Lost paddler found

[Guest]

At first I thought as you, Sturgeon, that he might have been "a bit blasé about safety," but I've had enough close calls to think otherwise. There are so many ways nature can fool even the most careful, conservative person - e.g., a slippery rock, mud of varying depth and footing, et al. Assuming he's a skilled backwoodsman, I'm inclined to give him the benefit of doubt.

 

[Robin]

Thanks Sturgeon for the update, very interesting, and so many mistakes made for a solo traveler so late in the season, almost a death wish.
Sorry about the dog, but even bringing a German Shepard on such a demanding trip sounds like a mistake, what with rapids to portage, in and out of the canoe in difficult situations in a current with a big dog to work with. UGH.

 

[Sturgeon]

Wow, i got sucked into this story today and did a lot of reading. I guess Gavia is right. There is still a lot we don't know, and we ought to give him the benefit of the doubt. He may have had a Spot for all we know. The article says some equipment was damaged, but didn't specify. As for why he didn't protect his camp, shoot, etc., I see the (Montreal) Gazette reported his food was taken when he was away from camp.

As for the lateness of the season, he planned a 2 month trip leaving July 17, so mid-September is not unreasonable to be out there. His daughter sure waited a long time before calling for a search.

The only reporting I would trust on this story is the local stuff from the region. Some other papers described him as a hiker, others as a climber, etc. Some mention his canoe was damaged. Some say he killed his dog after 3 days (surely a confusion of months and days). Another report says his friend called police. The local paper says it was his daughter. Lots of bad reporting going on.

 

[Hanz]

I think one of the many (too many) articles I read on this story mentioned (or implied) that the tripper used his canoe and paddles arranged a certain way to signal he was in distress. Sorry, I couldn't find the link to support my claim.

Is there a universal distress signal using your canoe and paddles in a particular arrangement?

 

[memaquay]

There are a whole series of ground to air canoe signals, involving multiple canoes and single canoes. These signals are supposed to be drilled into the bush pilots heads. We only had cause to use them once, back in the 80's before sat phones, and they worked. I'll see if i can look them up at school tomorrow and post them.

 

[Hanz]

There are a whole series of ground to air canoe signals, involving multiple canoes and single canoes. These signals are supposed to be drilled into the bush pilots heads. We only had cause to use them once, back in the 80's before sat phones, and they worked. I'll see if i can look them up at school tomorrow and post them.

Cool, thanks Rob.

 

[Rippy]

I'm not understanding how a 143 mile trip would take two months. Seems more like a two week trip and that's only ten miles a day. Two months worth of meals seems like it would take up some space. Did he originally have two months worth of dog food along too! Seems like a German Shepherd would eat quite a bit in that amount of time. It doesn't add up yet.

 

[Rippy]

It's really too bad. I'll bet he was having a good trip till the poop hit the fan. I wonder if his solo tripping days are done. I wonder if mine would be. Every one at work worries about me when I go to the BWCA solo for a few days like it's a expedition or something. I would like to go on a longer more remote solo trip some day. I worry the most about slipping/falling while portaging. I am as careful and mindful as I can be, but stuff happens. Not sure what to take away from this. PLB I guess. These are the risks involved in having a canoeing adventure. Dave

 

[Guest]

I'm not understanding how a 143 mile trip would take two months. Seems more like a two week trip and that's only ten miles a day. Two months worth of meals seems like it would take up some space. Did he originally have two months worth of dog food along too! Seems like a German Shepherd would eat quite a bit in that amount of time. It doesn't add up yet.

"Only" ten miles a day? If you can travel 10 miles a day, every day, you're a better man than I, Gunga Din. My preference is to plan for 8 miles on traveling days with at least one layover day for every 2-3 travel days. This is in the Boundary Waters. I suspect the area he was in is more rugged than the BW. A 60-mile solo trip takes me 10 days. To go 143 miles with reasonable portages would probably take me 3-4 weeks. The more difficult the terrain, of course, and the more layover/basecamp days, the longer it would take.

 

[Rippy]

I haven't checked his route, but I thought it was a river trip. I could be mistaken. I average a leisurely 2.5 mph on flat water when solo tripping in the BWCA. I have to double portage. Usually do 10-15 miles a day. I leave early and stop early afternoon and take the rest of the day off. The crazy Canucks on this board (some of them are women) would paddle my arse into the ground. Memaquay paddled 35-40 K a day with ports on his solo on the steel river. 40 K= 25 miles in a day. Dave

 

[Guest]

I think he used broken pieces from his canoe to mark an X in the snow. (I skim read the articles a little quickly, but I think that’s the case.) An X on the ground is an emergency signal.
I was hasty in my first criticism of the guy. I may not agree with some of his trip planning and decisions, but I know I’m far from perfect. Hopefully many will take lessons from this trip gone wrong. I know I’m gonna take my ditch kit or bail out bag planning way more seriously.

 

[Guest]

I read that his paddles were placed in an X against his canoe, which got someone's attention from the air.

 

[oldie moldy]

What a series of curious impressions from all this:
-Don't trust much of anything you read, they probably got it wrong.
-We still don't know what happened in detail, but the French reports seem to be a little more believable simply because of the detail given. Grateful thanks for the translations and enlightenment.

