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  1. #11
    Senior Member KeeWayKeno's Avatar
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    Nicely done as always Chard. Your time lapse of the eclipse is amazing.

    Those if us not "in the know" anxiously await the rest of the story though. Can't just leave it hanging out there!

  2. #12
    all secure in sector 7 Shug's Avatar
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    Whoooooo Buddy))))) Nothing like getting back out on the thawed water after a long cold Winter 'eh?
    Shug
    Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven

  3. #13
    Member Dale's Avatar
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    Well, I was hoping Jiblets or Cruiser51 or Joe would add their tale of adventure to this thread but hopefully it's okay if I do.

    After the main contingent left Jiblets, Joe, Cruiser51 and myself to head back across the dreaded 2390 meter portage back to Tom Thompson, we headed on our way with a destination of Big Trout. We had 2 portages to endure, one of 510m and the second of 745m. It started to spit rain by the time we hit the 2nd portage and the rain would increase on top of it being a cooler day weatherwise. I went on ahead through to grassy bay and decided to stop as I was getting close to White Trout Lake to allow my companions to catch up. When they did, Cruiser51 told me he had injured his ankle on the 2nd portage. How bad it was, we wouldn't find out until days later.
    Since we were cold and wet and Cruiser51 knew the seriousness of his injury we decided to find one of the closest campsites so that Cruiser51 and I could change into dry clothing.

    Cruiser51 realized that he was in serious trouble so he activated the emergency beacon on his Garmin Inreach device. In the meantime we all set up camp. I think it was about 4 hours later that we heard the thumping of the helicopter as it closed in on our location.

    Heli 1.jpg

    It sure was quite an experience that I had never encountered before.

    Heli 2.jpg

    We packed up one of Cruiser51's packs for him to take with him to the hospital but retained the bulk of his remaining gear that we would transport out on the rest of our trip.

    fire pit.jpg

    Tuesday was a windbound day which coincided with a rest day that Jiblets and Joe had planned.

    Wednesday we woke to a beautiful sunny morning. A great day to get out on the water and continue our adventure. We would be continuing on from White Trout, through Big Trout, down through the Otterslides and ending our day at Burnt Island Lake. It was a pretty long day of paddling and portaging.

    Sunny Morn.jpg

    Wednesday, our last day, started overcast but we were travelling a well-know route out to Canoe Lake. The day turned out sunny and the usual head wind on Canoe Lake was not overpowering.

    This turned out to be an adventure I must say with Cruiser51's unfortunate injury, however, I might some great gentlemen and can't wait to join them if they will have me on another adventure. Oh by the way, I found out later that Cruiser51 needed surgery on his broken ankle.

    APP Map.jpg

    Dale

  4. #14
    Senior Member Cruiser51's Avatar
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    I hadn't seen those photos yet Dale, thank you for posting. Really wish I could have finished the trip, what I saw was new territory for me and it looked pretty awesome.

    Jiblets has a few more pics and I hope he posts something as well. Since i wasn't actually there for the packing out of my gear, I offer heartfelt thanks for whatever contributions you three made to the effort. The gear is now safely stored at Gilberts house and he assures me it is fine till I heal. He also mentioned storage charges and something about the canoe being salvage, but I am almost sure he is joking.

    Pretty impressed with the ERT response (the chopper crew was just plain "badass"), ERT followed up with my son (beacon contact) the next day to make sure he was alright and did he need to talk to some one ... one minor correction, I use an ACR PLB not the Garmin In Reach.

    The Huntsville Hospital was very good as well. The ER doc nailed everything that was going to happen. Currently, I am 3 weeks out of surgery, everything is healing up really well and am looking forward to next appointment, in three weeks, to see if I am ready for weight bearing and physio. I am expecting the physio to be worse than the break, that has been my experience so far at least.

    Wife has been an angel, but she has forbidden any thoughts of another trip this year. Jamie reminded me that there is a November Valens get together .... I have tentative permission for that.

    Closing with a thank you to Gilbert, Joe and Dale for seeing me safely out.

    Brian

  5. #15
    Chard's Avatar
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    Thanks for the "other side of the story". It's good to know some more of the details.

    Kudos to the guys in the sky (O.P.P.(?)) for being there in Cruiser's hour of need. Now we just need to figure out a way to get them to "rescue" us from our daily lives and deliver us to the depths of Algonquin for some spiritual healing.
    Survival is about getting out alive, Bushcraft is about going in to live - Chard (aka Forest-Hobo)

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  6. #16
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    The day started out promising when we left Chicamoula the morning of May 16 towards Big Trout Lake. It was cool and overcast, just the type of weather I like when there are kilometres to be paddled and portages to be walked. What I didn't like was when it started to rain and drizzle through the day, making the portages slippery. I have never been able to wear a rain jacket when doing any type of activity so I was soaked in no time. The temperature also started to dip and that made it even more enjoyable.

    We headed east out of McIntosh Lake into McIntosh Creek where a 510 and 745 metre portage awaited us before having to traverse the McIntosh Marsh. The portages were slippery with mud pits and rock gardens mixed with uneven terrain. I double carried unlike "Ironman" Jiblets, master of the single carry. I used the first carry to scope the best route through the mud pits before bringing the canoe and food barrel on the second carry.

