2003 Hubbard Memorial Centennial Expedition

Metchin River and ponds northwest to Lake Orma Road - Photo Album K

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A big thundercloud over the Metchin River Portaging northwest out of the Metchin River
Brad with a MONSTER brook trout ... 21 inches, 3 1/2 lbs! Paddling a nameless rapid that connects two ponds
Amazing color enroute to the Lake Orma Road Alan's cabin - our resupply point

By 11:00am on July 17th, it did not look as though we were going to make it to our resupply point before sundown. The last thing we needed was more low water and a boulder field reminiscent of our days on Susan Brook, but that's exactly what we got. It was just one hour shy of noon and we had traveled only 3 kilometers. We had been concerned about a section of single lines and tiny ponds on our map and as we dragged our canoes yet again, we cursed our route choice and wondered why we had left the Metchin River? Fortunately, once we got through the low water section we made great time on the ponds, due to glass conditions, and we were able to either paddle or line all the small rapids that connected the many nameless ponds along our route.
At 10:00pm, we arrived at Alan's cabin (bottom right photo) on Lake Orma Road. We had completed Phase I of our journey, becoming the first team in a century to retrace the 1903 route of the Leonidas Hubbard expedition up Susan Brook to Hope Lake, and continuing northwest to Lake Orma Road. Alan drove up from Churchill Falls the following morning with Caroline (the fourth member of our team). We spent 3 days fixing gear, eating, relaxing and preparing for the second phase of our journey through Smallwood Reservoir and down the George River to Ungava Bay. A special thanks goes out to Alan for his generosity! The use of his cabin did wonders for the moral of our team and it gave us the opportunity to rest-up (in style!). We departed from the cabin on July 20th, physically and mentally prepared to tackle the remaining 500 miles of our expedition.

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