I'll feel a lot less silly; thinking out my plans of "what if" and "plan B". When the trips accumulate where nothing happens it's easy to maybe slight that extra margin allowed for safety.
I've never undertaken anything near to what this guy was doing and I ought not to have offered my two cents with so little information. I guess that business of "eating the dog after three days" hooked my emotions and bypassed any thought process. I feel bad, after all these years I should have know that there is at least two sides to anything.
I hope he recovers and feels up to giving an accurate account of what happened. Not to sharp shoot him but more in the line of "there but for the grace of God go I".

Best Wishes,

Rob

 

[memaquay]

I'm not willing to pass an olive branch yet, till I get more info. If your food is gone, you high-tail it out dodge. I can go without food for a long time, as long as there is water. So can a dog. It said he was 2/3 done, that leaves only 70 k. That's two days for me, and let's face it, most of the people on this site could do that if the poop hit the fan. The human body is a wondrous thing! What kind of ankle injury would lay him up for a month? Surely, he must have broken it, that is the only excuse I can believe.

 

[Guest]

memaquay, do you really mean "excuse"?

My two greatest fears in the BW are a sprained right ankle (or any broken bone) and appendicitis. My left ankle was sprained badly many years ago. It was at least a week before I could put any weight on it, and a month before I could use it normally. I can't imagine portaging with a severely sprained right ankle, and I've had a couple of close calls that make me stay fairly close to well-traveled routes, even if I'm with someone else.

That answers your question.

 

[red langford]

Gavia, I have similar fears. I broke my arm a few years back hiking. A simple slip and SNAP!. It was an hour of vigorous hiking to to get out of the woods which was painful enough even though it was my arm. So the thought of snapping an ankle is always in forefront of my mind. I just assume if it does happen it will be rescue or death.

 

[Shearwater]

Well, I'm not some kind of hero biscuit but I don't understand why he just laid there for a month.
So he broke or sprained his ankle - not his brain.
After a day of getting his wits back he could have easily fashioned a brace that would have taken all of the weight on his leg/knee and nothing on his bad ankle. I know it can be done. I had to do it after totally destroying my left ankle in a sky diving accident where I had to walk out.
At least I did my best of do something, not just lie there feeling sorry for myself.

Sorry but sitting on one's butt for a month, thinking that just maybe perhaps someone will eventually find you before you die is an obvious losers game.
FWIW,
Ted

 

[Guest]

Shearwater, after your sky diving accident, did you have to walk out carrying an additional 50+ pounds on your shoulders, navigating difficult terrain?

 

[oldie moldy]

I believe conventional wisdom is to stay put until they find you, but this guy didn't or so it seems, have this option. Near as I can tell he really didn't have any plan in place of check points; "what to do if you don't hear from me by...." Now again, it's early days so more may be coming that will help us understand.

I doubt that any of us is attacking the fellow, (now that I'm over him eating his dog on the third day), but we are very interested in the decisions he made and why he made them and of course how did it work out. He elected to stay put and if the weight loss is true it very nearly killed him.

I agree with Memaquay, this was a "retreat from Moscow" situation; get up and get moving or else. No one is suggesting that this will involve any portaging of gear. This is flee with dispatch and that's about it.

Best Wishes,

Rob

 

[memaquay]

Gavia, I'd like to explain my position, with a little background. I live in the middle of no where, but every year we see many people of all kinds of levels of experience coming up to enjoy our wilderness. Every year, the helicopters and search and rescue teams get called in to find and extract people. Many times, the reasons for the search and rescue teams and OPP helicopters getting called in are very spurious.

For instance, there was a fellow on the old Solo tripping site who did a trip somewhere in Northern Ontario. He forgot his back up paddle at a portage, and then a few days later, he broke his other paddle. He then called in the extraction team, and was somewhat miffed when they wouldn't take his canoe or packs.

There are limited numbers of SARs crews up here. I take kids into the bush all the time. Sometimes there are actual accidents, and things like appendicitis. One year, a girl got a bad puncture wound and went into shock that was life threatening. We had to call the helicopter in. Now if that helicopter had been busy picking up that guy who broke his paddle, I would have been muchly aggravated.

When you go into the bush alone, you accept that there is a lot of risk. You should not expect to be rescued. It is your decision to be there. If something happens, you should make a super human effort to extract yourself before the SAR's team come looking for you. It costs 10's of thousands of Canadian Tax Payers money every time someone is rescued. Not to mention the risk you put on the SAR's individuals who will be going through some difficult tasks to get you.

So "excuse" is the exact word I mean. In my opinion, he made one bad decision after an other, and should not have been out there. If he had a broken ankle, fine, then a rescue was needed. if not, he should have tried harder to get out. As I said, he only had 70 k left. He could have dragged his canoe, or done whatever, instead of sitting on his butt for a month.

Personally, with the advent of Spot and PLB's and all the other beacons out there, I think each case should be evaluated individually, and if the person being extracted is found to be negligent, they should be charged the cost of the extraction.