Long term autonomous winter expedition northern Quebec/Labrador: Advices/questions

Question

I'm pondering a longer-term hike in Northern Quebec/Labrador. Autonomous style, sky or snowshoe (TBD) with a sled etc. Right now, considering going Fermont, going south to Sept-Iles (possibly following the Rivière Moisie for some of the way). About 400k give or take, though I might downsize that and leave from somewhere else (south of Fermont, along the road) if that seems to be too ambitious.

I have tons of experience in winter outdoors and winter camping, so that aspect of things I am not worried. I would like to know what would it look like in terms of navigation in that region/environment for a thru-hiker in winter, more precisely for River/lack crossing. I have read this post (How to be safe on lake and river ice and what should I do when I fall through?) on the topic. However I'd be interested to know what to look for (from a topographic perspective) as to where should I expect better odds of finding a good crossing.

1 - When looking at a topographic map, what clues (variations in widths, winding or not, upstream or downstream, etc) may help find a route that is likely to provide better crossings?

2 - In a typical winter, with average temparature for the region (or a comparable region), what are my odds of finding solidly frozen lakes (I am not too worried about those) and finding decently frozen rivers crossings? The Moisie river would be a good example to start from (because it's well-known and a large river)

Answer 1

River crossings:

I've done a couple dozen three week trips on the Canadian Shield, most in Northern Saskatchewan, but also northern Alberta and the N.W.T. I think the following will be applicable to any land form that has been recently glaciated.

Rapids and fast current are likely at the following:

• Any place where a contour line crosses the water course.
• Any place that is the outlet of a lake.
• Any place where the water course narrows by a factor of 3.
• Any place that a small water course goes from double line with shading to a single line in the downstream direction.
• Any place where an esker crosses a water course.
• Any place where a water course passes through a notch in a landform.

Canoeing, about 1/3 of the above turned out have a visible effect.

But I've also seen rapids, sometimes big ones, where none of the above were true. Sometimes they weren't on the map either.

All of these are based on notion that faster water takes less room.

Lake crossings:

Ice continues to contract as it gets cold. While the bottom of the ice is at freezing,the top may be much colder. This can crack the ice through. This is NOT usually a real safety hazard -- you won't fall through. The ice is usually at least 8 inches thick before this happens. But, combined with a snow or wind load, you can get overflow, and end up with a foot of snow, and 6 inches of slush on parts of the lake. This is a real nuisance to deal with.

Cracks can also occur earlier in the season from snow loads on thinner ice.

The place where streams enter the lake may be thin. If the ice was thick enough to walk on the stream, you're likely safe. I've sometimes seen a wide gravel bar where a stream enters a lake. If the water level is low, you may have fast enough current to have thin ice at this point.

Use your ears. You can often hear water moving.

Pay attention to the pattern of cold and precipitation in the fall. Heavy snow on bogs can result in the bog not freezing -- net result you have snow on top of soggy peat moss. Can also result in shallow ice on lakes with lots of slush.

I've not traveled in Labrador, but have done trips on the east shore of Lake Winnipeg, both summer and winter. It's also Canadian Shield. Very low relief. Topo maps are not a lot of help, as the land's relief is often less than the height of the trees. Lake edges and shapes are the primary set of features used for navigation. I much preferred the photo-mosaic maps, as you could see trees versus rocks versus bogs.

My trips were in late December, early January. There was not a problem with thin ice generally. In February you were more likely to have overflow.