While most are not nearly as serious as death or near death as described in another thread, we all take accepted risks to get to our BWCA and other wilderness trips. What mishaps have you had including possible death for those involved or those you know or know about?

For me, in 30 or so trips from St. Louis, Our crew had one near collision and I drove into the back end of a car for a minor fender bender at a traffic light less than 2 miles from home.

More than I would like. I'm blessed that I have only seen one ER visit from my outdoors activities and all the close calls were only that.

My worst: one uncontrolled slide towards a 150 ft drop. Caught myself on a silver dollar sized rock. A bad water one, two full breaths of water and then a hard time getting out. Coughed water for half a day after and had a hard time swimming again. Another fall through a swamp into swimming conditions and had A tough time getting out onto continuously collapsing banks. Eventually found something solid. Also stepping over fresh mountain lion scat out west solo backpacking in the dark really made the hair stand up. In the BW, the worst was probably some really close lightning strikes while paddling an aluminum canoe in a swampy stretch with no out. 3 strikes inside a mile had the heart racing a bit.

Like I said though, despite some close ones, I am so blessed for all the memories and that I still get to do the activities I love.

My worst has been soaked thru rain gear in 45 degree october rain, while on portages. Thankfully the wet sacks worked as advertised, and once tents were up and dry clothes were on I was a happy camper. Hypothermia is no joke!

Last night of a 12 day solo in April (early ice out) on Argo lake. All day rain was finally quiet against the tent. Woke to claustrophobic tent sagging towards me- when I pushed against the sides I felt weight, real weight- my thought was oh-oh. Dawn showed 18" of snow and strong cold winds from the north. Portages were brutal, paddling Crooked and Friday Bay was terrifying. Mudro exit in a day simply not possible. Portage from Argo to Crooked took almost three hours. Day time temp never rose above twenty, ice an snow adhered to the canoe. Not much left to eat. Plenty of whiskey.

Portaging with canoe I slipped on a wet rock and fell backwards landing on a pine log. You know the ones with broke off branches. I tore my shirt and scraped that side, but too close to impaling for comfort. Others I can laugh off, not this one.

I took two of my daughters fly-fishing in a deep canyon out west. The shore was littered with boulders and I slipped and fell backward hitting the back of my head on a rock. The next thing I knew I was looking up at a beautiful blue sky and my daughter was asking me why I was laying down - she was 8 or 9 at the time. I stood up, too quickly, and leaned over and dry-heaved several times. The rest of the afternoon everything was very confusing...why was I fishing? where is the trail? when do I go home? is someone meeting us here? I just couldn't focus or think through anything. Eventually we hiked out and made it home safely. I sat at the kitchen table and couldn't put anything together in my mind. That's when I took off my leather outback hat and ran my hand through my hair...it came back bloody and I had suffered a pretty bad concussion.

My biggest fear is losing my mind and not knowing it's gone - my wife says that happened long ago! So many situations go from bad to worse because people are not able to gather themselves and think. We have one rule in the wilderness: Don't Panic. What happens if you don't even know what that means? Anyway, I try to be safer now, more patient, and as prepared as possible.

Solo trip to the Boundary waters, on no sleep, in 1988. As the sun was coming up, squinting into the sun, along the north shore, I kept nodding off. I eventually decided I better pull over at the next wayside rest. I didn't make it. Somewhere between beaver bay, and silver bay, I nodded off a little too long, and slid into the ditch off to the right. There are many places along the north shore, that in itself, could have been fatal. I woke up headed down the embankment, straight for the trees. I snapped the wheel around to the left, and came flying up out of the ditch. When I landed on the road, I cranked the wheel around to the right, but made the mistake of hitting the brakes. I think if I just kept my foot on the gas, I probably would've pulled out of it, but I panicked and slammed on the brakes. This slid me driver side first, into the rock wall on the opposite, NW side of the road. The vehicle bounced off the rocks, spun 180 degrees, and hit the same rock wall with the passenger side. The vehicle was totaled. The rear axle came off completely. The home made kayak that was on the roof, was broken in pieces. All of my fishing rods in the trunk were toast. I had no seat belt on. It was my brother's $400 1970 dodge dart. But other than sore wrists, I was fine. Despite not having slept for 25 hours or so, I was wide awake the rest of the day. I found a place to stay in Silver bay. Called my dad and asked him what he was doing. He was at work, but left at noon, threw a canoe on his car, and threw his gear in, and drove up and met me for a week of fishing. It was one of the best fishing trips I've been on. I caught my personal best northern and walleye at the time. We had a great trip.

