprints could be seen in the ground for a hundred years after.
Talking to my friend in Baker Lake she said that all these coloured stones were likely placed here by kids playing and making designs. She remembers doing similar things when she was a child and lived on the land.
Tent ring
Kayak stand. The kayak would be placed between the four upright rocks to keep it from blowing away
Possibly a piece of an old kayak paddle
A hand held fishing line holder.
Old knife located in an equipment cache
Yummy pizza for supper
The portage around Kazan Falls at Caribou Fall Crossing National Heritage site
Lower part of Kazan Falls
We were forced to camp at Kazan Falls for six days due to gale winds. These muskoxen that would come down to the river jsut about every day around 2 pm . Not sure why, but something was tasty down there for them.
The last three pics are of what I think was the top male in the group. He made one false charge at us to see what we were and then didn't bother with us after that.
