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ESCAPE to the NORTH


Page 2

June 2nd; 2002. This morning I did some fishing and caught a trout for breakfast. With it, I had some bacon, eggs, sunny side up, some fried potatoes, toast and coffee. I could not help thinking, this is the life. As I was having my second cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette, I was thinking that I would have to do something about that trunk like luggage. I found that it was just too heavy, and cumbersome too, to be hauling it in and out of the canoe. I will have to buy some carry all bags to divide the load to make handling easier. It's just too hard for me to handle alone. I will do that when I get to Mattawa, which is the only town that is right beside the river according to the map. I broke camp early. By 6 A.M. I was paddling to the other end of the lake, close to the shoreline, looking to see if I could find my lost life jacket, paddles and map case. I spent many hours looking but only found my life jacket. All along the shore, there was this brown floating mass of debris that had camouflaged the life jacket. Only because part of the bright red colour of the life jacket had shown through the muck, was I able to find it. I could not find the lost paddles or the map case. Finally, I had to give it up and continued on my journey. Leaving the lake, the river led me into a larger lake and there at its end, was a dam. It was only a short distance to the other end of the dam. The terrain was flat and was clear of any obsticles to where the river ran into rapids. I decided because of the short distance, and the relitive flat land, instead of unloading the canoe and carry everything over by hand, with all the heavy luggage and gear I had, I would be better off to roll the canoe on logs to the other end. So I gathered up some logs that was about the shoreline and towed the canoe with the luggage and gear still inside the canoe. After I had passed over the last set of logs, I gathered up the logs behind me and laid them across in front of the canoe and carried on with the task at hand. Eventually, I got to the other end of the river well past the dam and launched the canoe back into the river, still partly beached. I walked along the shoreline through very heavy brush to see how the river looked further downstream. The river was fast moving, because of all the rain we had these past few days, and there were many rocks about. But I did think that I could manage this one. I checked to see if I could find some portage trail but there were none except heavy brush on the side of the river I was on. The map that I had did not indicate any trail on the other side of the river. So I made my way back to the canoe and got myself ready to hit the rapids.

Half way down the rapids my heart felt like it was in my throat and for a second, I just froze. The rapids did not look that bad from the shore, but right here and now, all I could think of was, Wow! I quickly snapped out of it and began to paddle as if my life depended on it, in which it did. How I managed to get through that set of rapids I will never know. I can only think that my guardian Angel had to have a hand in all of this. Maby even GOD must have been watching over me during the worst of it. It was really that bad. When I came upon a small lake that was ahead of me, I decided to beach the canoe in order to calm down and get back some sense of perspective in all of this. I really thought that I was not going to make it. After a thank-you prayer to my Angel and to GOD, I made a cup of coffee and lit a cigarette. When I felt settled down again, I pushed on. I passed through this small lake in no time at all and went through another set of rapids. It was a wild ride going down this white water but it was nothing like the last one I had encountered, where it felt like my heart was up in my throat. The river led to another lake on which was shaped like a Y. I had trouble finding just where the river flowed out of this lake. There was a lot of deadfalls scattered about as I paddled along the shoreline trying to find its outlet. Finally I heard the thunder of the rapids even though I could not see where the river was for there were a lot of deadfalls blocking my view. These large trees must have been blown down by some strong winds to do this much damage. I managed to pick my way among the deadfall in a zig-zag fashion untill I got to the bank. I beached the canoe and tried to follow the river down as best I could to see what I will encounter on this stretch of the river. It was very hard going through this heavy brush as I slowly made my way down alongside the river. I could tell that there was no way, I was going to ride this set of rapids.

SPRING RAPIDS.

This one looks really bad...

