New Trip Report posted by TreeBear

Trip Name: A Grand Misadventure.

Entry Point: 1

Click Here to View Trip Report

Wow! Glad that you both are OK and that you shared this with us. We can all learn, no matter how experienced we think we are.

It doesn't really seem like you did anything wrong or stupid, just got caught by a rapids in a moment you didn't expect? Glad all are OK.

Absolutely thank you for sharing! this event could have turned out many different ways, but what happened is that you and your tripping partner kept level heads and worked through your options and then made a decision.

i know from you trip reports and other posts that you are an experienced paddler and woodsman.

when i read accounts of crazy things that happen to experienced people i sometimes wonder if, as experienced people, we become complacent with our actions. i'm not saying anything bad about your situation, so please don't read that into it. i reminisce about my past trips and there was definitely things that didn't go as planned and we lived to reminisce about them.

you and your partner did exactly what you should have done after you tipped.
congrats on all that. and congrats for living in a community with so much support.

Tree bear.

That’s a messed up story and it makes me uneasy to read it.
The reason is- I dumped in Quetico, alone, in 2019 and I surely know what you experienced. My ‘mistake’ was not as severe and it was June so the water was warm and I was able to retrieve everything and continue on. The worst part of my episode was the emotional part of it and how I felt for what I did.

But I am a wiser man now, and a safer canoeist too. And YOU will find great wisdom in what happened that can never be taught!

I appreciate you sharing your experience. Nobody died on your trip and you got the Pelican case back so in the end, ehh? It’s all good man. See you on the water.
Tom

I appreciate your telling of the tale. I particularly appreciated this quote: "Eventually, someday, all the pieces will align in just the wrong way between the choices we make, and the wilderness as we make them in."

In my profession, we are incredibly quick to review and judge the actions of our compatriots. And we can be rather harsh about it; for our individual (and collective) survival may very well depend on successfully distilling out what lessons may be learned. But, as I tell all of my new trainees: sometimes we just lose. No matter how prepared, no matter how careful, sometimes we just lose. And all the what-ifs, hindsight, and Iwouldaduns from the people who weren't there won't make a difference.

I'm glad your loss was relatively light, and proud that you are willing to share your experience.

Wow - What a drag. I must say that is a very well written story. Prob could use that, I've always been someone who gets in hairy situations but seems to come out relatively unscathed. That is a good reminder not to push things too far, eventually it can bite you.
Glad you are ok, sucks all the cards were against you for self-rescue as you explained. You coulda made it if things were a bit different.


Cheers, scat

Sounds like the only thing you did "wrong" was not having your Spot on you. Otherwise it was an unfortunate accident that could've happened to anyone. Glad you made it home safe with minimal gear lost.

A phrase I often live by is “better luck next time.”

Yes, from reading your report it just happened. We all could do things better, but at times stuff just happens. You listed your points you learned or relearned from. I know that there are many great trips ahead for you and those who join you.

It's too bad that wet lighter didn't get working earlier. Knowing your toughness. I'd bet you would have sat by the fire all night until more trippers came through to help, and thus avoided Search and Rescue.

Thanks for the share - much appreciated. Every paddler no matter the experience learned something - thanks again.

Thanks for sharing, TreeBear. Stuff happens and usually unexpectedly. You did good!

Quite the story. I am glad that things worked out for you. Complacency can nail you as I have learned several times myself in 50+ years of tripping.

Thanks for sharing a story that should be instructive for the rest of us.

Mocha: "when i read accounts of crazy things that happen to experienced people i sometimes wonder if, as experienced people, we become complacent with our actions. i'm not saying anything bad about your situation, so please don't read that into it. i reminisce about my past trips and there was definitely things that didn't go as planned and we lived to reminisce about them.
"

Absolutely - this can and does happen to experienced people in all kinds of situations. I can share multiple stories of people with decades of experience dying in mountains (alpine/rock climbing) due to basic, day 1 mistakes.

After I became more experienced and comfortable, complacency was my biggest worry.

Man don't worry about haters and keyboard commandos coming at you from their Mom's basement. I really appreciate you sharing this so the rest of us can learn from it. Really the best part is how you handled it once it happened. You made good decisions that did not compound the problems and make everything worse.

Thanks Treebear, lots of good reminders for all of us in your story. Glad you guys made it out safe.

Glad you are okay!

T

TB

As others have said, glad you and your trip partner are OK and now have a story to tell. Not gonna second guess anything you did/didn't do (other than to stay off FB...it's the devil's playground :) ).

Also, was glad to read that you stopped to help others in need.

JJ

Glad everyone is safe! Sounds like you handled the situation like a pro.

Every one of us risks the same thing happening to us...just a bad combo of circumstances that can make self-rescue unsafe. You made the right choices as things went sour and that is the reason you came out of this safely. Any idiot can think it won't happen to them, the rest of us know that it can. Peace and thanks for sharing your story and lessons learned.

...thanks for sharing. Glad for your safety.

straighthairedcurly: "Every one of us risks the same thing happening to us...just a bad combo of circumstances that can make self-rescue unsafe. You made the right choices as things went sour and that is the reason you came out of this safely. Any idiot can think it won't happen to them, the rest of us know that it can. Peace and thanks for sharing your story and lessons learned."

+1

Glad you are safe. I'm impressed with the responses; nobody pointing fingers.
Those moments are great teachers for sure.

Adding my voice to the thanks for sharing. In your recap when you wrote "There’s been plenty of uninformed, prideful people armchair quarterbacking this thing. In some ways, that stung. I know their opinions don’t matter, specifically, the opinions from the people who don't know us, our experience, or how deeply we care about this place." that echoed with me; I know someone who was involved in a rescue many years ago, and through a game of telephone it turned into a story of "can you believe this idiot? what an idiot. boy, this person's an idiot" and the part that stung them the most wasn't just that they made a mistake, but that the tale kept changing in the telling to make them sound more incompetent.

It's a tough situation, because when the armchair quarterbacks do that, some people might then think that they better not call for help when they need it, and then they could end up in an even worse situation.

Thanks for the post. It sure made me think a bit more about how I will pack and carry my gear for my next trip.