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Author	Message Text
Achemers	07/08/2025 07:36AM   plmn: "Great to hear of a happy ending. Seems it wasn't necessary to take it off to begin with if it came out OK :) As a watch guy myself, would be interested in seeing a picture of it." Interested in seeing a pic too. Cool story! And also as a watch guy, there is a reason mine is NATO strapped and almost never comes off my wrist... ever. lol
plmn	07/08/2025 07:06AM   Great to hear of a happy ending. Seems it wasn't necessary to take it off to begin with if it came out OK :) As a watch guy myself, would be interested in seeing a picture of it.
plmn	07/08/2025 01:43PM   Thanks for the pic, I love seeing old watches that have been through some hard times but are still going. It definitely has a story to tell.
ducks	07/08/2025 09:14AM   THEGrandRapids: "Better send Noodle $40... (assuming the finders fee doubled each year!)". LOL. While reading the story I was thinking the same thing. Maybe $20 for Noodle and $20 for Steve. This is a really cool story and thanks for taking the time to share it. I’ve only met Steve once, but this doesn’t surprise me at all based on my first impression of the guy.
papalambeau	07/08/2025 11:08AM   Here is a pic of the watch that was found. Also, I now have Noodle's email so I can thank him for finding it! Blessings, DB
noodle	07/08/2025 12:07PM   This is amazing and I'm so glad to be part of this watch reunion -- and what's also amazing is that the watch was right by the kitchen, half covered in dirt but impossible to miss. Maybe it just had some duff kicked over it in 2023 and was just out of sight, and by 2024 was under just a little more dirt, and in 2025 enough of it was exposed? On that trip we also ran across an apparently-forgotten PFD on the Little Loon -> Slim portage and also on Pocket Lake -> Pocket Creek portages; both of those we left where they were because initially we thought someone would be coming back across the portage to get it, and then because obviously someone would notice when they began paddling without a PFD, but they also looked pretty old and weathered...
airmorse	07/07/2025 10:30AM   Great story. Good to see there are still nice people in the world.
papalambeau	07/07/2025 09:16AM   I just had a really cool closure to a 2-year lost and found story and thought it might be a good thread to have others share some of their lost and found experiences in the BW. Here is mine: Lost a nice gold watch at our campsite in June of 2023. Must have taken it off to clean fish, wash dishes, cook or something else. Had about 2 days left before we had to leave so told our group of sons and grandsons that whoever found the watch would get $10. The grandsons (ages 8-17), were looking feverishly but had no luck. Gave the watch up as lost. Came back to the same site in June of 2024 and one of my sons asked if the reward was still good for the gold watch. I said that it's doubled to $20 for whoever finds it. The grandkids looked at various times during our week stay but again no luck so I wrote it off as lost. Checked the L&F in June of 2025 and Noodle posts in the L&F that he found a gold watch at a campsite and that he turned it in the the Kawishiwi Ranger Station. It had to be the watch but I'm sure it's shot. I call the ranger station and describe the watch to them. Yep, it must be yours and it doesn't look too bad. They couldn't mail it to me but someone just needs to pick it up. I text my brother in law who was coming out of the BW on a Friday but by the time he saw my text the station was closed and would be closed for the weekend. So I called Steve Nelson, owner of Spirit of the Wilderness, explained the situation to him and asked if he could pick it up and mail it to me. Steve, being the great guy that he is, said he would take care of it and put it in the mail. We have known Steve for over 30 years and use him for some of our outfitting needs when we trip out of the Ely area. I received the watch in the mail a couple of days ago, replaced the battery and it runs and looks as good as new! So after spending two years in the elements of the BW (including two winters) it still works. The watch was found by Noodle (I tried reaching him but no email listed on his profile), posted on this L&F, taken to the Ely ranger station, picked up by Steve and mailed back to me. My sons and grandkids can't believe it. By the way, the watch is a Citizen if they want to use this for a review......
THEGrandRapids	07/07/2025 01:08PM   Better send Noodle $40... (assuming the finders fee doubled each year!)