a Great Bear Lake Tul orman Hottah Lake Fence Narrows Blood Rock •Grave Site Hook Place Komoola Portage Gameti Sliding Hill Nidziikaa Kogolaa Shoti Lake Rae Great Slave Lake
CH A P TE R ONE Getting Ready for the Trip JUNE 28 AND sixth grade was finally over John's cousins had called him a few weeks ago to see if he could go on a canoe trip with their grandparents He was excited but a little bit scared too This canoe trip was going to be at least four weeks long They planned to paddle all the way from Rae to Hottah Lake on an old canoe route called the Idaa Trail People used the trail for hundreds of years
to get from Fort Rae to Fort Norman explained his mom They traveled by dog team in winter and birchbark canoe in summer Your grandparents used to travel on that trail with their families when they were your age Now they want to show you and your cousins the important places on the way The next week John's parents drove him from Yellowknife to Rae where his cousins Nora and Peter and his grandparents Etseh and Etsi were getting ready for the trip John Come and look at the map Peter called as soon as he saw his cousin They gathered around the kitchen table Their grandfather slowly traced a route that would take them along rivers lakes and portages north to Hottah Lake It was a route that had been traveled by many generations