I looked around to see if there was a way that I could portage the canoe and all of my gear. It was very tough going through the bush without having anything to carry, let alone a canoe or that one luggage that was like a trunk. So now what, I asked myself? I sat on a fallen tree and smoked a cigarette as I tried to figure out what were my best options to the circumstance that presented to me at this moment. The thought of having to try to carry or drag all that heavy gear through this tangled mess of underbrush did not appeal to me not in the least. I knew that I was not going to be foolish enough to try and run this rapid. What would one of those frontier mountain men do under these conditions, I kept asking myself? I knew that in this part of the country, I could not expect to see anyone since I had passed that dam, if something were to go wrong. I was in the middle of true wilderness country with not a person nor a cottage anywhere for many miles. So whatever I decide to do, it had better be the right choice. I remember seeing a movie, or was it a picture? Maby I may have read about it in a book, on how native and frontier people would guide their canoe or long boats down the rapids by ropes. Of course this was done with a few hands about, and I was alone. But after giving this possibility some more thought, I believed that I could manage it. My plan was to guide the loaded canoe, inch by inch by the bow and stern ropes. I would take as much time as was needed to get through this bad section of the river. I had another cup of coffee and cigarette and looked at other options like the possibility of cutting a trail through this heavy underbrush along the whole length of this section of the river to where the rapids ended. I did have a hatchet, an ax, and a bucksaw to do the job. But I also noticed that there were a lot of large, felled trees about that blocked any access to a possible path. It would take me weeks if not months of very hard slugging just to clear a pathway for this portage. Then I would have to make a good many trips to get the canoe, the luggage and the other gear to where I could get past the rapids. The more I thought about it, the option of guiding the canoe by ropes began to appeal to me. After all, I would be on dry land. I did not have to worry about drowning. So I'll stick with the original plan. I could always use the, cutting a trail, as a backup plan if I saw that guiding the canoe proved to be too difficult for me. Having thought about all this, I set about to prepare the canoe for the rapids. The canoe had already two 50 ft. lenths of rope. One was tied to the bow and the other to the stern of the canoe. These would be used for docking if I ever come across a canal lock. I guided the canoe around the rocks with a rope in each hand and kept the canoe close to the shore whenever possible. When I was about halfway down the rapids, a large tree was blocking my way. The tree was at the very edge of the shore, leaning out towards the river. At this point, the river was a fast torrent and its sound was quite deffening. The possibility of going into the river to go around that tree would have been pure madness. What I had to do was to hold the two canoe ropes in one hand while I hugged this huge tree so that I could pass the ropes around the tree to my other hand. While I got the bow rope passes over to my other hand, I twisted the rope around my wrist so that I would not loose it. While I was passing the stern rope to my other hand, unknown to me, the strong current had caught the stern of the canoe, which caused it to veer away from the shore. By the time I had noticed what was happening, the canoe was drifting sideways to the current which shot the canoe at such a fast clip, that it had caught me off gaurd and dragged me into the rapids by the rope that was twisted around my wrist. So the canoe and I were heading down the rapids at full force. I tried to cling onto a passing rock but the force of the river was too great. All that this had done was tighten the loops around my wrist. Then somehow, my left foot had got caught between some rocks or something and I became anchored to it while the canoe was pulling at my wrist which caused me to submerge. As I was fighting for my life to get some air, I managed to free my Bowie knife from its sheath with my free hand and cut the rope that was tugging at my wrist. With that, I was able to free my foot from whatever was holding me. While I was bouncing around as I was going down the river, I managed to reach a branch and drag myself onto the bank, as my canoe continued to go down the rapids.

FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE IN THE RAPIDS

I saw the canoe hit some rocks which caused it to tumble side on to the rapids until it got caught in the middle of the river by two large boulders. Holding the canoe in place by the bow and stern. The force of the running water forced the canoe to bend, to actually fold up, due to the extreme pressure the rushing water placed on the canoe mid-point and everything that was in the canoe was released into the rapids. I could see it all tumbling down the rapids. I had to sit down for the pain in my ankle and left side of my hip was too great. I do not know if I broke my leg when it had been caught between the rocks in the river. After a while, I began to realize that I was in a very bad situation right now. I noticed the rope that was still tied around my wrist and got it loose and began to unbraid the three strands of the rope. With a stout stick, I tied the stick to my left leg, leaving about six inches past my foot. This splint, I figure would take the strain off my ankle and I would be able to walk. I checked to see what I had in my pockets. In my shirt pocket, I had a pack of soggy cigarettes along with the lighter. Nothing else was in my pants pocket except for a handkerchief. I still had my bowie knife now in its sheath held by my wide leather belt. I also had half of my savings in a money belt around my waist. The rest of the money, along with all of my important papers and I.D. was in one of the luggage along with my wallet that contained an additional $150.00 dollars. When that point hit home, I knew that I had to find those lost luggage. I decided to make my way down the river and see if anything had got caught between the rocks that I might retrieve. As I was hobbling along the shoreline with the help of a makeshift crutch, I noticed that the duffle bag that contained cooking utensils and gear had got caught between some rocks, but it was on the other side of the river. As I went further down the river, I noticed that my tent, which was in its own case was also caught between some rocks, also on the other side of the river. I followed the rapids down and saw that a rope had got caught between some rocks and the canoe was held fast, sort of surfing the waves in the middle of the rapids. As I went further down the river I came to an area where the river began to open up and while the flow of the river was still very fast, there were no more rapids as far as I could see. I saw two pieces of luggage still parially submerged in the middle of the river and then dissapear under the water. I had to figure out how I was going to get to the other side of the river and retrieve the duffle bag and the tent before they worked themselves loose from the rocks and they also would sink to the bottom of the lake. To try to swim across the river from here was no good because the river was running too fast. So I decided to head back up to the head of the river and find a way to get across it. The going was rough now that I could only limp around as the pain shot up my leg. When I reached the head of the river, I had to sit down and figure out how I was going to get around to the other side with a broken ankle. I noticed that there was some debris that had formed into little islands here and there across the fast moving water. They were too far apart to try to jump over to them. So I looked for a long, stout, straight stick to use as a pole. Maby I can pole-vault onto one little island to another and get across that way. There was no suitable pole around for the job, so I had to hack into a slim tree with my Bowie knife. I trimmed the new pole and then I said a silent prayer and took careful aim and pole-vaulted onto the nearest little island, then to the next, until I made it across the river. I made a new crutch and then headed back down the river along the bank to where I had seen that duffle bag and tent. When I got to the duffle bag, I had to wade out to it and threw it on the bank. Then I went down to where the tent was and retrieved it also. I then went back up to get my duffle bag. With these in hand, I headed for an open area I had noticed when I was on the other side of the river. There I unpacked the tent and set it up. By now I was very cold and it was late in the afternoon. I collected some birch bark, pine needles and dry leaves along with sticks and made a fire. I built a sort of rack to hang my clothes on, and then I stripped to my birthday suit. As my clothes were drying, I stuffed my boots with loose pine needles, moss and dead grass to keep my feet dry and from getting cut-up on sharp rocks. Then I examined what I had in that duffle bag. It contained the small camp stove with an almost empty can of camp fuel, a candle, one tin of herring with tomato sauce, tin and plastic plates, a coffee pot, various size of pots, spoons, fork and butter knife. A plastic jar half full of sugar and a large jar of instant coffee. One tin cup and three plastic cups and a large mug. The screen tent, a half roll of duck-tape, the first aid kit and my sewing kit. After my clothes were dry, I put these on and gathered dry leaves to make some sort of a bed. I filled up a low spot that was under the tent with this so that I would not be on the cold ground. I even found a short log to use as a seat. By now it was quite late in the evening and the sun had already set. It was also getting much colder. I moved my gear into the tent and made a cup of coffee to heat the tent and warm up. I had managed to save and dry my cigarettes by the campfire. A moment later, it began to rain and then it poured into streaming sheets. I was protected from the strong wind by the heavy brush. I can hear the wind shrieking overhead. I hoped that no trees would fall on me. After I had my coffee and smoked a cigarette, I got out my first aid kit to see what I had put inside it. There was a box of cloth bandages, a box of cloth band-aids, iodine, gauze packets, aspirin, antibiotic cream, burn ointment, a stick of After Bite, sewing needle with fine fish line, a box opener with blades, a thermometer, some cotton, an assortment of safety pins, a lighter, a comb, and most important of all, scissors and three rolls of elastic bandages. I then wanted to have a look at my ankle to see if it was broken. I had a real hard time getting my boot off because of the pain. I examined my ankle and it did not flop around when I shook it. So my ankle must not be broken, it is probably only sprained. I can see that my foot had swelled up some. So I wrapped the elastic bandage around my foot and ankle. Then I got my boot back on. I looked outside the tent and nearby stood some young popular and I hacked these and brought them inside the tent. These bent quite easily so I looped the best one like a U, placed my boot inside the U and wrapped the elastic bandage over the U shaped popular and around the boot to act like a brace so that my foot would not touch the ground when I walked. I pulled my pant led over all of this and it looked pretty smart. I tried it out and it worked well. I could walk without hurting my ankle. Then I tried to sleep. I woke up shivering so I had to light the camp stove to get some heat. I made another cup of coffee and lit a cigarette. The night got so cold that I could no longer get any sleep even though I had the screen tent wrapped around me as a blanket.

