Barren Grounds: The Story of the Tragic Moffatt Canoe Trip

By Skip Pessl

In 1955 Arthur Moffatt led an expedition consisting of young college students and recent graduates to the Inuit lands of Nunavut, Canada, to follow the path of the 1893 Tyrrell expedition and to film and photograph the group’s progress. The expedition, a 900-mile epic journey across the Barren Lands of Arctic Canada, has stirred controversy and criticism for over fifty years. The trip has been variously described as “the pioneering venture in modern recreational canoe travel” and as “an excellent example of how not to conduct a canoe trip.” Delays took their toll on the adventurers, exhausted by the seemingly endless paddling through unknown rivers and lakes, the trek across the windswept tundra, and torment by voracious insects. Threatened with diminishing food reserves and increasingly harsh weather, the members of the expedition were forced to travel with greater speed and less caution, and ultimately a fatal mistake was made. Two of the canoes capsized, dumping four men into the frigid waters. Moffatt, the leader, died of exposure. It took the survivors ten days of arduous travel with minimum food and equipment to reach the safety of the Hudson’s Bay Company post. Barren Grounds features passages from the journals of two young Moffatt party members and excerpts about the 1893 expedition of Joseph Burr Tyrrell, along with entries from the journal of Art Moffatt himself. Part cautionary tale, part nail-biting adventure, the book will appeal to outdoorsmen and armchair adventurers alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dartmouth College Press
• Release date: Jul 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781611685916

Book preview

all!

SERIOUS PLANNING for the Dubawnt journey began in late fall 1955, when Art Moffatt and I committed to the project and he began the complex process of food and equipment selection and purchasing, something he had done many times for his Albany River trips. Even though the Dubawnt journey would be nearly twice the distance of the Albany River trip and under much more isolated, challenging conditions, meal planning and equipment allocations were familiar chores.

The greater challenge of the Dubawnt project was in the recruitment of experienced, motivated young men, available for the full summer, able to afford the estimated individual expense of $600, and willing to accept nasty bugs, long portages, unpredictable weather, and marathon

Reviews for Barren Grounds

[bradkautz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Barren Grounds is the story of a canoe expedition in 1955, where six men attempted to travel a route through the Canadian Barrens that only been done once before, in 1893. It is told primarily from the journals of two of the expedition members, Fred Pessl and Peter Franck.I had never heard of the Moffat expedition until reading this book. The journey was named after its leader, Art Moffat, who perished of hypothermia late in the trip. As one reads the book it becomes apparent that as leader Moffat made a number of poor decision as group leader, which had the cumulative effect of keeping the group in the far north of Canada as winter was approaching.Moffat was the group leader and in his mid-30's, making him about 10-15 years older than the others. He had made a number of previous canoe trips in the Hudson Bay area and was a veteran outdoorsman. But a part of the purpose of the 1955 trip was to make a movie about the land they were traveling through, and as Pessl tells the story from his journals there are multiple delays to staying on track in getting down the Dubawnt River, of which filming stands out as the principle one. One of the reasons Pessl wrote this account is to refute claims made by the book of another expedition member, George Grinnell. I believe he does this fairly, rightly acknowledging where errors were made without presuming to fully know what was in Moffat's mind at the time. Recently I have read some excellent books in the river exploration genre, including Canoeing with the Cree, River of Doubt, and Down the Great Unknown. Barren Grounds is an excellent addition to this fine list.

[doggonelaura · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I requested this book because I've had a fascination with the Barren Grounds since I read Farley Mowat's People of the Deer in college. And because as a high schooler, I canoed from Lake Superior to James Bay (Moosonee)--a trip of 30 days. I never got the chance to do a trip on the scale of the Moffatt trip--and likely was not capable of it.I knew nothing about the story, so was engaged throughout. I felt the journals' (Skip and Peter) placed together as they were, made for fascinating reading. The beauty and wonder, the cold and hunger, the small insight into the personality of the two, were glimpses into a youthful adventure. Both men were philosophical and had taken on the trip with enthusiasm and naivete. In the epilogue, Skip's defense of the trip, explanation from his current maturity, all felt spot on. I doubt I would read George Grinnell's book.For anyone who has done some canoeing--portaging and tenting--and who appreciates the north, this book will be a very enjoyable read. I will be passing it on to my dad, also, in days past, an avid canoeist.

