Ran across this is the news, hope they are alright.

Search for 3 missing Canoers

I just saw this also. I hope they find them quickly. Can't believe this is the second one in two weeks.

It says they were due out 5/29, so this is 4 days later - not a good sign, but I hope they are just lost.

Hopefully they've been ok weatherwise for the past few nights. Is their missing confirmed by a vehicle left at the entry point?

They were found, healthy.

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4276833-missing-boundary-waters-paddlers-found-after-using-flashlight-signal-plane

Article link


Thanks. I put a link in for ya userid333 :)

The story is weird they had to be helicoptered out, but there didn't appear to be anything wrong? Has to be a reason they couldn't make it out?

T

quote userid333: " They were found, healthy.

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4276833-missing-boundary-waters-paddlers-found-after-using-flashlight-signal-plane"

The Story

I'm glad that they are okay. I find it intriguing that they were originally looking for 3 people, 2 males and a female. If there was a 3rd person, maybe he went for help and the story was incomplete at the posting time? Maybe he took the canoe and bailed on the other two like the guy did on Polly last September? I think that Boonie and I both ran across those two clowns. We camped at the Sawbill Campground in the site next to them the day one was retrieved and the other exited. They both told the same story. The fact that they didn't kill each other was amazing. I sure hope that this season is better than last year for incidents like these.

This message was posted by the St. Louis County Rescue Squad on Facebook about an hour ago:
"Sunset in the Boundary Waters. In this magnificent Alex Messenger shot, he and David get underway on the Nina Moose River during a search last night for two overdue paddlers in the BWCA. It was originally reported that three people were missing, but while the three were known to each other, the third individual entered and exited solo, and was located safe at home. We'll have more photos and details to share, but right now our members need a shower and a couple hours sleep. Stay tuned!"

The news article first calls them stranded, then calls them lost . . . ? I wonder if they were stranded because they lost their canoe . . . ? Or were they just lost on Oyster Lake . . . ? I would think they'd see somebody on Oyster in that number of days and be able to flag them down . . .

I'm just glad these two folks are okay. Kudos to the search and rescue crews and to anybody that helped find these two campers.

quote boonie: "The news article first calls them stranded, then calls them lost . . . ? I wonder if they were stranded because they lost their canoe . . . ? Or were they just lost on Oyster Lake . . . ? I would think they'd see somebody on Oyster in that number of days and be able to flag them down . . . "

The report says near Oyster Lake. I wonder if they got stuck and/or lost in the Oyster River?? Wasn't there just a thread asking about that area??

We witnessed an overturned canoe this last weekend on the way out at the same EP. It was pinned in the rapids between Agnes and Nina Moose. I am now wondering if it was related to the missing?

quote : "We witnessed an overturned canoe this last weekend on the way out at the same EP. It was pinned in the rapids between Agnes and Nina Moose. I am now wondering if it was related to the missing? "

That does make you wonder, but if they lost their canoe between Agnes and Nina Moose, I'd wonder how and why they ended up on Oyster . . . ?

There's just not a lot of information in the article and it's not all that clear.

quote boonie: "

quote : "We witnessed an overturned canoe this last weekend on the way out at the same EP. It was pinned in the rapids between Agnes and Nina Moose. I am now wondering if it was related to the missing? "

That does make you wonder, but if they lost their canoe between Agnes and Nina Moose, I'd wonder how and why they ended up on Oyster . . . ?


There's just not a lot of information in the article and it's not all that clear. "

I just returned from a trip to LLC on May 30th through EP 16 on Moose River. On the way out, we came across not one, but 2 canoes stuck/smashed in the river between Nina Moose and Agnes - 1 on each portage. We also found a pack stashed at one of the portages that looked fully packed, but with nobody around.

We figured someone either lost control of the canoe above the rapids, didn't secure the canoe and it drifted down the rapids, or perhaps tried to to run the set going into Agnes (runable for an experienced paddler IMO). Either way, it was extremely bizarre. It looked like they had dropped a pack to make room in a canoe to transport an extra person out of the park.

