Strong smell of wood smoke in tent when we awake. Haze over everything when we get out. Obviously a forest fire somewhere. Herb, Deb, Brendan and I take a walk to Hornby's cabin before breakfast. The three humble graves with their plain wooden cross markers in this lonely land cause us all to reflect. We look at the cabin, see the caribou remains, walk in the forest to see where they cut lumber and imagine the three of them slowly starving to death with no hope of rescue. Brendan asks a million questions as he and I move around to document the site. He asks about "the boy"; (Edgar Christian), what he was doing here, where he came from, what his parents were thinking. He obviously absorbed a lot of the conversation at the supper table last night.

A Beaver aircraft on floats flies past us quite low, following the river. It circles us once before continuing on. We wonder about the forest fire. The plane reappears a little later with a canoe on the pontoon, obviously they were looking for another party just downstream of us.

We are fairly late getting on the water this morning. It is very hot and hazy. Wearing the bug jackets (necessary) drains the energy from us all. The river now braids into many channels, but its not hard to find the main channel. Following the map is getting easier and I'm becoming more accustomed to the scale of the country. Smoke haze is getting thicker and I keep looking over my shoulder to see if the fire is near.

We come across a lone musk ox, asleep on one of the sand banks of a small island. We stop to do some photography, which wakes him. After we get some decent footage, he goes around the corner of a small overhanging sand cliff. I signal to Deb to stay near here while I and the rest of the gang try to circle the island to cut him off. On the trip around the island, I shoot some plovers resting on one leg and a brood of ducklings with their mother. When we get close to the other side, Deb is getting closer to the bull. He decides to avoid her. We hear him coming and get ready for the encounter. We are not disappointed, he put on quite a show, snorting, rubbing horns in the bushes and on his musk glands on the forelegs. I'm thankful there are four of us here, else he might have considered charging. Instead, he turns and makes a dash for the river bank. We see five more musk ox, either singly or in small groups. I'd very much like to see a herd. See several different loons.

Amazed again at the strength of the current. It is dizzying to look down and watch the rocks whiz by. We take advantage of the current by having a floating lunch. We cover almost two kilometers by the time we finish eating and everything is packed up. Pass through several easy swifts with no problem, but discover that we have to watch out for the eddies as they can be very strong. In spite of the late start and numerous stops, we still cover enough distance to reach the general area I designated for camp. River narrows and starts to pass through cliffs, so I haul up a little early of the designated spot on the map. Starting to get a light rain as we pitch the tents. Camped on the edge of the tundra. Walk up in evening for a look around, the view is incredible, it makes the prairies look small.

Weather - hot hazy morning, gradual cooling and clearing, cooler and overcast by evening.

July 22

The wind is absolutely howling in the morning and the rain is battering the tent. I get bundled up in the Sierra Design Gortex to check camp, nothing has blown away (canoes have been tied to heavy things every rest stop and we have occasionally taken the extra precaution of placing big rocks in them). I take a short hike up to the tundra for a look around. It is a hard task just standing up. I don't think the kids could stay upright. I worry about letting the kids out of the tent because they could literally be blown away. Very glad to have those Eureka Stormshield tents which have excellent on this trip. Back to the tent in short order and crawl into sleeping bag again, not going anywhere today.

Deb and I take a walk on the tundra later in the day and find a huge caribou rack. Wind has abated a little, but still blowing strong and cold. Several musk ox wander very close to the tents. I take some shots of Deb and Brendan getting quite close to a one-horned bull. We come across a native encampment that is not too old just around the corner and we see signs of very old saw cuts in some of the trees on the hill.

The sky clears at sundown and the wind dies just as we get into our sleeping bags. It is so quiet now, that both Deb and I comment on how unnerving it is. With the clearing comes the cold.

Weather - lots of it

July 23

Quick start to the day, lots of ground to cover. Decide to forgo cooking breakfast and decide to eat the hearty lunch instead. We still have to buck the strong headwind and its cold, but nothing like yesterday. There was thick ice on standing water this morning.

Thanks to the current, we are able to make good time.

The river cuts into canyons again, which is helpful as the wind dies here. Now we are making excellent time again. Stop to shoot a couple of co-operative musk ox but raise up a storm of angry mosquitoes in the process. Paddle across the river for lunch to escape the biting throng. Hike up to tundra for a little video shooting. See Ptarmigan and Sik Sik. Just as I'm about to shoot musk ox across river for vista, they lay down out of sight to sleep.

Loose track of exact map location in the ox bows. Forgot to make mental note of our location when we stopped and then couldn't figure out which one we were on when we resumed. Budget time wrong so we don't travel as far as I thought we should have. Come around one corner expecting to see large island and see another corner instead. 5 Kms more to do. Still, that's not too bad a distance to cover.

Stop to shoot a very co-operative caribou bull. I notice his antlers behind a rock and it seems plainly obvious to me, yet everyone else has a hard time spotting it. Get some nice shots with the rest of the gang in the background. Get a weird feeling as I'm shooting and turn around to look behind me. See a lone solo paddler heading downstream behind us. Who is he and where did he come from? Kind of spooky so close to Hornby's cabin. Take some excellent shots of four young, almost fledged hawks on nest in low spruce tree.

Camp quite late in day on a gravel bar. Very tired. Notice that Brendan is covered in bug bites around his abdomen and lower back. Have to make sure he keeps his shirt tucked in.

July 24

Photographed terns in the a.m. Had one youngster in the process of being fed just outside the tent door as I got out. Mom wasn't too pleased at the intrusion. Spent a fair bit of time getting the shots I wanted. Get some funny footage of a very aggressive parent coming down to peck at Deb's head.

Still having no luck at fishing, To quote Matt, "it sucks!" Pack up and head out in good spirits. Nice weather and a tail wind so we make good time. See a lone young wolf along bank. Quite a number of them so far, but I still haven't got any on video camera. Deb stops to shoot close ups of a lone musk ox., nobody else bothers. All musk oxed out I guess. Stop at the hill that gives us a glimpse of "Musk ox hill" (the southern most Pingo). We see very old tent rings and evidence of old animal kills. Walk over ridges to get a better glimpse of the Pingo, but elect not to walk that far. Even though it looks quite close, we know it will be a long walk.

Old (ancient) moose antler sticking out of bank catches my attention. Ptarmigan family flushes as I get close. Have another floating lunch. Very pretty light on calm river with beautiful reflections. Unusual loon puts on an interesting display, trying to distract us from her young, sounds like a dog. See a herd of musk ox on and near a nice sand beach. Stop for photography and get some good stuff. One old bull is dragging a willow corsage behind his ear, looks quite comical.

Stop at end of beach to camp. Notice some pike in shallows so kids make a frantic scramble for rods as the adults set up camp. Pike seem very hungry and actually line up in the shallows, waiting for the lure to be cast. Catch supper in no time. Musk ox come down to the willows just behind our tents. Old bull does a lot of grumbling. Very beautiful sunset with the reflections of the beach. LOTS of mosquitoes.

Landscape is not agreeing with the map, we're not sure of where we are again. Seems like the river has eroded a larger channel since the map was produced.

Weather - calm winds pleasant skies