By In the summer of 2024 I undertook a difficult solo canoe expedition that went deep into the Canadian tundra down the Thlewiaza River, from Nueltin Lake down to Hudson Bay.
Below is a day-by-day video journal from the 19 day trip. Videos are from the Essential Wilderness YouTube channel. Enjoy!
Day 1 – Flying Into the North on a 72 Year Old Bushplane
In which I drove for 30 hours, then flew for 2 hours in a 72-year-old bush plane to get to Nueltin Lake and the start of the trip. There was a surprise waiting for me on the lake though…
Highlights
0:00 Driving through British Columbia.
0:36 Driving through Alberta.
1:00 Driving through Saskatchewan.
1:13 From Thompson to Lynn Lake.
1:51 By float plane from Lynn Lake to Nueltin Lake
3:04 Helping out at Nueltin Lake Lodge
Day 2 – Heading North Towards the Tundra on Nueltin Lake
In which I assemble my boat, and start heading north along the shore of Nueltin Lake, a large lake which straddles the Manitoba-Nunavut border and the treeline…
Highlights
0:00 Assembling my 16 foot folding Pakboat canoe.
0:30 Loading my shotgun for bear.
1:15 Packing up the boat and heading off north on Nueltin Lake.
2:27 Murphy’s Law at work, and why we take 3 paddles per person into the North.
3:41 Putting the spraydeck onto the canoe in anticipation of bad weather.
5:11 Dodging rainstorms on the lake.
7:02 Setting up the first camp of the journey.
Day 3 – Headwinds, Thunderstorms, and Borderline Campsites
In which I played dodge-the-thunderstorm on one of the largest and most complicated lakes of the North…
Highlights
0:00 What are eskers and what do glaciers have to do with them?
2:12 Thunderstorms make progress tricky.
3:30 How island-hopping keeps you safe on large lakes.
4:24 Windbound again
6:02 Preparing a home-dehydrated meal.
6:26 Feeling anxious about the very slow rate of progress.
Day 4 – A Bear Wanders Into Camp!
In which I have an accident with a can of bear spray inside the tent and then a large bear wanders into camp while I’m windbound…
Highlights
0:00 Windbound after a very early morning.
0:33 The after math of an accidental bear spray deployment inside the tent.
1:22 Exploring the hills around camp.
4:05 A bear wanders into camp.
6:18 Finally on the water again at 9 pm.
6:50 One final animal encounter for the day.
7:59 Setting up camp at midnight.
Day 5 – Crossing the Treeline into Nunavut
In which your man crosses the treeline, gets north of 60, enters Nunavut, and arrives in some seriously isolated country.
Highlights
0:00 A slow start to the day.
0:42 Nueltin is such an insanely complicated lake…
1:20 Gearing up for a larger crossing.
3:31 Lunch on a rocky shore.
4:02 Crossing 60 degrees latitude and entering Nunavut.
5:02 Setting up camp on a gorgeous evening.
Day 6 – Absolutely Smashed by the Wind
This was a tough day struggling against the wind and the increasing numbers of biting insects while slowly clawing northward on Nueltin Lake, one of the largest and most complicated of the Canadian North. I reached the Narrows though, so the next step is navigating the larger and more exposed northern basin of Nueltin Lake.
Highlights
0:00 A difficult crossing to a deserted desert island beach.
1:21 Crossing from island to island in the wind.
1:30 Headwinds and blackflies make progress difficult.
Day 7 – Exploring a Fishing Lodge Completely Destroyed by Bears
I reach the now-abandoned Narrows Lodge, a fly-in fishing camp that has been completely destroyed by bears…
Highlights
0:00 Bad mosquitoes while eating breakfast.
0:56 I come across a lodge destroyed by bears.
3:52 Out onto the giant northern section of Nueltin Lake.
4:37 Late season ice on shore.
5:21 Setting up camp on a lovely peninsula.
Day 8 -Trapped by the Ice on Nueltin Lake
The bugs start getting getting and the ice floes start getting thick out on Nueltin Lake, making for very difficult forward progress.
Highlights
0:00 Foraging for cranberries in the tundra.
1:20 Fighting with late-season ice out on the lake.
4:39 Attempting to find a route along shore to avoid the ice.
Day 9 – The 9th Day Alone
My boat nearly gets crushed by thick sheets of July ice in Nunavut as I heads towards the outflow of Nueltin Lake and the Thlewiaza River.
Highlights
0:00 Escaping the campsite as the ice closes in.
1:52 Caribou antlers and caribou migration.
3:12 Giant crossings on Nueltin Lake.
4:56 A fox massacre at Fox Narrows.
Day 10 – The Grind Northwards on Nueltin Lake
Continuing to chug north on Nueltin Lake dealing with heavy wind, rains, and persistent lake ice.
Highlights
0:00 Paddling Nueltin Lake and dealing with the cold.
1:03 Ptarmigan (grouse) on a tundra island.