There was a park ranger at EP 16 when we came out that we notified of indecent. My heart sank a little when I read this. Sounds like they are okay, however.

I guess the lesson is if you find yourself in a situation like this, don't go trying to bushwhack your way home, just stay put and notify a passing traveler of your whereabouts. Wait for help in a heavily traveled area rather than getting yourself in a worse situation. Also, be careful with securing your boat near rapids and approach with extreme caution.

I hope we eventually find out what really happened . . .

They reportedly sent a text to a friend indicating they were lost, but it was taken as a joke.

They also had a Blackhawk helicopter looking for them. I think the helicopter saw their flash lights.

I guess they where lost in a swamp near Nina Moose River and Oyster Lake

Can't wait to see their trip report.... dumb!!

Video of rescue.

That will be expensive.

I think this will work.

Here is a link to Google Map with the coordinates from the GPS on the helicopter video. These folks were seriously lost south of Oyster. They had to have traveled up Manes Nord Creek from Oyster. Maybe they were thinking they were on Oyster River?

OK. I couldn't get "add link" to work so you'll have to copy and paste the following into your browser or select it and right click on open link in new window. Sorry, I'll figure it out some day.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/48%C2%B011'23.0%22N+92%C2%B008'42.0%22W/@48.190164,-92.1544736,3875m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d48.1897222!4d-92.145

I cannot verify the authenticity of the previous post regarding their location, but if that is true, then that is seriously off the beaten path. Nobody ever would have stumbled across them down there. I hope we get to hear their story. Again, I'm just happy they were found alive and well.

Yes, glad they were found alive and well. I think sedges must be right about thinking they were on Oyster River; it seems the only logical reason for them to be there and as jaywalker said, it wasn't that long ago someone was asking about the Oyster River vs. the portage.

Wow, glad they are ok. Being up there so much you kinda get numb to that fact that this could happen. Even the best of us get turned around sometimes.

According to the DNT, "

The pair appeared to have gotten lost on their way out, he said, taking a wrong turn while navigating a tributary that feeds Oyster Lake. Slatten said that the tributary is one of the many streams and rivers that connect the lakes in the area and can take away the need for canoeists to portage from one waterway to the next. The tributary they were on ran out of navigable water and the pair realized they were lost.

“In that part of the Boundary Waters you can make a lot of progress by paddling the streams and rivers,” he said. “They’d navigated into a stream and thought it was part of their route.”

Article:http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4276833-update-missing-bwcaw-paddlers-found-after-using-flashlight-signal-plane Sorry, Add a link isn't working for some reason.

Not sure what to make of that. Did they go up Manes Nord Creek expecting a short cut, or were they just looking for an adventure, or did they think it was Oyster Creek? Manes Nord Creek really doesn't go anywhere. Why couldn't they just turn around and go the way they came? Did they lose their map? Hard to explain really.

Quite a story.

quote sedges: "I think this will work.


Here is a link to Google Map with the coordinates from the GPS on the helicopter video. These folks were seriously lost south of Oyster. They had to have traveled up Manes Nord Creek from Oyster. Maybe they were thinking they were on Oyster River?

OK. I couldn't get "add link" to work so you'll have to copy and paste the following into your browser or select it and right click on open link in new window. Sorry, I'll figure it out some day.


https://www.google.com/maps/place/48%C2%B011'23.0%22N+92%C2%B008'42.0%22W/@48.190164,-92.1544736,3875m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d48.1897222!4d-92.145"

here here

If the coordinates are correct, there's only one way they got to where they were picked up. And there's only one way out, reverse course. Don't understand how you could spend all the effort to go down that little creek and not figure out that the way out is the way you got there. This is not "Canoeing With the Cree" Ontario wilderness, where you can get really turned around, it's the BWCA, mapped and reasonably populated with paddlers. Get back to the lake. Must be more to this story.
Don't want to see the bill.

