BWCA Kennebas Falls Crushed Canoe Story? Boundary Waters Quetico Forum
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      Kennebas Falls Crushed Canoe Story?     

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07/20/2017 08:07PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Posted this on the general forum, but no real response. Went through the Falls Chain on my Hunter trip this past June, and while waiting for a group to launch into Kawnipi after the Kennebas Falls, I noticed this crushed canoe. Does anyone know the story? I am not meaning to be insensitive, I am just curious. If you believe I am crossing a line, please let me know and I will delete this post.


 
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mgraber
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07/21/2017 02:30AM  
My wife and I saw it on our Nym to Moose lake journey in June and wondered about it also. Hope everyone made it home.
07/21/2017 06:24PM  
Kennebas could probably be deceptive - low falls might not look like much to novices, but think about the power going over that ledge! I think we would have heard if people were hurt/killed, so fortunately that almost certainly didn't happen - at least in this case.
07/21/2017 07:40PM  
quote Ho Ho: "Kennebas could probably be deceptive - low falls might not look like much to novices, but think about the power going over that ledge! I think we would have heard if people were hurt/killed, so fortunately that almost certainly didn't happen - at least in this case. "


The canoe looked like it had been there for some time. One of the guys in the group in front of me said he saw a pic of it when they got their permit at Cache. Going into PP in a couple weeks and will ask about it then.
Castaway
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07/22/2017 11:17AM  
Here's a picture of the canoe we saw stuck in Twin Falls back in June. Almost perfectly centered and pinned by the tremendous water flow. With the packs still in the canoe, I could only hope the paddlers got out at the portage upstream because the falls looked especially ominous. It was still there when we returned a week later.
billconner
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07/22/2017 12:26PM  
That could ruin your day in the wilderness.
QueticoMike
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07/22/2017 12:32PM  
quote billconner: "That could ruin your day in the wilderness."


Like my good buddy Clint always says " Dying ain't much of a livin"

My buddy Clint
carmike
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07/22/2017 09:38PM  
Wow, cool photo of that canoe in the middle of the rapids. Yikes. I'd like to hear that story. :)
07/23/2017 07:28AM  
That's amazing how that canoe is sitting upright like that. I would bet there's some good scuba diving at the base of these falls for artifacts.

I learned about the power of moving water back in 1988 when on a swollen creek my canoe got wrapped around a rock. Live and learn the hard way.

07/24/2017 07:57AM  
That canoe has been there for some time. To the best of my knowledge the occupants of the canoe were setting up to portage but didn't have the canoe pulled onto shore enough. Wind took it out (empty) into the current and down it went.

I wondered if it could be salvaged during low water. Looks like it could still be a nice canoe with some love.

Hex

07/26/2017 07:32PM  
Too bad it is only 1/2 the canoe! :) 1/2 a Bell Northwind.

It has been there a few years now.

May, 2015.



Eyedocron
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07/26/2017 08:22PM  
Tragic things can happen in the Falls Chain, and one needs to be careful. About 20 years ago my crew was headed east in the final Kawnipi narrows almost to Kennybas Falls as a search plane was looking for some that went over. The bodies were found a couple of days later. About 15 years ago we enjoyed using as a table (at the point campsite below Canyon Falls) half of a red Kevlar canoe. Don't know where the other half was.
Finally, about 15 years ago the other canoe of my crew launched above Kennybas Falls out into the channel across the top of the falls. Anyone who has been there knows you must launch up the shore. My son and I shouted at them and a quick recovery. Don't know what might have happened otherwise.
Beautiful part of the park. Just be careful and study and plan the portage approaches ahead.
The photo is the bottom of Canyon Falls.
Capsize
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07/27/2017 12:22AM  
In 2015 we saw a dad in the back of the canoe and his 12 year old son in front paddling to the portage at the top of Kennebas. He was fishing the top of the falls as his canoe was getting very close to the portage (and also the falls). Then he gets a snag and starts jerking his line back and forth. Eventually the bolt comes off the reel handle, the handle falls into the water, and he starts looking in the water for the handle. All the while the canoe is still moving toward the falls. We had to yell at him to drop his pole and pick up his paddle fast. Some people just don't appreciate the power of moving water.
 
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