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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum Listening Point - General Discussion Anyone know the story here? |
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08/11/2020 08:16AM
This just took me back to 1980. I was 17 and on my second trip to the Q. Our group of 7 boys and 2 adults , had spent the night on Russell watching the Northern Lights for the first time. Next morning we portage around the falls heading back. There was a twisted canoe at the bottom of the falls that we all made jokes about. Just like this post.
At the put in, on the top of the falls, I watched my friend push the canoe right into the current. As he realizes what he did, he panics and jumps out, leaving two in the canoe, who begin to paddle furiously. We pull my friend out after he grabs some small trees on the bank. We are yelling paddle, paddle , paddle...as the two left in the canoe are stationary for a moment, but slowly begin to creep to the edge of the falls no matter how hard they paddled.
As they begin to tire and I think I am going to see these two go over the falls and die, our guide comes running up the portage. Yells to one of paddlers to switch sides, and the canoe glides right to the shore. We grab them as the hang on to the trees on the bank. They were maybe 20 ft from going over.
That is one way to learn respect for canoe country! Maybe that canoe is the one we say 40 years ago!
At the put in, on the top of the falls, I watched my friend push the canoe right into the current. As he realizes what he did, he panics and jumps out, leaving two in the canoe, who begin to paddle furiously. We pull my friend out after he grabs some small trees on the bank. We are yelling paddle, paddle , paddle...as the two left in the canoe are stationary for a moment, but slowly begin to creep to the edge of the falls no matter how hard they paddled.
As they begin to tire and I think I am going to see these two go over the falls and die, our guide comes running up the portage. Yells to one of paddlers to switch sides, and the canoe glides right to the shore. We grab them as the hang on to the trees on the bank. They were maybe 20 ft from going over.
That is one way to learn respect for canoe country! Maybe that canoe is the one we say 40 years ago!
08/11/2020 11:34AM
Wharfrat63: "This just took me back to 1980. I was 17 and on my second trip to the Q. Our group of 7 boys and 2 adults , had spent the night on Russell watching the Northern Lights for the first time. Next morning we portage around the falls heading back. There was a twisted canoe at the bottom of the falls that we all made jokes about. Just like this post.
At the put in, on the top of the falls, I watched my friend push the canoe right into the current. As he realizes what he did, he panics and jumps out, leaving two in the canoe, who begin to paddle furiously. We pull my friend out after he grabs some small trees on the bank. We are yelling paddle, paddle , paddle...as the two left in the canoe are stationary for a moment, but slowly begin to creep to the edge of the falls no matter how hard they paddled.
As they begin to tire and I think I am going to see these two go over the falls and die, our guide comes running up the portage. Yells to one of paddlers to switch sides, and the canoe glides right to the shore. We grab them as the hang on to the trees on the bank. They were maybe 20 ft from going over.
That is one way to learn respect for canoe country! Maybe that canoe is the one we say 40 years ago!"
Scary story. The portage isn't at the falls anymore. I wonder what year it was moved.
08/11/2020 04:20PM
1st trip, 1994 I think, outfitted through Outdoor Adventures in Ely. Doug can't remember his last name, told me if there is a portage around some rapids you will take it. He had a Grumman aluminum canoe at the entrance to his place that was bent all the way in half, quite impressive. Very good advice.
08/11/2020 10:27PM
I'll bet the rest of the knoo sunk after being wrapped around a rock and breaking apart. This end had flotation foam in it and it kept it on top the water going down the falls.
God let Peter walk on water. To the rest of us He gave knoos.
08/12/2020 07:13AM
deerfoot: "I have come across canoe remnants just like this several times in Canada. You always wonder. The west end of Whitewater Lk where the Ogoki Rv enters is a long set of rapids with numerous destroyed fishing boats and canoes."
Here are those rapids.
What caught my eye was one standing wave after another, on and on and on. I don't think an open boat would be afloat at the end of that, as you'd be taking on gallons with each wave.
