Lots of rain last night which let up just as we poke our heads out of the tent, the gods must be smiling. We poke around the small sand bar island that is our camp before packing up and find a caribou skull under a rock. It must have been lodged there in the spring when the high water and strong currents removed the sand around the rock to drop it on the skull.

We start our journey on the Thelon with a strong downstream current, a tail wind and sun breaking through the clouds. Peregrines and hawks lift off their nests to come and check us out. A nice spectacle against the crisp blue sky. Odd that the small sand bar island we camped on is on the map but a substantial rock island immediately downstream isn't. The river is divided here and we choose the right channel, mostly because I can't see all of the left channel. Turns out to be a good choice as the left channel looked easy at the top but appeared to have some teeth at the bottom which we couldn't see till we paddled past the island. It is amazing to look down at the rocks in the river while you drift and see how fast the current is moving. Going back upstream would be a virtually impossible task.

We ferry over to river left to check out the last rapid on the Thelon before Hanbury Junction after we pass a big island which is marked on the map. We climb the cliff to look over the rapids. Yet another Peregrine checks us out. Lots of waves in the rapid, but nothing that should be a problem. I see three possible routes which should all be fairly easy to negotiate. One channel on the left third is possible, but not attractive due to possibility of large waves swamping canoe if not executed properly. Channel on right third is better but still presents swamping problem. Tight to right bank is the route we choose, which works out well for all the canoes. As we make the turn in the river at the Hanbury Junction, our tail wind turns to be more of a head / quartering wind. The river widens and we start to loose our strong current, now the work begins. See another wolf at a distance.

Stop at the cabins at Warden's Grove, very interesting. I comment on the long walk from river to the cabins and how much work it would be to haul water all the time. Herb says, so what else are you going to do? . I take his point. It is hard to imagine spending the whole year here.

Stopped for lunch at an ancient chipping station where natives fashioned tools by flaking chips off flint and quartz. Even though the literature describes the location, I had a hard time distinguishing clearly what was artifact from humans or just river debris, most of it could have been either man made or the product of erosion or frost heaves. A caribou walked down to the river not 50 feet from us. It was quite shocked to look up and notice us. Deb looked in the direction of the splash the caribou made as it wheeled around and made some quick and nonchalant remark about fish. I thought that was a little out of character for her, but made no comment. Turns out she didn't notice the caribou and actually thought a fish had splashed. She chastised us all for not drawing her attention to the caribou once she figured out what it was we were looking at.

Back in Canoes and heading downstream, Brendan caught a substantial lake trout on his first cast. It was more than large enough to be supper for all of us. I had land the fish for him as it was starting to pull him out of the canoe. We stop to spend night at a site where a small creek enters the river just down from Warden's Grove. We eat in the bug tent to get some peace. Kids catch, but don't land some pike. The strong wind of the day dies at night and it promises to be a nice day on the morrow, though we are hopeful of at least a slight tail wind to keep the bugs at bay.

Weather - cool, windy and sunny.

July 19

Herb tells us in morning that he heard wolves howling during night somewhere nearby our camp. We were too tired to be paying much attention. He said he opened the tent door in time to see one run away, says he didn't sleep well.

Day starts out bright and sunny. We get our earliest start time on the water yet. The 1:250,000 map is a lot easier to follow on this river. We have a wonderful tail wind to help us along and the current is strong. As we pull into the Gap Deb notices a herd of caribou on the ridge, about a thousand animals when we get to see them all later. We decide to hike up ridge to do a little photography. The ridge turns out to be a lot farther than it appeared and the caribou travel a lot faster we thought. By the time we got up to the top, the animals we were looking at were long gone. We decide to wait anyway. We get some good footage as more stragglers come trotting along. As long as the caribou don't smell us or hear us, they seem to not care about our presence, many trot past almost close enough to touch and pay us no mind at all.

The Gap caused us a dilemma. We could see a nice eagle's nest on the east cliff face, but there was a large herd of caribou milling on the beach downstream. We elected to go to the caribou which are on the west side of the river. Got lots of great footage. Matt and Deb paddled in the river with some of the swimming caribou. We spent a long time with the herd, it was a great experience. I finally got to hear the clicking sound of their leg joints I had often read about, quite remarkable. We see several more wolves as we go downstream, most seem well fed and laying on the sand beaches, trying to stay out of the bugs.

Traveled about 25 Km today in spite of long and frequent stops. Decent, but buggy camp where river narrows. Saw two swans. Caribou swim across river just upstream from our camp. Lots of birds with nests near this site.

Wanted to make more distance to an archeological site for camp, but its getting late and there is a rapid marked on the map. We don't take any chances and settle for this site.

Weather - Sunny turning to hazy overcast.

July 20

Strong wind and scudding sky this morning. Hard to take the tents down without them blowing away. The fine sand of the beach drifted through everything, including tent zippers. Ate cold breakfast and got underway as we don't want to linger. The rapid I was worried about turned out to be nothing of concern. Looked like a good fishing hole with some nice campsites. We would have pressed on, had I known.

Stopped at the Archeological site marked on land-use map. Boot marks and trampled grass bore witness to recent use, I expect that was Max and his group who flew out from Yellowknife the same day we did. Found the chipping stations and tent rings mentioned in other trip reports at top of hill. Found a broken spear point in washout at bottom of the hill in the gravel at the river bank.

Started sailing with the rig that Deb made, a huge Canada flag with extra material added. Making excellent time with almost no effort, which is good because Brendan hasn't contributed much lately and my arms are getting very tired.

Stopped at the waterfall for a bath. Should have taken the wading shoes because the rocks on the bottom of the pool are very sharp. The relatively warm water described in the other trip report seemed to be anything but. The weather was not very warm, but we decided we needed the first bath of the trip anyway. Did a little shooting for the video of family having a good time in the water fall (definitely faking it for the camera). Sun had started shining by now though its still not warm. Small canyon we were in could be dangerous as several large rocks crashed down of their own accord while we were there. Any of them could have caused serious injury. Found rocks with amethyst crystals in rocks at bottom of creek.

Current is very powerful. See two musk ox, lone bulls. Camp at a fairly good site just bellow Hornby's cabin. Bugs are unbelievable. Cook and eat in bug tent to preserve sanity. Relate the story of John Hornby during supper. Blackflies hitting tent sound like a constant rain. Insect repellent wouldn't be much use here, the flies come at you with such force they hit you long before any repellent would work on them. Most just die in the fresh repellent and leave a mess.

Clouds part to give us some beautiful light, a pretty sunset and a glimpse of the full moon on the horizon.

Weather - changeable - cloud, wind, calm and sun. Slight rain, fairly warm.