Freda Mellenthin will give an illustrated presentation to the Sunshine Coast Naturalists Society in the Sechelt Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2.
Mellenthin will describe an extended solo canoe trip on the Back River to Gjoa Haven, in the Canadian Arctic, that she and her husband Ted Mellenthin took. It is a remarkable and striking adventure, carried out by two seniors.
The Back River is the longest river on the Barren Lands, running northeast across Nunavut and into the Arctic Ocean. On its course of 974 km it flows through a variety of terrains, open tundra, canyons, large lakes and many rapids. It was the traditional hunting ground of the nomadic inland Eskimos until the 1950s.
Many animals were encountered during this canoeing adventure: a large caribou herd, bears, muskoxen, groundhogs, a wolverine, wolves, arctic hares, and numerous birds. It took the couple six weeks to paddle the Back River from its source to Gjoa Haven on King William Island.
Freda was born in Latvia and went to school in Germany after WWII. In 1958 she came to Canada and raised a family with her first husband. Later she attended Simon Fraser University and graduated with a B.A. in French and became a teacher. In her early sixties, she married Ted Mellenthin, who introduced her to whitewater canoeing. At the age of 60 and 70, this remarkable couple made nine canoe trips into the Arctic.
In 2015 Freda published a book, Love in Northern Rapids, which contains 18 canoeing and kayaking adventures, plus a little of their late-life romances.