I will paddle eternal, Kevlar and carbon.
08/12/2020 09:25PM
missmolly: "deerfoot: "I have come across canoe remnants just like this several times in Canada. You always wonder. The west end of Whitewater Lk where the Ogoki Rv enters is a long set of rapids with numerous destroyed fishing boats and canoes."
Here are those rapids.
What caught my eye was one standing wave after another, on and on and on. I don't think an open boat would be afloat at the end of that, as you'd be taking on gallons with each wave. "
Great video - thanks for sharing. It looks just as I remember from 2008.
08/13/2020 10:51AM
missmolly: "deerfoot: "I have come across canoe remnants just like this several times in Canada. You always wonder. The west end of Whitewater Lk where the Ogoki Rv enters is a long set of rapids with numerous destroyed fishing boats and canoes."
Here are those rapids.
What caught my eye was one standing wave after another, on and on and on. I don't think an open boat would be afloat at the end of that, as you'd be taking on gallons with each wave. "
I saw this on the French River in central ON about eight years ago. Smaller waves from the rapids capsized two of four canoes in cold spring water. We went and salvaged them as we were in tin motor boats. They didn't tip; they simply took on water and that was it.
08/13/2020 02:09PM
My buddy and I wrapped a canoe around a rock on the 11 Point River in Arkansas on an Outward Bound trip in high school. Took a wrong approach in a rapids, hit a rock, boat tilted, he went in the water, the boat filled with the onrushing current and it curled around that rock in seconds. I remember pulling my feet up and getting out just before it went. So there we are standing on a rock with the water rushing past. We had to throw our gear in the water to our trip mates. I then threw a pair of boots in like they were going to float. As soon as they left my hand I immediately thought, oh man, that was stupid. Sunk right to the bottom never to be seen or worn again. Had to do the last 2 days tripled up. Needless to say, not a shining moment in my canoe tripping history. We were told they retrieved it with a power boat and bent it out. Not so sure about that. It looked like a letter C around that rock. Strong current just pounding it. Bad route. We were always first in, everyone else took the easy way around the outside. Prob should have done that. Besides that it was a great trip.
Ahh, memories...
Cheers, scat
Ahh, memories...
Cheers, scat
08/13/2020 02:48PM
Alright, call me naive, but I just don't see how rapids tear a chunk off an aluminum canoe. Can that really happen? I understand a canoe being folded in half, smashed flat, sunk or perhaps torn roughly in half.
But how would rapids tear, in such a jagged fashion, the last two feet off an aluminum canoe?
Educate me because I just don't see it.
But how would rapids tear, in such a jagged fashion, the last two feet off an aluminum canoe?
Educate me because I just don't see it.
08/13/2020 08:46PM
brp: "Alright, call me naive, but I just don't see how rapids tear a chunk off an aluminum canoe. Can that really happen? I understand a canoe being folded in half, smashed flat, sunk or perhaps torn roughly in half.
But how would rapids tear, in such a jagged fashion, the last two feet off an aluminum canoe?
Educate me because I just don't see it. "
If the current was pushing against the floatation pod, it would most likely be bending back and forth in the current, metal fatigue would eventually cause it to break away, probably a little at a time, causing a jagged and irregular tear. It would, of course, float due to the foam, so could end up anywhere.
So many fish,so little time
08/13/2020 10:13PM
Now that is an explanation I can trust in. Get a boat stuck in the wrong spot in heavy current and I can def see that happening. Being a man once stuck in the wrong spot in heavy current on a rock I’m a believer.
Anybody seen my boots...
Anybody seen my boots...
08/13/2020 10:24PM
Just for fun I will add this. I will never forget when the water flooded into our canoe, there was maybe a couple seconds and then it just curled around that rock and the sound it made. Take a 16 oz aluminum can and bend it, crunch. And once it started curling I got my feet out of the boat and my butt out on the rock which I will now recall as just in the nick of time. Scary what a badass flowing river can do to a man’s creation in the wrong hands.
