Does anyone have information about the Float Plane that landed on Oyster Lake Memorial Day ? It circled, landed, took off , circled for almost 2 hours. It landed again stayed on the west side of the lake half an hour then took off and left the area. Just wondering if there was some type of rescue.

There was a solo tripper that was rescued. He apparently didn’t have a map and got turned around. He ended up heading up Manes Nord Creek and at some point decided to hit his SOS.

There's been a few rescues up Manes Nord Creek through the years. I look at the maps and think it would be hard to make that mistake...but obviously some folks are clearly making it. I wonder what prevents them from turning around and going back. I suppose for every rescue there probably is dozen or so that self correct and paddle back up into Oyster.

I remember at least one a few years ago. I wonder - did he lose his map or just leave without it . . . ? It seems they'd be looking for the Oyster River, but it starts in almost the opposite direction, SW instead of E. . . .

boonie: "I remember at least one a few years ago. I wonder - did he lose his map or just leave without it . . . ? It seems they'd be looking for the Oyster River, but it starts in almost the opposite direction, SW instead of E. . . . "

Right - it seems as though even just the littlest bit of map reading or a glance at a compass would correct this issue.

Yep, it was me… boneheaded, rookie mistake made by someone with over a dozen trips in the BWCA. US Army veteran, map reading, terrain association, etc… I’ve no plausible excuse. Trip report to follow.

BigPaul: "Yep, it was me… boneheaded, rookie mistake made by someone with over a dozen trips in the BWCA. US Army veteran, map reading, terrain association, etc… I’ve no plausible excuse. Trip report to follow."

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to reading.

Speckled: "

BigPaul: "Yep, it was me… boneheaded, rookie mistake made by someone with over a dozen trips in the BWCA. US Army veteran, map reading, terrain association, etc… I’ve no plausible excuse. Trip report to follow."

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to reading."

+1 Looking forward to reading, thinking "it could be me" someday. Complacency (and old age) is one of my greatest concerns and these serve as good reminder. Glad everything turned out well.

BigPaul: "Yep, it was me… boneheaded, rookie mistake made by someone with over a dozen trips in the BWCA. US Army veteran, map reading, terrain association, etc… I’ve no plausible excuse. Trip report to follow."

Big Paul, don't beat yourself up to bad. We were on Oyster at the site just off the portage on the east side of the lake. We watched the float plane land and then take off to circle for almost 2 hours. After it landed and took off again we supposed someone had needed assistance.
We came out on Friday and our shuttle driver told us he had given a solo paddler a bottle of H2O He said the gentleman had a very interesting story.

gripper: "

BigPaul: "Yep, it was me… boneheaded, rookie mistake made by someone with over a dozen trips in the BWCA. US Army veteran, map reading, terrain association, etc… I’ve no plausible excuse. Trip report to follow."

Big Paul, don't beat yourself up to bad. We were on Oyster at the site just off the portage on the east side of the lake. We watched the float plane land and then take off to circle for almost 2 hours. After it landed and took off again we supposed someone had needed assistance.
We came out on Friday and our shuttle driver told us he had given a solo paddler a bottle of H2O He said the gentleman had a very interesting story. "

Live and learn, Big Paul. Don't be too hard on yourself. You've owned it. And it's great you have shared so others can learn too. Don't know you, but I am glad you are safe and the story had a fortunate ending from that perspective. Hope you can get back out there and enjoy a trip again soon. :)

Thanks for coming forward. We will all learn more knowing how this happened to someone with the same skills we have rather than it just being a story about a beginner needing to learn more before starting out.

BigPaul: "Yep, it was me… boneheaded, rookie mistake made by someone with over a dozen trips in the BWCA. US Army veteran, map reading, terrain association, etc… I’ve no plausible excuse. Trip report to follow."

Glad you are OK.
Be well.

BigPaul: "Yep, it was me… boneheaded, rookie mistake made by someone with over a dozen trips in the BWCA. US Army veteran, map reading, terrain association, etc… I’ve no plausible excuse. Trip report to follow."

Glad you are here to talk about it. It isn't just the rookies that make mistakes, something I appreciate being reminded of. Hope all is well.

A nice backup to maps (if you lose your map or can't figure out where you are at by looking at your map) is to download an offline map of the entire BWCA on Google Maps App on your phone. I have downloaded most of the northern half of Minnesota as one file. You can have your phone in airplane mode and it will show you exactly where you are at. Once I was paddling across a lake at a fast clip and was looking at map. I set it down for a second and gust of wind blew my map case out of canoe. I got turned around and got it before it sank. I didn't have backup map that year.