Kooch-i-ching Men Complete 2,800-Mile Arctic Trip
By Kier Malloy
On May 9, six Kooch-i-ching men loaded their canoes at the sailing beach and pushed off from Deer Island. They had begun dozens of trips this way, but this one was different.
“What a wild feeling,” Axel Lloyd recalls of his first paddle strokes. “I think I was smiling, but there is no doubt I was ridiculously nervous.”
A year earlier, Kooch alumnus Paul Beach enlisted five current staff men to help him plan—and paddle—the longest Arctic canoe expedition in the camp’s history: 2,800 miles across North America, from Rainy Lake to the mouth of the Coppermine River.
“What a wild feeling. I think I was smiling, but there is no doubt I was ridiculously nervous.”
They called their trip The Source Runs North. The “source” was Kooch-i-ching, where all six members—Paul Beach, Jimmy Knoll, Quinn Pinaire, Zach Schiller and the brothers Axel and Bram Lloyd—had found their love of paddling, portaging and camping in the Northwoods.
Like all great expedition teams, the group began by addressing the question “How are we ever going to pay for this?”
Quinn, Jimmy, Zach and Bram pose with one of only five fish caught on the 109-day trip. (Axel Lloyd)
Following in the footsteps of the 2017 6 North of 60 Ogichi expedition, the 2013 Tri-Province expedition and Robert Shuman’s grizzly-spurred sprint down the Horton River in 2015, they applied for a grant through the Camping & Education Foundation’s Dexter Davison Advanced Wilderness Tripping Endowment.
As the Foundation’s Arctic Committee mulled over their request, they put in countless hours writing sponsorship proposals to outdoor gear companies, soliciting support from friends and family, and even doing TV interviews.
Finally, with a green light from the Foundation and gear donations from Nova Craft, NRS, Bending Branches and several small businesses, the group had what it needed to proceed.
After setting off from Deer Island in May, the six men made miles through Southern Ontario, up the Saskatchewan River and into the frigid waters of Lake Winnipeg. Then they got icebound.
“It was winter on that lake,” Axel says. They began to worry. Arctic waterways provide only a small window of opportunity to prospective paddlers, being frozen over the rest of the year.
Zach and Paul fly a drone on the Churchill River. (Quinn Pinaire)
“At one point, James’ boots, socks and pants were completely frozen when we awoke at 3 a.m.,” Axel says. “I still remember him saying, ‘Everything is frozen. I am not having fun anymore!’ I could not stop laughing.”
Eventually, the ice cleared and the group advanced to the Churchill River, traversed the 12-mile Methye Portage without incident, and continued into Great Slave Lake.
Their pace was swift—30-mile days were not unusual—but the group knew that theirs was an endurance endeavor, and they had put a lot of thought into how best to sustain their energy.
They eschewed the usual Kooch menu: bannock for breakfast, summer sausage (what’s that?) for lunch and macaroni for dinner. Instead, they took a page from the Saturka Society handbook and prepared nearly 200 pounds of pemmican, a calorie- and protein-dense mixture of dried beef and tallow. Among their favorite meals were mashed potatoes with pemmican gravy, Thai ramen, shepherd’s pie, and alfredo.
“At one point, James’ boots, socks and pants were completely frozen. I still remember him saying, ‘Everything is frozen. I am not having fun anymore!’ I could not stop laughing.”
Having been friends at Kooch since they were young, the team functioned seamlessly from the start. “The group was just cohesive. We did everything together. You could tell from the beginning how tight we were going to be,” Axel says.
Bram paddles on Lake of the Woods. (Zach Schiller)
After conquering Great Slave Lake, the group arrived in the town of Yellowknife for a final resupply before their push to the Arctic Ocean. They reached the sea on Day 109.
“We all stood arm in arm looking into the abyss that was the Arctic Ocean while Quinn spoke on behalf of all of us, thanking the Great Spirit for everything that we had seen and experienced during our trip,” Bram remembers.
“The weight of all we had accomplished together over the past 109 days came into plain view, and tears welled up in all of our eyes.”
This article was originally published in the Fall 2019 issue of the Alumni Newsletter.