    On the 745 metre portage there was a particularly treacherous section of mixed mud wallow and rock garden. It was also a downhill haul meaning you had to make sure your balance was just right or you could pitch forward. The best route was to follow the right edge of the mud pit, then halfway through, cross over to the left by way of some wet, slimy rocks and then continue on the left edge of the pit. It was at the crossover where Cruiser51 slipped and broke his ankle. He did not know that it was broken at the time, but knew it was bad. The Ironman and I were finishing loading up our canoes at the end of the portage and he was trying his hand at casting into the rapids when Cruiser51 came into sight minus canoe and supporting himself on his paddle. He told us what happened and it was evident that he was in a lot of pain. I went back to get his canoe and pack while Jiblets stayed with him. Once Cruiser51's canoe was sorted out and he was seated in it, he felt better and had no problems paddling. In fact, he would pass me with little effort. It was only when he had to put weight on the ankle was when you could see how much it hurt. The beavers had been busy laying a series of dams throughout the creek and marsh so that we could conveniently stop and smell the mud. Ahhh, there's nothing like the smell of mud in the morning! Some dams we were able to run, others not so much and that meant we had to get out of the canoe and pull it over the dam and get back in on the other side. All while trying not to get your foot trapped between the branches or sink into the mud. This is where Cruiser51 showed his grit.

    We finally got through the marsh and through Grassy Bay into White Trout Lake. By this time I was shivering and could feel the onset of hypothermia. We were all wet and I imagine the others were also feeling the cold. I started to make a beeline across White Trout Lake towards Big Trout Lake when I noticed Jiblets and Cruiser51 heading off to the right. Unbeknownst to me, they had consulted a map and were headed to a ranger cabin in hopes of getting some assistance for Cruiser51. Said map now rests peacefully at the bottom of White Trout Lake, but that's another story. The ranger cabin was locked up with a sign that said there was no emergency or communications equipment inside. They had not opened up for the season yet.

    Cruiser51 made the decision to set off his PLB for an extraction, but was not sure how long it would take for rescue to respond. It was decided to find the nearest campsite before turning the PLB on as we had no idea how long it would be before they arrived. We got to an island campsite not far from the ranger cabin and surprise (!), it had a floating dock moored in the channel between the island and the mainland. From what we could determine, the dock must be for the ranger cabin during the summer and in the winter, they store it at the island. This would later prove to be fortuitous.

    Everyone set up their hammocks and tarps and got into dry clothes except Ironman, who stayed in his wet clothes the entire time. When I grow up, I want to be just like Mr. Jiblets. We were settling in when we heard a buzz in the air. Soon, a police helicopter appeared over the tree line and circled the island several times. Apparently, in Algonquin Park, the Ontario Provincial Police have the mandate for rescue operations. I thought they would have sent a float plane as I could not see how they could land a helicopter with no clearings. Later, I learned that they do aerial extractions by dropping a line down and pulling the injured person up to the helicopter without the need to land. In our case, there was a floating dock at the back of the island and they dropped a police officer onto the dock and the helicopter went back up in the air while the police officer assessed the situation. The helicopter pilot was amazing to say the least. They landed the helicopter using half of one landing skid onto a moving dock and just out of reach of the tree branches. They hovered in this position while the police officer and Cruiser51 boarded. We sadly waved goodbye to Cruiser51, but we were glad he was getting the medical attention he needed. Later, he would tell Jiblets that there are good breaks and there are bad breaks. His was a bad break and would require surgery.

    Afterwards, we decided that we should stay together and make sure Cruiser51's canoe and packs got back out. We would be out of the park on Thursday instead of Friday. We intended to head out to the Otterslide lakes the next day but were windbound so stayed until Wednesday when the wind died down. Jiblets had devised a harness system to pull Cruiser51's canoe behind his canoe and this worked great on Big Trout Lake. When we got to Otterslide Creek, the harness had a few issues due to the fact that the creek was more twisty than it should have been in spring. There was more water then in the summer time, but less than normal for this time of year. The winter had not had a lot of snow and the water level was down. There were also 5 portages on Otterslide Creek ranging from 105 to 730 metres. Throughout all the portages, Dale helped carry Cruiser51's canoe and packs. I had the important task of supervising the two layabouts.

    Once out of Otterslide Creek, we were now in Otterslide Lake, then on to Little Otterslide Lake. Following a 790 metre portage we were on Burnt Island Lake. We were pretty tired and it was pretty late at this point so we took the nearest campsite for the night. The next day, we hauled bass down the length of Burnt Island Lake. After a 200 metre portage into Baby Joe Lake, we did a 435 metre portage to Little Joe Lake. We ignored the 120 metre portage on Little Joe Lake and paddled on to the East Arm of Joe Lake, then Joe Lake proper. From Joe Lake, we did a 260 metre portage to Canoe Lake and back to our original access point. Thankfully, the Portage Store restaurant was open and we had a fine meal of burgers and fries. Dale, Jiblets and I said our farewells and headed home on full stomachs. C'est tout!

    I'll add some photos tomorrow.

  7. #17
    Member Dale's Avatar
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    Thanks for this report Quiet and all the details you have provided!!

    Dale

  8. #18

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    Y'all know how to adventure. I'm glad Cruiser is healing and I can't wait for the next trip report and pictures.

    Charlotte

  9. #19
    Chard's Avatar
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    Thanks for all of the details guys. Those Portages can be a real pita when they're wet and slippery.

    Oh yeah I still don't understand how Ironman does his single carries and still manages to pull reflector ovens, pizzas and all manner of amazing stuff out of his bags.

    I have to say though, Dale certainly got the most eventful EGL first trip ever.

    Glad you guys all got out okay.
    Survival is about getting out alive, Bushcraft is about going in to live - Chard (aka Forest-Hobo)

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  10. #20
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    Gilbert thinking he needs a haircut.jpg
    Helicopter hovering with only half a landing skid on the floating dock as Cruiser51 boarded

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    Towing Cruiser51's canoe behind Jiblet's

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