[helcura_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a really good telling of an adventure in the Canadian wilderness. Consisting almost entirely of journal entries of two of the members of the expedition organized by Art Moffatt to retrace and film the same canoe route as that taken by only one other expedition, J. B. Tyrrell's in the 1870s. I liked the side by side journal entries, which revealed much of the personalities of both the journalists and of the other members of the expedition. The descriptions of the land, rivers, lakes and wildlife convey the life-changing impact of true wilderness on these two young men. The book also contains a good number of photographs (though I wish they'd included the bear), some in black and white and some in color. The photographs really help the reader appreciate the amazing land these men were travelling through.This book is a good adventure story and stands alone just fine, but it was clearly written in response to George Grinnell's [Death in the Barrens] and magazine articles that criticized the expedition in general and Art Moffatt in particular as unprepared, unplanned and badly led.I very much wished that the journals of the other members, especially Moffatt, had been included. From what is presented in this book, the expedition was adequately planned and supplied for the mid 1950s, and was very like many other trips undertaken by adventurous people during that era. The only difference is that in this case someone died. As a reader of many books about big mountain climbing expeditions, the wrangling, complaining and periodic fear of failure seemed completely normal for this type of trip. So did the awe and wonder, the passion and the determination to make the trip and to make the film.Pessl is remarkably honest about what went right and what went wrong and his evaluation of the accident that led to Moffatt's death is reasonable and again, consistent with the reports of others who have undertaken expeditions into uninhabited and dangerous realms. Overall, I'd say the book is a great adventure read and a convincing rebuttal to the critics of the expedition. Worth owning.

[pbirch01 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I felt this book, like the expedition itself, was a bit slow to start but once it got going I really enjoyed the journey. Pessl uses mostly journal entries and letters to tell the story and its interesting to view inside the mind of a young college age man dealing with group dynamics and survival. The journal articles frequently mention taking photographs and I feel that the addition of a few of these really added to the story. I appreciated that Pessl used the Epilogue to express his viewpoints and was able to keep the story very even-keeled. I gained a better insight into the story as a whole and increased respect for the author due to this approach.

[dcavin-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nice introduction and I like that we got to see the actual letters that Art Moffat sent. Book was well laid out with presenting parts of journals and giving dates that correspond to Tyrell’s 1893 expedition. In fact, almost the entire book is journal entries from Skip and Peter. Interesting to read, and know that these are true feelings, but overall I found this book rather dull. Though I have not read George Grinnell’s account of the tragic expedition (which I had never heard of to begin with), I found Skip’s rebuttal the most interesting part of the book, and that is about all.

[isolablue · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Skip Pessl is a good writer. He was in the 1950s when he kept a journal during the canoe trip he took with five other men while tracing the path of the original Tyrell expedition, and he is now as an elderly man looking back at the past. The seven-page preface to BARREN GROUNDS is actually more gripping than the journal pages that follow, but the reader will enjoy "traveling" along with the two journalists of the group - Skip and fellow explorer and canoe man, Peter Franck. Of the six men on the trip, we hear from Skip and Pete. Perhaps they were the only two who kept journals or perhaps they were the only ones whose journals survived. The men - mostly young college students led by the older, experienced adventurer, Art Moffatt, traveled hundreds of miles during June to September of 1955 through rivers and lakes in Canada, up into Inuit territory. The young men's journals talk a great deal about the rivers and lakes upon which they move forward with their journey, the wildlife they see (and often catch or shoot), the dynamics among the six explorers, and food. Food takes up a tremendous number of words on the page: men thinking of food, preparing food, hunting for food, and eating food. Indeed, if one did not know the journey centered around canoeing and photography, one would think the entire purpose of the trip was to eat.Skip's old journal entries seem fresh, show him at his best as a thinker and leader, and allow the reader to feel totally comfortable with him in a leadership role after the untimely death of Art Moffatt. Peter Franck's journal entries are different from - and a nice complement to - Skip's. Pete relays many day's activities much the same way as Skip, but from his own, shyer perspective. Franck's writing tends to be more personal, often reflecting on himself and his life and not always writing about the trip, the scenery, or the food.Most readers will shake heads in disbelief by the way this particular canoe trip was conducted. Why would they do this? Why would they do that? Many questions are raised. But Pessl, compiling the journal entries and writing the book from the distance of fifty years, tells the truth about their trip and does not appear to hide any of their obvious blunders. It is easy for readers, knowing the outcome of the adventure, to make judgments, but who is to say that any of us would have conducted the trip any differently if we were doing it today?If the canoe trip were being undertaken today, there would be cell phones, probably a plane overhead doing food drops, and perhaps a television crew along to shoot footage for a documentary or a reality TV show (and there are times in the journals when, yes, the entries read a bit like a TV segment of "Survivor," especially when the members of the group are not seeing eye-to-eye or getting along). But in 1955, the men just went ahead with their canoes, their cameras, their food supplies, and their muscles. The book is a fast and fascinating read. It is perfect for wilderness canoe aficionados as well as timid arm-chair travelers. One cannot imagine someone NOT getting something from a reading of BARREN GROUNDS as it says a lot about nature as well as ego. We wonder whether Pessl felt compelled to write when another member of the expedtition, George Grinnell, came out with a book a few years ago. Instead of allowing the Moffat Canoe Trip (as it was known) to be the George Grinnell story, Pessl undoubtedly felt driven to tell his own side. And that he did - beautifully.