The river starts with a huge natural spring which shoots straight out of the earth prob 20’ in the air, ok work with me, that’s what I remember, I have the right to embellish, this is my story, it might have been 12’, but it is big in width as well, like 50 yards wide, ok maybe 30, this was 40 years ago. That’s how this awesome river starts, erupting out of the earth. It’s amazing to see. We put in right downstream from this maelstrom, I’ll say just for fun, 200 yards, and the current’s already hoppin and it ain’t stoppin. Me and my best friend in high school load our gear, I’m in the boat, he takes one step in and we flip right over, all our gear soaked for the first two days. Of course, he thinks it’s funny. Weird dude, always was. Point being, it’s all his fault, wrapping a perfectly good canoe around a rock.
Tellin ya, dude was just unsteady man, always was. And that’s my story and I’m stickin to it.
Cheers, scat
The river starts with a huge natural spring which shoots straight out of the earth prob 20’ in the air, ok work with me, that’s what I remember, I have the right to embellish, this is my story, it might have been 12’, but it is big in width as well, like 50 yards wide, ok maybe 30, this was 40 years ago. That’s how this awesome river starts, erupting out of the earth. It’s amazing to see. We put in right downstream from this maelstrom, I’ll say just for fun, 200 yards, and the current’s already hoppin and it ain’t stoppin. Me and my best friend in high school load our gear, I’m in the boat, he takes one step in and we flip right over, all our gear soaked for the first two days. Of course, he thinks it’s funny. Weird dude, always was. Point being, it’s all his fault, wrapping a perfectly good canoe around a rock.
Tellin ya, dude was just unsteady man, always was. And that’s my story and I’m stickin to it.
Cheers, scat
08/13/2020 11:35PM
mgraber: "brp: "Alright, call me naive, but I just don't see how rapids tear a chunk off an aluminum canoe. Can that really happen? I understand a canoe being folded in half, smashed flat, sunk or perhaps torn roughly in half.
But how would rapids tear, in such a jagged fashion, the last two feet off an aluminum canoe?
Educate me because I just don't see it. "
If the current was pushing against the floatation pod, it would most likely be bending back and forth in the current, metal fatigue would eventually cause it to break away, probably a little at a time, causing a jagged and irregular tear. It would, of course, float due to the foam, so could end up anywhere."
Thanks makes sense..with the floatation pod.
The Metolius River on OR is "born" from a spring and is fed by others along the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uANmI2YOO4U
08/14/2020 07:22AM
Wharfrat63: "Just my two cents...but I would suspect that over the winter a canoe wrapped in ice could easily be ripped apart as the ice slowly moves downstream.
"
That also sounds plausible.
I will paddle eternal, Kevlar and carbon.
08/14/2020 08:41PM
Anything is plausible. Wild nature is unyielding. The current of a mighty river just keeps on comin. One little tear on the rim of an aluminum canoe could easily keep going, till finally it rips free. It’s entropy in action. In time, all things man made will return to the way nature intended.
08/16/2020 06:10AM
When the FS goes to retrieve a canoe that is wrapped around a rock, with currant holding it in place, they often have to use a come-a-long to pull it out and this can result in tearing off a chunk. None the less, not sure why the piece was left behind. Future artifact? A good reminder for those who choose to not use the portage. Years ago I bought and repaired a SR that was found wrapped around a rock on the Maligne. Once the bent gunnels were removed, it popped back into shape.
“The more you know, the less you carry” Mors Kochanski
08/16/2020 02:36PM
From time to time people try to run Chatterton Falls cause they have no idea where the portage really is ( a bit south!) They keep thinking it ought to be here and by the time they realize here is over there the current has them.
The wife of a friend of mine is buried at Chatterton. She died in hospital but here ashes are there.
The wife of a friend of mine is buried at Chatterton. She died in hospital but here ashes are there.
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