The Water Fall

There was a huge island in front of us; to the left was a 30-foot water fall. The portage trail was long and the guide book said we could run the three rapids on the left. It would add three miles to the trip but that is the route we decided take.

The river narrowed down and we could scout the first two rapids from a high rock. The third one we could barely see and there was no easy way to scout it, but the guide book said it could be run and from this distance it looked easy enough.

We ran the first two with no problem but the route was narrow and the current extremely fast. As we raced on to the third, one cut between the island and the shore, I heard Mary yell “It’s a waterfall” There was nothing to do but just power through.

I made two strokes and felt the boat leap of into the air. We hit the water with a shock and the canoe heeled over on the right gunnel. I leaned over the left side and my paddle didn’t reach the water. We were rocketing along on the side of the boat. It seemed like minutes before the Bear settled down upright and I was surprised that there was little water in it.

When I looked back I could see Dana lining his canoe through the gap. It was then that I realized that I had lost my glasses. I had them strapped on but they were gone. I had a bruise on my check where I must have hit the gunnels trying to keep the canoe from going over.

We searched to boat to no avail. I had a spare pair but it was in my York pack so we decided just to paddle to the next campsite. When we were unloading the canoe there they were in the stern.

Lesson learned: Never trust a guide book

The Eddy

We could not find the portage trail so we assumed that the rapids could be run. We were on the left bank and Dana was on the right bank. He yelled “You can run it just keep close to the rock on the left.”

We had run a small rapid to get to the eddy we were in, so we could not go upstream and then hit the rapid straight on.

We got the bow right next to the rock and I felt the current swing the stern around I tried to draw but it had no effect. Bear is 17-ft long and there were about 16 feet 11 inches between the rocks we hit and the boat turned over.

I surfaced watching the canoe go sideways toward the rocks where it would T-bone between two rocks. I swam to the canoe forcing it around one of the rocks and into an eddy.

I saw Mary circling in a huge 100 ft. eddy and saw that she would circle to where I was. I walked over to Dana and we were discussing the wreck when I heard a yell from Mary as she was making her second circle around the eddy.

She could not stand up the first time around. Dana and I waded out and helped her out as she came to shore making comments about two old farts talking and not helping her out of the water.

Lesson learned: Never ignore a woman who is yelling at you.