1:28 More lake ice.
2:30 Setting up camp and stringing the bear alarm.
4:11 Evening repair projects.
Day 11 – Finally Off the Lake and Onto the River
Whitewater, hiking on the tundra, and extreme isolation on the Thlewiaza River in Nunavut, Canada on my birthday.
Note that there are three routes out of Nueltin Lake, and I had previously used the northern route, which had large but runnable rapids.
Given that the water levels in Nueltin Lake were EXTREMELY high (at least several feet over the seasonal average) I took the much bonier middle route. This route has a waterfall complex in the middle of it that requires portaging, so look out for that horizon line if you ever find yourself up here!
Highlights
0:00 Traversing the northern section of Nueltin Lake in cold and windy conditions.
0:40 The current and small rapids in the central channel out of Nueltin Lake.
1:05 Portaging waterfalls.
1:40 Lining shallow water and arriving in Seal Hole Lake.
2:23 Hiking “Mount Seal”.
Day 12 – Big Rapids After Seal Hole Lake
Today’s highlight was the big whitewater below Seal Hole Lake on the Lower Thlewiaza River.
Highlights
00:00 Rigging the boat for the first big whitewater of the day.
00:24 Finding and exploring an abandoned cabin on Seal Hole Lake.
01:43 Running the numerous large rapids below Seal Hole Lake.
04:15 The blackflies are starting to reach epic numbers…
Day 13 – Portage Rapids, the Biggest Obstacle on the Lower Thlewiaza
Farley Mowatt described Portage Rapids as “A flume built by colossi,” and this mile-long stretch of whitewater is the most challenging section of the remote Thlewiaza River.
Highlights
00:00 The famed blackflies and mosquitoes of the Arctic tundra make eating and prepping the boat for whitewater difficult.
01:12 I reach and navigate False Portage Rapids, an easy set of rapids on the 1:250,000 maps that are incorrectly labelled with the name of the most notorious rapids on the entire river.
03:12 Ten kilometers later, I finally reach the real Portage Rapids. Favorable water levels allow me to sneak the top section hard along the left bank of the right channel, portage the middle (and worst) section of the whitewater, then run the ledges and large waves at the outflow of the rapids.
06:20 I see the first seal of the trip. He’s swum up a long way from Hudson Bay!
06:45 Camp is made on a bank high above the river.
Day 14 – I Go the Wrong Way
Two things can be true at the same time: you’d be lost in the wilderness without a map, but you should also never trust a map fully. On today’s leg of my journey down the remote Thlewiaza River, I was led the wrong way by an out-of-date map and GPS layer indicating a branch of the river where water had long since ceased to flow.
Highlights
00:00 A beautiful start to the day with lots of easy whitewater.
02:00 The wind really picks up in the mid-morning, and I get fooled into going down an old channel, which is now completely dry. I spend hours fighting my way back upriver against the wind to get back to deep water.
06:02 I arrive at Edehon Lake, the wind dies, and the bugs go berserk. I find an abandoned mining site (which I later found out is used as a seasonal hunting camp) but all the doors are locked and I can’t get out of the bugs without damaging the structures.
08:18 Travelling conditions on the big lake are ideal, so I push on eastward as the sun sets and rain showers pass through.
Day 15 – Thick Bugs on Edehon Lake
Highlights
0:00 Bugs so thick that I had to light a fire just to get breakfast down my throat.
0:34 Traversing Edehon Lake.
1:07 Rapids below Edehon Lake.
3:32 Setting up camp as the blackflies swarm.
Wind, Bugs and Whitewater on Day 16
Highlights
0:00 Setting off from camp on a buggy day
0:30 Exploring a boulder fence at the edge of the river
1:38 Some long but relatively easy whitewater with lots of ledges
2:36 The 1:250,000 topo maps and the GPS tell me different things
3:58 Setting up camp in high winds on a gravel beach
The rest of this series will include wildlife encounters, whitewater, mosquitos, and the total isolation that’s almost impossible to experience anywhere other than in the Arctic.
I promise the footage just gets better and better as future episodes come out.
Click here to check out the first video of my 19 day solo in the Arctic directly on Youtube.
Thanks so much!
Stephan Kesting
P.S. If outdoor or armchair adventure is your jam, then click here subscribe to my Essential Wilderness channel, then hit the dropdown menu to select “All” so you don’t miss future episodes!
P.P.S. While we’re talking about difficult trips in remote country check out the book I wrote called Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic. This was one of the most difficult and rewarding trips I’ve ever done.
Being an author is a tough gig though, and unless your name is Prince Harry you’re not going to get featured on daytime TV to sell the book that someone ghostwrote for you.
The book took 4 years to write, no ghostwriters or AI involved. I like to think the rave reviews so far reflect the quality of the writing.
Your support would be incredibly appreciated, so check out the book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indigo or order it through you local bookstore!
Thank you so much –