Like others here, my first thought was why didn't they "turn around and follow the stream back to Oyster Lake"?

A second thought - pay attention any rookies/newbies reading this thread - the best way to avoid getting lost is to "stay found". Staying found requires paying attention as you go. In this case, the first clue they weren't entering the Oyster River would be that they are heading SW rather than E. That would have been the time to stop and re-orient yourself.

Also. They would be going upstream on Manes Nord Creek as opposed to downstream on Oyster. We need to keep track of those little details!. I hope we hear the real story!

quote airmorse: "That will be expensive."

For taxpayers, article said Dayton already said to pay for it out of general fund. Now I expect the same treatment next time I'm lost... which is usually in walmart.
The only explanation I could see is they stopped to listen for a homonica and instead heard banjos and scampered in deeper to get away from them.
I only make light knowing they are safe. Very glad for that.

Seriously, boonie's advice is the soundest... stay found... pay attention. Includes using a compass.

I've traveled down Manes Nord Creek. You can travel quite a ways before it narrows. My guess is they tried to find a portage that would take them to the next navigatable part of the river. This is where they got turned around.

quote nctry: "

quote airmorse: "That will be expensive."

For taxpayers, article said Dayton already said to pay for it out of general fund. Now I expect the same treatment next time I'm lost... which is usually in walmart.
The only explanation I could see is they stopped to listen for a homonica and instead heard banjos and scampered in deeper to get away from them.
I only make light knowing they are safe. Very glad for that.


Seriously, boonie's advice is the soundest... stay found... pay attention. Includes using a compass."

No Like button to hit here so taking up space to say: Love your light commets, nctry. lol!
and also boonie's comments/advice.

Also hoping to hear their story. Could serve as a valuable lesson to many

editing to remove double post. Don't see a delete option.

Just a screenshot from Marsonite's video link above. That was quite a rescue to a Blackhawk helicopter. At night!

With the number of novices that go to the bwca, it is a wonder this doesn't happen more often. Chalk it up to a training mission for the Blackhawk crew.

Lately, it seems as though rescues happen more frequently then years ago.

quote : "We witnessed an overturned canoe this last weekend on the way out at the same EP. It was pinned in the rapids between Agnes and Nina Moose.I am now wondering if it was related to the missing?


I had a conversation on FB with a guy that took pics of that canoe in the Moose River as I recall. It was 3 miles or so from the lost party. It was green royalex. My info was they saw it on the way out last week with no paddlers in the area.

I can't confirm where I heard it but the two lost folks may have taken the wrong creek out of Oyster, ran out if water to paddle and got lost.

Wondering who pays for the helo rescue. There was video posted on FB.

You gotta winder if they had maps...I took a newbie up last year and told him what maps to buy. He didn't buy them, but brought his gps with a base map instead. If that was the case with these two, they were one electronic failure from being up a Creek. I can see how it could happen, that portage isn't obvious, they remember a river, and they knew that they needed to go south.

After all is said and done, it is just great to know that they are OK.

I'd be totally embarrassed if that ever happened to me. Yes, it could happen to the best of us especially if no route plan, compass, map, or sense of direction.
hmm. The best of us wouldn't travel without those.

Wow what an awesome video! Thanks for posting the link! That Blackhawk must have been what flew over my place at O dark thirty? Knew it wasn't a life flight chopper. I caught the article in the Ely Echo and they under-report as usual. Last I knew blackhawks don't fly themselves. Must have been our air guard if Dayton was involved.

God bless our service men a women. Job well done.

so happy this all turned out with a happy ending. the video appears to be close to 2 hours in length, could that be right? also, who was doing the video taping? must have had another aircraft up there.
hopefull they will have time to rest up and then paddle back in with some friends to collect their gear and canoe.