I was also in the 99 4th of July blow down.



I had a bear encounter in camp, but don't really consider that life threatening.

The worst may have been I think maybe 1995. If my memory serves, the year of the sag corridor fire, we were suppose to go to sag in August, but the fire killed the trip, so we went like the 7th ish of September. We crossed sag, and stayed in the 3rd bay campsite. The first couple days were beautiful, and in the 70's. Then we had an a lightning storm that seemed to last forever. It just went on and on and on. One lightning strike after another. Many were to the ground and seemed close by. I've camped all my life, have been in hail storms, the 99 blowdown, all sorts of torrential rain, but nothing scared me like that storm. Some strikes were close enough, that I could make out the outlines of the bushes through the walls of my tent. As I recall there were strikes every couple minutes, and it seemed endless. We normally camp in Zephyr, that was our destination, but someone had already taken the site. When we woke up, all 3 of us were thinking the same thing..... what happened to those people in Zephyr with those giant pine trees (note, those pine trees aren't there anymore, well at least not 4 of them, one fell in the 99 blowdown, which didn't hardly hit zephyr, and 2 of them fell in like 2016 ish...Zephyr 2016 storm damage ... ) Regardless, we were very concerned, because at the time, Zephyr had like 5 or 6 of these giant pines (I don't know if they're red's or white's), but we knew they were higher than the surrounding trees. So we decided to paddle down and check on them. When we got to the portage, that couple was portaging out. Their trip was over. Their tent had been damaged by a huge chuck of one of those trees, that had been hit by lightning, and it fell on the one end of their tent. Fortunately it didn't hurt either of them. Had we been camping there, that's right where I usually set up my tent, so who knows how close I was to avoiding death. Last time I was in Z, those two big pines, that fell, still bisect the campsite, and where I usually put my tent, is what's left of a big widow maker. I also recall the temps the rest of the trip, were in the mid 30's degrees. It had dropped 40 degrees from the previous day. Cloudy, rainy, windy, and cold. It was awful. Makes for nice stories later, but I can tell you if I'm never in another lightning storm like that, it'll be too soon.

Banksiana: "Last night of a 12 day solo in April (early ice out) on Argo lake. All day rain was finally quiet against the tent. Woke to claustrophobic tent sagging towards me- when I pushed against the sides I felt weight, real weight- my thought was oh-oh. Dawn showed 18" of snow and strong cold winds from the north. Portages were brutal, paddling Crooked and Friday Bay was terrifying. Mudro exit in a day simply not possible. Portage from Argo to Crooked took almost three hours. Day time temp never rose above twenty, ice an snow adhered to the canoe. Not much left to eat. Plenty of whiskey. "

Jeez that sounds dreadful.

I’ve had two flat tires at the end of the Gunflint trail, one deep cut in my foot are all the bad things that have happened to me in 50 some trips.

When I take risks my question to myself; is do I enjoy this enough to die doing it?
I wrecked a motorcycle once and have never got one since as I decided that day that I didn't enjoy it enough to die or be incapacitated doing it. My fun activities are paddling, ice fishing, hiking, skiing, and a few others and I can honestly say that if I died doing them I would die happy. God and Gunsmoke know I've taken some risks doing those activities.
Of course the most risky activity is driving to and from the activity!

A bit gunshy of taking trips in the car to paddle.
Close friends doing so last Oct had a head on collision with a wrong way driver. She died. He just got home from rehab with a long way to go. Every bone in his body broken except for one leg.

