N.S. Marathon Canoe Home Page - Chebucto Community Net

was not much above freezing but it didn't seem to matter, this was the culmination of a 10 year dreamwith 1 year of intense planning and 161 days of actually being on the trail. The trip back down was anticlimatic.It really was the actual 161 days of the hike that we will remember and not the last day. It wasa great adventure but 6 months away from home is toooooo looong. I would do it again but only if mywife, Nancy, wanted to come along.The Next Adventure - Canoeing the Hayes RiverThe Hayes River extends fromNorway House (NH) on theshores of Lake Winnipeg to YorkFactory (YF) on Hudson Bay. It isa river of 700 K in length that hasbeen used by the fur traderssince 1650. This dream startedwhen the History Channelshowed "The Quest for the Bay"about 4 years ago. This showedtaking a 2000# Red River Boatdown the Hayes, with a load of"furs" of 10000# and was meantto try and recreate what theYorkneymen had to do in the1800's. Now you will note that"The Quest" went down theHayes and so will we, but theyactually (in the old days) took theboats back up laden with tradegoods.So far in my "quest" for more information, I have found that canoes can be rented for $20 per day. Wethink we might be about 3 weeks. You can charter a plane out of York Factory for $2500 for 4 people or$4000 for 8 people. I have the tape of the "Quest for the Bay" and a book "Wilderness Rivers ofManitoba, A journey by Canoe Through the Land Where the Spirit Lives". The trip would probably be 4weeks in Manitoba with getting to the start at NH and getting back from YF.There are a couple of outfitters that will do 2/3 of the Hayes for about $4000 but their websites give a lotof info that might tweak your interest. They are www.wildernessspirit.com and www.northernsoul.caMy plan is to try this in august 2005 so it does still leave lots of time for planning and getting the timearranged. Of course, a lot of the fun is in planning and organizing. I guess the only limits are we shouldbe in twos as I can certainly see that a canoe with 1 or 3 would be almost impossible to navigate, and itwould be nice to be groups of four to arrange planes out at the cheapest rate. There are about 94campsites, so finding a place to put up for the night should be the least of our concerns.Interested? Talk to me. Although talk is cheap, at least you can be part of the planning.Gordon Warnica