Exact coordinates are: 48 11'23"N / 92 08'42"W. Enter this into Google earth: N 48 11' 23 W 92 08' 42

The MN DNR and Sheriffs Office worked together on the rescue and gathered all the information. They were already searching on the ground/water and as they got more information they requested the aerial search. The video was taken by the MN State Patrol Cirrus out of St. Paul which is equipped with a FLIR (night vision) camera. The State Patrol flew in and located the missing people in under an hour, then gave the Guard the coordinates to hoist them out. The State Patrol stayed overhead until both the people were safely aboard the Blackhawk. All of the agencies involved did another outstanding job coordinating the rescue. The rescue system worked exactly as it was intended and thankfully there was a happy outcome.

This doesn't mean you should go out exploring and bush-wacking cross country and make your own way. The BWCA is a wilderness and having a plan, knowing your route and using your prior experience navigating by map are important learned skills. Unfortunately, things can happen and even the best of the best can get turned around.

What saved their life was that they knew they were lost. They got a distress message sent out that help was needed and they didn't make things worse by taking another unexpected turn. They stayed put and waited for help. Someone else knew where they were going before they left. That helped the searchers narrow down the possible location they might be found based on the loop route they planned on taking. I agree that returning to the lake would have been better but none of us were in their shoes. They were found 23 miles NW of ELY in the middle of a Wilderness so they were lucky they got out.

Best advice is to do your homework, know your route, let friends and family know that plan and then stick to it. Don't deviate mid-trip and go other places without letting someone know. If you do get lost, at least the searchers will get good information and they can start looking for you in the right places.

I'm entering at EP16 and heading up Nina Moose to LLC in two weeks. I'll have to try to remember to avoid that area ;)

Bah humbug. Oyster Lake and it's tributaries must be the BWCA's Bermuda Triangle, where compasses, maps, memory of how you got where you are, and common sense vanish. Glad these folks are OK, but...........let's get the whole story, we, as Minnesotans paid a pretty penny, we deserve to know what really happened here. Just because, nothing more. And, are they going back somehow to recover their canoe and belongings?

I agree that we should withhold judgement until or if we hear the full story. But it sure is strange. Now I can understand paddling up the wrong creek, and maybe looking for a portage and getting turned around. But they were several days late. One of the reports stated that one of them had missed a shift at work. That's seriously late. Did they spend several days bushwhacking up Mane's Nord Creek? And if they had lost a map, or had seriously bad map reading skills, how did they even make it to Oyster Lake? Also, I hadn't heard that they sent out a distress signal. That would have required a Spot, which would have made rescue much easier.

Anyway, glad they are out and OK.

quote Ole496: "Exact coordinates are: 48 11'23"N / 92 08'42"W. Enter this into Google earth: N 48 11' 23 W 92 08' 42


The MN DNR and Sheriffs Office worked together on the rescue and gathered all the information. They were already searching on the ground/water and as they got more information they requested the aerial search. The video was taken by the MN State Patrol Cirrus out of St. Paul which is equipped with a FLIR (night vision) camera. The State Patrol flew in and located the missing people in under an hour, then gave the Guard the coordinates to hoist them out. The State Patrol stayed overhead until both the people were safely aboard the Blackhawk. All of the agencies involved did another outstanding job coordinating the rescue. The rescue system worked exactly as it was intended and thankfully there was a happy outcome.


This doesn't mean you should go out exploring and bush-wacking cross country and make your own way. The BWCA is a wilderness and having a plan, knowing your route and using your prior experience navigating by map are important learned skills. Unfortunately, things can happen and even the best of the best can get turned around.


What saved their life was that they knew they were lost. They got a distress message sent out that help was needed and they didn't make things worse by taking another unexpected turn. They stayed put and waited for help. Someone else knew where they were going before they left. That helped the searchers narrow down the possible location they might be found based on the loop route they planned on taking. I agree that returning to the lake would have been better but none of us were in their shoes. They were found 23 miles NW of ELY in the middle of a Wilderness so they were lucky they got out.