I had a wave on the Mississippi River fall on my kayak, cracking the hull and breaking through my spray skirt. It happened when a giant, lower-river tow turned in the current, sending its wake into the shore, which then ricocheted back, creating chaos and ten-foot waves that simply fell. I couldn't ride them. They were too steep and unstable. It took me twenty minutes to reach shore, which was a mere 30-40 yards away. Then I camped in poison ivy and the rash went inside me. Then the cold, late November rain came. Then I had to save a trapper's boat that broke free at night. Hard days and nights. I finally reached a hospital in Vicksburg and got some medicine. Two shots and pills. The emergency room doc said it was the worst case of poison ivy that he'd ever seen.

In northwestern Ontario, lightning struck my tent and melted my guy lines.

Captn Tony: Of course the most risky activity is driving to and from the activity!"

I wholeheartedly agree! Driving is one of the most risky things we do but we take that risk on because the risk is worth the reward. I really appreciate your approach.

I also always bring up the point about driving when my wife worries about my outdoor hobbies. She’s not convinced. Lol

I am relatively new to BWCA/Q tripping with 4 so far, but I have been on countless climbing trips and several expeditions. In the Rockies and Cascades the biggest threats seem to be afternoon thunderstorms that sneak up on you. On Forbidden Peak in the Cascades we were ascending the ridge in gorgeous summer weather when I noticed that my partner ahead of me on the rope was in some distress. She couldn't understand why her long hair wouldn't stay down, and instead was arcing upwards in no wind. Then, Boom! The lightning strike couldn't have missed us by more than 50 feet. We rappelled off that ridge in record time and waited it out in a gully. That storm materialized in a short time behind us, and we failed to keep an eye out as you can get tunnel vision when the summit is so near. We were lucky.

eagleriverwalleye: "I am relatively new to BWCA/Q tripping with 4 so far, but I have been on countless climbing trips and several expeditions. In the Rockies and Cascades the biggest threats seem to be afternoon thunderstorms that sneak up on you. On Forbidden Peak in the Cascades we were ascending the ridge in gorgeous summer weather when I noticed that my partner ahead of me on the rope was in some distress. She couldn't understand why her long hair wouldn't stay down, and instead was arcing upwards in no wind. Then, Boom! The lightning strike couldn't have missed us by more than 50 feet. We rappelled off that ridge in record time and waited it out in a gully. That storm materialized in a short time behind us, and we failed to keep an eye out as you can get tunnel vision when the summit is so near. We were lucky."

Whoa!

And, WOW!!

I've had my fishing rods hum a few times prior to a storm.

I got a couple questionable decisions I’ve made that I would definitely not do again. Here’s my most recent: I had a storm sneak up on me when solo this last fall. I had day tripped over to Trident from Ensign for some evening fishing last fall. It was threatening rain and storms all day, but nothing had come of it. I got into the fish, so I may have been less aware of the weather then usual, but all of a sudden massive dark clouds can over the treetops on the near shoreline and a few cloud to cloud lightning bursts could be seen in the distance. I immediately pulled up my line and started hightailing it across the lake toward the portage back to Ensign. On the portage back to Ensign, I got clobbered by the storm and had to hunker down on the portage for an hour. In hindsight, I should have just gone to a nearby open campsite and hung out there for a while.

Here’s a video of that trip, fast forward to 26:46 to get to the “oh no” moment.
Drought to Deluge

Tony

My tent after a severe thunderstorm, June 1988.
There were 3 of us in the tent when the storm hit around midnight.
Insula Lake

Mt Rainier national park, 19 and I was with my folks on a three week tour of the West.
Hiking on my own when I came to a point where a glacier came to an end where it was a river coming out from it's end point.
I was so curious to see what was happening at that point, it was a hot summer day. Little rocks were tumbling down from the dirty glacier here and there, but.......I so wanted to see what it looked like up close where the river exited from the glacier.
Then it happened......I heard a noise, large rocks were breaking loose.
I realized that I was in a world of hurt, ice cold river to the right of me, pure chaos to the left of me.
I made a 50 yard dash jumping from from rock to rock at full speed as bolders were bouncing all around me.
Pure luck......rocks the size of a kitchen table passed within inches of me as I booked arse as only a 19 year old could.
That is with out a doubt the day I realized as a teenager that I wasn't invincible. So damn lucky.

