They traveled a route very few humans have paddled, saw rare sights and camped for 84 straight days, but Sean Clayton said the thing he’ll most remember about his epic trip was the kindness of strangers.
Squamish residents Clayton and his girlfriend Amanda Girard hopped in a canoe on the Peace River and headed north.
What followed was a journey that saw them enter the Slave River, blast through the Great Slave Lake, paddle through the McKenzie River and eventually reach the Arctic Ocean and Tuktoyaktuk.
Clayton said he got the inspiration for the trip after spending years working in northern B.C.
“Seeing the Peace River flowing north was just such a change from all the rivers in B.C. that flow to the Pacific,” he said. “I started to look into it and realized you could quite easily get to the Arctic from B.C. That was really the catalyst for the trip, but when they announced they were going to break ground for the Site C Dam, I wanted to do it before it got any more disturbed.”
He said he read a few trip reports. The pair only ended up taking one week longer than his estimations. They drove from Squamish north to Hudson’s Hope, entered the water on May 22 and reached the final destination on Aug. 14.
Clayton said weather conditions played a factor into their pace, noting they had days when they traveled as few as 10 kilometres, but did as many as 150 kilometres one day.
For food, they fished but also had plenty of food stored in their canoe. They saw wildlife including bears, wolves, elk and moose, but it was the people of the north who truly impressed Clayton.“We met the friendliest and most hospitable people along the way,” he said.
“They would let us into their cabins or even use their vehicle for the day to get supplies in town. They were super-accommodating.”
A highlight of the trip was Great Slave Lake.
“It was massive and would get glassy calm at night and be so tranquil,” he said. “And you had epic four-hour sunsets followed by four-hour sunrises. I remember feeling like we were in a dreamy haze on the Slave one day because of all the smoke from forest fires.”
Clayton said weather overall was good but storms came and went extremely quickly.
He noted that the ocean, with its big waves and rough waters, was the most dangerous part of the journey.
He said it was his first lengthy experience on canoe, and he praised the courage of his girlfriend, who he said isn’t fond of bodies of water.
“She’s an amazingly strong girl but is terrified of rivers,” he said.
“For her to do this, it took a lot for her to say yes. She was shaking when we first got in the water, but she got more comfortable. But never really got used to the rapids and some of the waves.”
The pair quit their jobs to go on the adventure, and Clayton said he plans to spend the rest of the summer climbing and out of the water.
After reaching the Arctic Ocean, they sold the canoe and hitchhiked from Inuvik to Fort St. John, and it took only three rides to reach their car. “That was amazing,” he said.
“Everyone was really cool and friendly and we made it 2,500 kilometres on three rides. Two of them refused to take money for the rides.”
Clayton said he’ll never forget the trip, and he learned that a little bit of research, good luck and paddling skills can take you a long way.
