There Has to Be a Reason: Riviere Eau Claire

Story and photos by Tony Way

There has to be a reason why I paddled the Riviere Eau Claire (Nunavik, QC) with my brother John in 2007.  Back in the 50s (I used to be young!), Keewaydin Camp (LakeTemagami, ON) got me hooked on northern tripping ( Dumoine and Harricana Rivers).  In the 60’s, A.P. Lowe’s 1898 “Traverse of the Northern Part of the Labrador Peninsula from Richmond Gulf to Ungava Bay” entranced me with the Ungava Peninsula (Nunavik, QC).  John and I could not pull off that trip then, but in 2007 Wanapitei CANOE made the offer.  I signed up with a local paddler, Tom Osler, only to learn at the last moment that the trip was not filling.  John said that after 46 years he was willing to try again for the Eau Claire. A North Knife (MB) trip mate, Tom Randgaard, jumped in, and Wanapitei signed up Noah Waisberg, so with guide Fred Ingram we finally had a trip.

Day Minus 8:  Arrive Toronto Airport. Find one Chota boot missing from pack. Buy new waders. Find missing boot. Have excess baggage.
Day Minus 7 - Minus 4: Spend week at Madawaska Canoe Centre with Tom O. for whitewater review. Learn more than I remember.
Day Minus 3:  Talk all day on drive from Bear Lake ON to Matagami QC.  Meet Fred and Noah, find John and Tom R.  Eat caribou steaks. Learn that the Cree from Great Whale River are planning get-together on Richmond Gulf with former GWR neighbors in Umiujaq.

There has to be a reason for the Riviere Eau Claire.  Two billion years ago, a giant meteorite may have carved out the eastern Hudson Bay arc and thrown up the escarpment that creates Richmond Gulf (that’s what the locals called Lac Guillaume-Delisle).  Four hundred and sixty five million years ago, a meteorite created the Clearwater East crater followed by another meteorite 260 million years ago creating its twin, Clearwater West, thus making the double Lac Eau Claire.

Seven thousand years ago, the last ice cap melted and allowed the Ungava Peninsula to rise from the sea, trapping the landlocked seals of the Seal Lakes east of Lac Eau Claire.  Shortly after, the caribou and whales returned, bringing with them first the Na-Dene (Dorset) and then the Algonkians and Inuit.  Three hundred years ago, these folk brought the European traders, including the now-abandoned Hudson Bay Company post on Richmond Gulf (1700s and 1900s).  Today, the Cree from Whapmagoostui (they called it Great Whale River) still follow Lowe’s route to Lac Eau Claire on snowmobiles, and the Inuit from Kuujjuarapik (they also called it GWR) have made a new home on the Richmond Gulf peninsula at Umiujaq.  More recently, Quebec has created the Tursujuq National Park stretching from Richmond Gulf through the Eau Claire to the Seal Lakes.  In 2007, John and I finally paddled that river.

Day Minus 8:  Arrive Toronto Airport. Find one Chota boot missing from pack. Buy new waders. Find missing boot. Have excess baggage.
Day Minus 7 - Minus 4: Spend week at Madawaska Canoe Centre with Tom O. for whitewater review. Learn more than I remember.
Day Minus 3:  Talk all day on drive from Bear Lake ON to Matagami QC.  Meet Fred and Noah, find John and Tom R.  Eat caribou steaks. Learn that the Cree from Great Whale River are planning get-together on Richmond Gulf with former GWR neighbors in Umiujaq.

There has to be a way to “Clear Water”. Access to the Eau Claire was not through Radisson!  After driving 544 km up the James Bay Road, we turned east just short of Radisson and went another 358 km on the Trans-Taiga Road to reach Mirage Pourvoirie/Outfitter on La Grande River.  This is the Land of Little Sticks, open lichen woodlands and winter home of the Leaf River caribou.  Mirage Outfitter had not only the last gas on the Trans-Taiga but also the first (and only?) float plane to the Ungava interior.  Then came 295 km flying over La Grande Reservoir 4, the Great Whale River, and the roadless forest tundra of the lower Ungava (a folding PakCanoe kept flying costs down!).  From the air, the Eau Claire crater lakes are amazing: encircled by islands and separated from each other by a sieve of waterways. Clear Water is not just a name but a description: beach and bottom are seen as one.  The West Eau Claire Lake could be Norway: tundra on top, taiga below, rugged hills behind near shore islands and, again, startlingly Clear Water.