On a solo several years ago, I camped on Crystal Lake and did some exploring for mine remnants at Spaulding Lake. I was walking on the rocks on the edge of the lake and I slipped and fell backwards. My back landed on a sharp edged rock perpendicular to my spine. The miracle was that I did not hit my head. It happened so quickly. Had I hit my head it would've been a long time until I was found.

On another solo a couple years ago, I fell twice on one of the portages between Mudro and Fourtown. I slipped in the water taking out my pack, and again down a steep rock face at the north end of the portage. Again, very lucky. A lot of bumps and bruises, and a broken compass (it was in my pocket for some silly reason), but basically my body was intact. That was a tough day, foggy and windy and cold. I went to bed early, had some medicinal Jack in my tent, and spent the next day soaking my aching legs in the cool water of Fourtown.

Mike

Duff: "Mt Rainier national park, 19 and I was with my folks on a three week tour of the West.
Hiking on my own when I came to a point where a glacier came to an end where it was a river coming out from it's end point.
I was so curious to see what was happening at that point, it was a hot summer day. Little rocks were tumbling down from the dirty glacier here and there, but.......I so wanted to see what it looked like up close where the river exited from the glacier.
Then it happened......I heard a noise, large rocks were breaking loose.
I realized that I was in a world of hurt, ice cold river to the right of me, pure chaos to the left of me.
I made a 50 yard dash jumping from from rock to rock at full speed as bolders were bouncing all around me.
Pure luck......rocks the size of a kitchen table passed within inches of me as I booked arse as only a 19 year old could.
That is with out a doubt the day I realized as a teenager that I wasn't invincible. So damn lucky.


"

Holy avalanche, Batman! Your story scares me the most. So many ways to die that day.

Duff: "Mt Rainier national park, 19 and I was with my folks on a three week tour of the West.
Hiking on my own when I came to a point where a glacier came to an end where it was a river coming out from it's end point.
I was so curious to see what was happening at that point, it was a hot summer day. Little rocks were tumbling down from the dirty glacier here and there, but.......I so wanted to see what it looked like up close where the river exited from the glacier.
Then it happened......I heard a noise, large rocks were breaking loose.
I realized that I was in a world of hurt, ice cold river to the right of me, pure chaos to the left of me.
I made a 50 yard dash jumping from from rock to rock at full speed as bolders were bouncing all around me.
Pure luck......rocks the size of a kitchen table passed within inches of me as I booked arse as only a 19 year old could.
That is with out a doubt the day I realized as a teenager that I wasn't invincible. So damn lucky.


"

WOW !!!!

Duff: "Mt Rainier national park, 19 and I was with my folks on a three week tour of the West.
Hiking on my own when I came to a point where a glacier came to an end where it was a river coming out from it's end point.
I was so curious to see what was happening at that point, it was a hot summer day. Little rocks were tumbling down from the dirty glacier here and there, but.......I so wanted to see what it looked like up close where the river exited from the glacier.
Then it happened......I heard a noise, large rocks were breaking loose.
I realized that I was in a world of hurt, ice cold river to the right of me, pure chaos to the left of me.
I made a 50 yard dash jumping from from rock to rock at full speed as bolders were bouncing all around me.
Pure luck......rocks the size of a kitchen table passed within inches of me as I booked arse as only a 19 year old could.
That is with out a doubt the day I realized as a teenager that I wasn't invincible. So damn lucky.
"

Yep, sounds like Mt Rainier, probably either the Carbon or Nisqually glacier. And it's getting worse with the recession of the glaciers. Worked there for 6 years. One of my coworkers (and ski partners) was the "fluvial geomorphologist", who studied all that stuff. My title was much shorter and less sophisticated sounding.

Banksiana: "Last night of a 12 day solo in April (early ice out) on Argo lake. All day rain was finally quiet against the tent. Woke to claustrophobic tent sagging towards me- when I pushed against the sides I felt weight, real weight- my thought was oh-oh. Dawn showed 18" of snow and strong cold winds from the north. Portages were brutal, paddling Crooked and Friday Bay was terrifying. Mudro exit in a day simply not possible. Portage from Argo to Crooked took almost three hours. Day time temp never rose above twenty, ice an snow adhered to the canoe. Not much left to eat. Plenty of whiskey. "

Man, that sounds like a real nightmare!