June 3rd. 2002 brought with it clear skies and I felt the sun begin to heat the tent. My ankel had swelled up to twice its normal size. But it did not pain as much as yesterday. Now that the tent was warming up due to the sun, I was able to get some much needed sleep. I woke up around noon or there about, for the sun was stright up above my head. I made a cup of coffee and had a bite to eat from my ration. Then I went back along the shoreline to see if I might have missed something. I noticed that the river was now much more wilder than it had been yesterday. I saw that the canoe was still hung-up by its 50 ft. length of rope that had gotten itself caught on some rocks. I looked around and saw some young trees that would make a long pole. I cut one down with my Bowie knife and trimmed the pole. I fashioned a sort of hook by taping another branch the opposite way onto the end of the pole. Then I took off my boots, socks, pants and got out as far as I could into the river and reached out with the pole to snag the rope that was holding the canoe. It hooked, and I slowly was able to haul the rope close enough to grab hold of it. Then I made sure that I was well braced against a rock on shore and pulled in the rope along with the canoe. I managed to haul up the now empty canoe onto the bank. I looked to see if there were any holes on the hull and none were found. I thanked GOD for this. Had the canoe been made from any other material than the durable plastic that my canoe was made from that will flex, it would not have survived these rapids as this one had. I dried myself with dry grass and put my clothes back on. Being that the canoe was now light, I managed to drag it through the bush, little by little, until I reached my camp. I went back into the tent greatly relieved to have the canoe with no great deal of damage to it. It was just bent out of shape. I celebrated by having a cup of coffee and a cigarette. After about an hour rest, I headed down the river to where it opened up onto a lake, all the while searching along the bank. I had found my purple sail that I had in the canoe which I had brought with me when I had left Toronto. I had made that sail during that Mattawa to Toronto canoe trip. It was tied to a short mast that I had made for it when I was on that little Island where I got the red paddle from those nice people on the houseboat. By now it was getting dark and the air was getting colder. It was so cold that I could not sleep. I had checked to see how much gas I had in the little stove and in the fuel can, and found out that I had about a quart of gas left. I lighted the stove and made some coffee when I could no longer stand the cold. I had another piece of herring. I had intended that I would eat only one portion a day, but I was starving.

Jornal will be continued....

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