Ungava's famous George River offers some of the finest wilderness river canoeing in northern Quebec.  It is a big, wide and fast flowing river that flows for hundreds of kilometers north from Cabot Lake to the Ungava Bay Inuit community of Kangiqsualujjuq.  The river flows through the territories of the Naskapi ,who call the river the Mushuan Shipu (River without trees), the Innu, who call it the Metsheshu Shipu (Eagle River) and finally the Inuit who call it the Kangirsualujjuap Kuunga (river of the great bay).  It is a rugged and hilly landscape and as the river flows north it follows along the western edge of the Toringat mountains.  As the river approaches Ungava you will see and experience some of the highest tides in the world.

As the you canoe north on the George you will move from the Boreal Forest and land of the black spruce into the Ungava Barren lands.  Along the way you will likely see numerous caribou.  There is a good chance as you paddle that you may get the chance to see the migration of the George River Herd, which numbers in the 100s of thousands.  Rapids are mostly big wavy class 2.  Portages ...

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Ungava's famous George River offers some of the finest wilderness river canoeing in northern Quebec.  It is a big, wide and fast flowing river that flows for hundreds of kilometers north from Cabot Lake to the Ungava Bay Inuit community of Kangiqsualujjuq.  The river flows through the territories of the Naskapi ,who call the river the Mushuan Shipu (River without trees), the Innu, who call it the Metsheshu Shipu (Eagle River) and finally the Inuit who call it the Kangirsualujjuap Kuunga (river of the great bay).  It is a rugged and hilly landscape and as the river flows north it follows along the western edge of the Toringat mountains.  As the river approaches Ungava you will see and experience some of the highest tides in the world.

As the you canoe north on the George you will move from the Boreal Forest and land of the black spruce into the Ungava Barren lands.  Along the way you will likely see numerous caribou.  There is a good chance as you paddle that you may get the chance to see the migration of the George River Herd, which numbers in the 100s of thousands.  Rapids are mostly big wavy class 2.  Portages are relatively few.

Our trip will meet in Sept Iles Quebec on the St Lawrence.  We'll travel by train north on the old QNSLRR to Schefferville.  From here we will fly by charter float plane 40min into the George River.  We'll then spend 12 days descending this exciting river down to the Ungava and the northern coast at Kangiqsualujjuaq.

Itinerary:

Meeting: Our trip will meet in Sept Iles Quebec on the St Lawrence the day before the trip begins  (Aug. 18)

Day 1: (Aug 19)  We'll take the historic northbound train from Sept Isle to Schefferville (participants are responsible for their own train fare)

Day 2:  We'll take a charter float plane from Schefferville into the George River

Day 2-14-George River

Day 14:  We will arrive at the Community of Kangiqsualujjuaq

Day 15: (Sept 2)  flights home from Kangissualujjuaq (via Kuujjuq) (participants responsible for their own flights home, regular scheduled air service with Air Inuit)

Basic History of the George:

The river flows through the territories of the Naskapi , the Innu, and the Inuit all of whom historically, and to this day still utilize sections of the river. 

The  river was named the George in 1811, by two Moravian missionaries.  Who wanted to honour George III, (king of Great Britain who had granted the Moravians land on the Labrador coast for permanent settlement in 1769).

In the winter of 1839-1840, the Hudson's Bay Company built a post called Fort Trial on the eastern shore of Indian House Lake (Nipi (The big lake in the barrens) which stretches 60 kilometers in the middle of the George) but it was short lived.

The George River is also associated with the ill-fated Leonidas Hubbard expedition of 1903 and the subsequent successful canoe expeditions of Mina Hubbard and Dillon Wallace in 1905.  See the book ‘Great Heart' and others for a great read of this story.