[blackjackny · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having read many, many, wilderness books over the years, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a copy of this book to review. The book is a fine read, detailed from two journals kept during the trip. Well detailed, delving into preparations, travel and group dynamics. And, even though it is nearly 60 years later, perhaps a cautionary tale. That will be for the reader to decide.

[lisa.schureman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story of a group attempting to follow the route of Tyrrell's 1893 expedition as told through the diaries of two of the men who took part in the trip in all its beauty, harshness, mosquitos, black flies, cold and hazards that finally took the life of the group's leader. The author feels that what was utilized on canoe trips on the Albany didn't translate well to the Barrens that they were paddling and portaging through. Not something I would have done as I'm a major mosquito attraction. It does hold your attention throughout

[mstrust · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A recounting of an infamous 1950's canoe trip that ended in the death of its leader. Art Moffatt was an experienced canoer and outdoorsman who wanted to make a nature film along Canada's Dubawnt River. He gathered fellow canoers, hikers and an ex-Army man for a total of six young men, almost all Ivy League college students. At thirty-six, Moffatt was the group elder and leader with the most wilderness experience. This book by survivor Pessl, takes his and another member's journal entries, written along the journey, to show the struggle through freezing temperatures, blizzards, rain, boredom and infractions with the food supply.Surprisingly, hunger wasn't the major issue. They carried enough for the trip, though much was lost due to water damage, but hunted all along the way. The major cause of their tragedy, as Pessl states in his epilogue, is that they didn't factor in the harsh winter-like temperatures that began in early Fall, and the high caloric food they should have brought in order to remain energetic.

[streamsong_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In 1955, cinematographer and experienced canoeist Art Moffatt decided to follow the canoe route of Joseph Burr Tyrell's 1893 canoe exploration across the Canadian Barrens from Lake Athabasca in northern Saskatchewan to Nunavet's Baker Lake and ultimately the Hudson Bay. Besides doing the journey for the love of adventure, Moffatt's goal was to film the expedition since he felt the story of travel through the beautiful Arctic tundra would be a commercial success.And so Moffatt put together his team made up of an additional five young men and three canoes and what was hoped would be enough provisions and other supplies to see them through. Some of the men were seasoned canoers; one was a novice.The beginnings of the trip were idyllic and were ideal for filming as they passed spectacular scenery, sites rich in Eskimo artifacts and abundant wildlife. The party traveled slowly with many days of no travel at all and more with delayed starts. But these young men were not aware how quickly and fiercely winter arrives in the Arctic. Conditions went from sun-soaked afternoons of paddling shirtless at the end of August, to a raging blizzard a week later. Short of food and lacking warm enough clothes, the men decided to make a hurried dash toward civilization, and inevitably, their hurry caused a fatal mistake.In his epilog, Skip Pessl recounts the numerous articles written in various outdoor and canoeing magazines over the last sixty years. In Pessl's opinion, some of the incidents became mythologized and have little resemblance to the events that actually occurred. He especially dislikes a book published by fellow expedition member George Grinnell, entittled 'Death on the Barrens' which was written almost fifty years after the journey. This book has become somewhat of an outdoor classic and depicts expedition leader Art Moffatt as both suicidal and a bit of a mystic. And so Pessl decided to publish this book, which consists of daily journal entries that he and another member of the expedition, Peter Franck, recorded, as well as occasional entries from Tyrell's 1893 expedition.Although I am not familiar with Grinnell's book, I found this one to be interesting in its own right. 4 stars. Recommended for those with an interest in the tundra of the Canadian Barrens and outdoor adventure stories.

[kate06-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Barren Grounds: The Story of the Tragic Moffatt Canoe Trip is a poignant read. I hadn't heard about this tragic event until reading this book. I think the most compelling aspect of this book is that Barren Grounds is written from the journals of Skip Pessi and Peter Franck. The book is a courageous memoir and incorporates the enormous adversities Skip and Peter experienced. The Moffatt Canoe trip was a prodigious adventure despite its tragic outcome.