Located in the north east corner of Banks Island and predominately within Canada’s Aulavik National Park, the Thomsen is one of the world’s most northerly navigable rivers.
FANTASTIC WILDLIFE ON BANKS ISLAND
It was 8:00 AM in the morning and we were snug in our tent which we had pitched in the middle of a flat green tundra meadow. On one side of the meadow were some small hills that provided us with protection from the wind. On the other side was the Thomsen River that flowed quickly by our camp. Our 17′ PakBoat was pulled well up from shore, weighed down with our packs and securely staked to the tundra to prevent it from blowing away in the night. Located in the north east corner of Banks Island and predominately within Canada’s Aulavik National Park, the Thomsen is one of the world’s most northerly navigable rivers.
We could sense by our noses that it was cold outside perhaps 33-34 F (1-2 Celsius). Suddenly we heard an unfamiliar sound. It was low gutteral sound. I thought it was Christine’s stomach growling and looking for breakfast. Asking ‘is that you, she thought the same of me. We looked at each other and then sat up and slowly unzipped the back window of the tent. There they were in the early morning stillness, a herd of perhaps 12-15 Muskox had descended the hill and wandered right into our camp. They were grazing all around our PakBoat 170.
Obviously this herd of muskox had coveted the lush and protected tundra meadow as much as we had. The guttural sound could have been Muskoxese for ‘all clear, let’s eat’. In 1998 it was estimated that over 45,000 muskox called Banks Island their home. Of these, 10,000 individuals wander throughout Aulavik National Park. A good number of these animals are found along the lush Thomsen River valley and we were fortunate to experience a few of them up close.
We purchased the 17′ expeditionary PakCanoe 170 especially for this trip and had Alv’s team add the abraison (keel) strip and the bow and stern D-Rings. We also ordered the spray skirt more for warmth than for spray. At a recent Canoeing and Wilderness Symposium in Toronto, Canada, Christine proudly claimed to Linda (and Alv), that we put the Pakboat together by the river’s edge at 11:00 PM at night (24 hours daylight) without having one disagreement. The Pakboat was able to carry our 3 weeks of equipment which consisted of 2 food packs, 2 personal packs, 2 day packs and enough camp gas to fuel our stoves. The Pakboat performed as admirably on land as on the water. As often as not, we used the Pakboat as a foundation for our kitchen shelter. For the commercial flight up to Inuvik, North West Territories, we stuffed our PFDs, camp tarp and some lightweight cardboard around the inside edge of the Pakboat’s duffel bag to give added protection to the canoe and it worked perfectly.
John and Christine Yip