Far North Symposium 2026

In July 2025, veteran Arctic paddlers Jim Gallagher and Brian Johnston returned to the Far North to complete a rare canoe journey through Tuktut Nogait National Park in Canada's Northwest Territories, one of the least visited national parks on Earth. Beginning on Nunavut Lake, they paddled the Roscoe River, crossed an ancient river channel and height of land, and continued down the Brock River to the remote coastal community of Paulatuk. This presentation explores what it takes to travel through an exceptionally remote and unforgiving landscape. Gallagher and Johnston recount paddling demanding rapids at the edge of what an open canoe can handle, triple-carrying miles of portages, and enduring snow and freezing temperatures, all rewarded with vast herds of caribou, dramatic waterfalls, and immense canyons rarely seen by human eyes. A compelling story of experience, partnership, and the enduring pull of true wilderness travel.

In 2025, the Solitude of Four set out on a remarkable canoe expedition to Hudson Bay, paddling more than a thousand miles through some of the most remote waterways in the North. Traveling for weeks at a time without resupply, they followed historic routes through vast boreal forests, powerful rivers, and big, unpredictable water. This presentation offers a firsthand account of what it takes to plan, prepare for, and complete a true wilderness journey, from navigation and logistics to group dynamics, decision-making, and the mental challenges of prolonged isolation. It's a story of endurance, self-reliance, and the deep rewards of traveling by canoe in places where few people ever go.

In the summer of 2024, Lee completed two demanding Arctic canoe journeys in Nunavut: a first descent of the remote Hayes River, followed shortly by a return to the Quoich River, three decades after his original trip. Flowing through the traditional territory of the Netsilik Inuit, both rivers lie north of the Arctic Circle and remain seldom paddled, known more through stories than firsthand experience. In this talk, Lee reflects on what continues to draw paddlers back to the Far North. Tracing the history of travel on these rivers, from early explorers like John Rae and Frederick Schwatka to modern recreational pioneers, he explores how motivations, challenges, and perspectives evolve over time, even as the landscape itself remains profoundly unchanged.

In the summer of 1988, three friends completed an ambitious 870-mile canoe expedition through the Canadian Barren Lands west of Hudson Bay, traveling from Wollaston Lake in northwest Saskatchewan to Baker Lake in what is now Nunavut. Over fifty-five days, they paddled from boreal forest to the Arctic divide and into the vast, treeless Barrens, a landscape defined by wind, water, and deep history. This presentation retraces a route steeped in exploration and hardship, following portions of J.B. Tyrrell's 1890s geological expeditions, Farley Mowat's The Deer's Way, and sections of the ill-fated Arthur Moffat journey of 1955. Along the way, the team faced brutal portages, blackfly swarms, cold and dangerous whitewater, and immense ice-chilled lakes, while encountering caribou herds, muskoxen, white wolves, and traces of cultures that once thrived in this remote land. A powerful reflection on wilderness travel, history, and the enduring draw of the Far North.