Best advice is to do your homework, know your route, let friends and family know that plan and then stick to it. Don't deviate mid-trip and go other places without letting someone know. If you do get lost, at least the searchers will get good information and they can start looking for you in the right places.


"

The news story doesn't add much.

Except they say they're experienced.

KARE News Story

The interview on KARE was interesting. It was an older couple. It looked like they had maps and said they were very experienced, but they sure didn't act that way. They say they are going again.

quote sueb2b: "The news story doesn't add much.


Except they say they're experienced.


KARE News Story "

That certainly was made more dramatic than necessary. For one, there is no backcountry campsite where they were located and the rain and wind was around for a day or two during that time. It wasn't 'pounding' their tent for days. Plus it was unseasonably warm, so they wouldn't had to worry about the cold. The news always has a knack for adding half truths to make their stories more interesting.

It certainly sounds like they assumed they were on the Oyster River. A significant navigation error considering the river they thought they were on is on the opposite side of the lake from where they entered the wrong river. I'm sure it could happen to anyone, but it seems their navigation skills could use some polishing.

Lucky for them they left an itinerary with someone. I'm glad the two of them are safe.

I'm glad they were rescued safe.

I hate to play armchair quarterback here but it always amazes me when I read about the person or story afterwards. It is usually just one tiny mistake they made, then a bad decision made. Like they took the wrong trail, then decided to leave the gear to find the trail and get further lost without gear. A GPS attached to your belt could have made this story a non story. Lost trail, no problem just walk back to the trail. People really need to be taking a GPS every time they are in the woods. Leave it off, safety tucked in you pocket and then it's ready for you when you need it. Too bad people never talk about all the times a GPS got them out of trouble. I'll bet these people bring a GPS thier next trip to the BWCA.

There are three ways out of Oyster Lake and all involve taking a portage first--not a river. I'm not sure how they "missed" the portage. I know sometimes maps are not correct but intuition should tell you, "This is not the right way. Turn around and be 100% sure." They assumed that the Manes Nord River would take them out somewhere. Their overconfidence in thinking that the river was their way out was their undoing. But, glad they are safe as this could have ended badly.

I have a feeling they were looking at Agnes Lake on the map and thinking it was Oyster, or they had a senior moment(something I am quite familiar with) and misremembered what lake they were camped on. The route out of Agnes up Moose River starts off in the same direction they headed out of Oyster.

Any overly confident person can get lost in the wilderness no mater how much experience they have. In fact some experienced people take more risks than a new person would. No one knows what is was like for them. You can't walk in their shoes.

Glad they got out ok.

Many times I see rivers that go out of portages or lakes, and think "oh that would be easier then going around"
luckily, my wife and I have a system of checks and balances when navigating as well as we like to stick to our plan
its much easier to make a plan at home and learn it then trying to "wing it"

If you want to bushwhack and do what you want, there should be waivers you have to sign.. saving taxpayers for your follies

have backup maps as well. and compass
learn the area u are trekking before you go! read maps. look at portages, read info on them. its all available info out there for people to find, to be able to be well prepared.

its not that hard, and this is not some fun and games trip to go car camping so take navigation serious

I knew the scoop would be on this messageboard!

My buddy and I just got out from a 5/30-6/5 trip through this area. We were camping at campsite 1773 on Oyster Lake when all this was happening. About 20 minutes after we got to our camp we had a couple rangers come up and ask if we'd "been contacted yet". They explained that three people were missing and they had last been seen in this area. We were coming from Little Shell that morning and hadn't seen a soul all day until we hit Oyster. That night we had the cirrus buzzing us from midnight to the time the chopper rolled in on the south end of the lake.

We spent the rest of the trip coming up with different possible scenarios and hoping they made it out safe. We were glad to hear that they had!

Panic is a bad thing. And by panic I don't mean full blown running around with your hands up in the air. seems like reversing course would have been the correct answer. it is amazing that they were just over a mile to ramshead and 4 miles to the road.... an overwhelming distance for their situation!