Day 2: Frosty night. Tom O. catches first lake trout, Tom R. catches brook trout and many more.  Fred sterns John, Tom R. & Noah through C3 rapids.  Traverse upper lakes and 2 portages into late camp. Hike the hill behind.Day 3: Push off into C1 rapids.  Short carry over tall island with 3 falls. Stop at island chute for camp, more lake trout, and bath.  Wonder if brother will die from local mushroom.
Day 4: Brother still moving, so we are too. Paddle canyon and broad bottom land.  Run 3 C1-2 rapids and portage 3 chutes.  Tom R. catching brook and lake trout at every stop.  Follow caribou trails up hill behind camp.
Day 5: Push off into a swift. River narrows into canyons, chutes and cataracts.  We hump up and over 6 portages.  Finally see green paint and a Keewaydin fireplace (they’re 6 days ahead).  More brook trout, no more lake.  Noah bathes while the rest rest.
Day 6:  Penultimate portage: 40m up, 2.5 km across open land, 120 m down (beautiful Keewaydin campsite in between).  Inadvertently put in at upstream rock garden & must wade out in rain.  No campsite for next 1.5 hrs. but our bear reappears.  Cold and desperate for light we find tough campsite up high mud bank (RL) at head of outlet rapid (long & unmanageable).  Immediately to bed!

There has to be a reason for the Tursujuq National Park creation.  The launch to the Riviere Eau Claire was from Mirage Base on the fjord-like arm of the lake to the river.  This river begins with two heads and splits and joins for 90 km, dropping 238 m through canyons and bottom lands, and chutes and falls: a drop and pool river with ever bigger drops. 

Willows guard the shore, but the open spruce forest makes good portaging, except for the slippery lichen. At least 8 of the about 26 rapids/chutes/falls are runnable.  Most of the carries are not too bad, some are. We often had wonderful vistas after a 20-80 m climb and interesting clambers down for 30-120 m.  Only the last two are 2.5 km long.  Fortunately, none were marred by the ax.  There were few signs of others except the Cree who came to the Richmond for a reunion with their Inuit neighbors.  Birds were few and the caribou tracks were empty, but there were black bear (the Ungava Grizzly is long gone), otter, and trout beyond count.

Day 7: Rest in the drizzle.  Hike up 3 ridges.  See portage route opposite and Richmond Gulf below long outlet rapid.  White Cree tents cheer us more.Day 8: Up and Over!  Find Keewaydin portage at rapid head: 60m up mud bank, 2.5 km across open plateau, 120 m down rock ridge.  Cree meet us: awaiting Inuit from Umiujaq (were neighbors in GWR): 6-8 large wall tents, 1 teepee, 1 “long.house” and nice latrine with view.
Day 9: Richard & Leslie from GWR motor us to old HBC post (family cemetery).  Cree invited us to come closer, so we move camp.
Day 10: Twin Otter deposits more GWR Cree & gear. Johnny Rupert takes Jimmy George and us to tall escarpment on west side of Gulf.  Help him set up camp for a “vision quest”.  Tour “Wiachuan Jr” River as it tumbles into Gulf & see Wiachuan (Riviere de Troyes) cascade in distance (A.P. Lowe’s route)

But the jewel of the land was the glass Clear Water showing the rocks within its falls.  However, the rain gods also live here! Their vassal winds roar eastward across the Bay, carrying its waters up into the highlands to fall back on a place that is as much wet as dry.  The returning water promises dammed power, not just showers.  Tursujaq National Park may protect the inland seals from dams, but not all this land.  Come see it before others do!

Day 11: Fly up Wiachuan canyon while pilot snaps shots of walls 40m away. Review Little & Great Whale Rivers.  See dead tree rafts on La Grande Reservoir 4. Overnight at Mirage (good place!).
Days 12-14: Out the Trans-Taiga. Detour to Radisson but no time for 4-hour dam tour. Eat caribou again in Matagami. Arrive back at Tom O.’s Bear Lake cabin. Fly Home to Dallas with extra boots.