Is there a tellable tale there? Having been through the Round Lake inlet a few times I'm curious.
Yes there is, Mike.
There wwas seven of us in 4 boats, all strippers.
I paddled tandem in my buddy's comp cruiser.
My nephew paddled solo in my DY.
My son and his now wife paddled my 18 foot speedster.
My S-I-L and his buddy paddled my 28 year old 17 ft stripper.
The 17 footer was showing its age and carried many scars, truly, its days were numbered.
Between the 2nd and 3rd sets of rapids, most of us pulled to the shore (E) to hop around the rapids. I prefered to run this short set, but my buddy was concerned about his hull and his hand. He had carpal tunnel surgery only a few days prior...this is yet another story, but let's just say it didn't go well for him.
Back to the river.
S-I-L and his buddy missed the most convenient pull out, and decided to aim for the next opening in the rocks and undergrowth. Between the river's narrowing and subsequent increase in velocity, and their chosen route, they got turned fully sideways in the current. I tried to explain the effects of differential velocity to them, but it was wasted.
Next came the cardinal sin of paddling on moving water....they tilted their upsteam gunnel below the surface.
And that was that.
In the blink of an eye, they were swamped, the boat pinned, and quickly crushed.
Both guys were OK, except for being wet and cold. Since this was just a day trip, there was little gear to retrieve.They managed to pry the boat free and drag it to the carry path.
Amazingly, some of the boat remained, it sort of popped back into shape, but with severe cracks, splits and snapped gunnels and thwarts.
We were about 6 miles from the put in, 3 miles from our campsite, and 6 miles from the Bog River Falls, where we had spotted cars the day before.
S-I-L found an old shovel, and some drift wood. We cut the shovel handle to use as a brace, the shovel itself as a patch and the drift wood also as a patch. We donated our stringers from the other boats to tie everything together. It hardly survived the next carry, but somehow, they did continue to paddle it. They had to stop every few minutes to get out on shore and empty the boat. It leaked severely, as you might suspect. And so we traveled the rest of the way to the falls.
That poor, dedicated boat stayed on the racks, S-I-L and buddy hiking back to our site, and the next day, hiking out to the cars.
The boat was not reparable, too many splits and cracks. It really is a miracle that they could even have paddled it.
Sometime last December, I cut the boat into pieces to discard it, saving some sections.
It was a sad day, I had built that boat when my daughter was but 1 1/2 years old, now her husband was using it.
I converted those saved sections into photo frames, with each person from the trip receiving a framed, relevant photo. The guys (and gal) cherished that gift.
It was a fitting tribute to a trusted companion.
Everyone from that trip says that was the highlight of the trip, memories that will surely last a lifetime.