Steel River and a floatplane evacuation - June 2025

[CanoeDaddy]

Hello Canoe Trippers. I hope your 2025 season has been going well, as it is coming to a close for those of us in northern regions.

As an avid backcountry canoeist, I embark on quite a few solo trips. I enjoy writing about them in my blog.

Well, in late June 2025, I tackled the Steel River Loop solo, but unfortunately, I required an air evacuation on Day 5 of the trip, my first and hopefully last ever. No one ever sets out on a trip thinking that will happen.

For those interested in the tale, it is described in detail at the following link.

Canoe Daddy - Steel River

Total Distance: 90 kilometres (Note: This report is from Eaglecrest Lake to Diablo Lake, where the author required an air evacuation due to injury.) Duration: 5 days Number of Portages: 9 (less if running/lining/wading rapids) Total Port. Distance: 4.2 km Level of Difficulty: Difficult (this route

www.canoedaddy.com

 

[Erica]

Thank you for the detailed trip report. Those log jams are quite something. I saw things like that from the highway on the Gatineau River in Quebec. I really enjoyed your views on the Steele River. The portages are one of the reasons this loop is not on my list.

I am really glad to hear that your eye has recovered. I'm going to give a little advice now to others who haven't had your experience.

Eye injuries are an excellent reason for wilderness paddlers to take a real wilderness first aid course. You can lose the sight of an eye in 24 hours. CanoeDaddy was lucky. If you have to rinse your eye, please do it with sterilized water. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and sterile water before you touch your injured eye.

If you are taking a trip that is days from evacuation (which you can be, even with a Zoleo), bring ophthalamic antibiotic and sterile eye rinse.

I poked my eye with a branch when hiking in the Fakahatchee Strand slough. Luckily I was on a day hike and could get to an ER that day. It took about a week to heal even with access to the best opthalmalogist.

 

[CanoeDaddy]

Great advice Erica, speaking from personal experience! Thanks for sharing. It's definitely something to add to the first aid kit, for sure.

 

[MrPoling]

Glad you are healing.

I trail run. A few decades ago I got a stick in the eye. It knocked me down but fortunately left only a black eye. Now i wear either sunglasses or safety glasses.

My daughter is running cross country now, I got her prescription safety glasses.

I think safety glasses are a good idea when bushwhacking. Especially when solo in the backcountry.

All that said, the injury you describe is pretty freaky, and it's quite possible safety glasses wouldn't have helped anyway. But your other preparations ensured you were ready to deal with it.

 

[CanoeDaddy]

I think some safety glasses could have gone a long way. You're right though, the stem came straight from below and might have gotten under any glasses. Regardless, I wear them on bushy portages now

 

[Gamma1214]

You certainly had a lot more water to work with than I did in the Fall of '23 but it seems that talking to policemen about driving habits may be prerequisite (I got pulled over in Ohio).

You are absolutely right that the scenery is spectacular and the lake portion will not disappoint when you do make it back.

Like you, if I make another trip, I would like to tackle the Diablo portage for comparison purposes.

Glad there's no permanent damage & you're on the mend. I may add safety glasses to my portage pack as well (better safe than sorry)

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

CanoeDaddy, thanks for taking the time to write that very interesting trip report and for posting it here. Having read every word, I feel no guilt in saying:

You clearly made the right decision by pushing the SOS button on your Zoleyeo, as a paronomastic paddler might facetiously write even after his river trip had become unbearably scratchy.

 

[memaquay]

Great report! The Diablo vs three ports is always something to consider. I've done Diablo 9 or ten times. My buddy has done them both, he says the three ports is the way to go. When I was 40 and in great shape, I single carried Diablo in under an hour. When I was 50, and not in very good shape, it took me 4.5 hours, and the suffering was fairly intense.

You made the right decision getting a private flight out, it probably cost a lot, but it might have cost just as much to return at some point to get your gear and vehicle. The rescue helicopter would not have taken your stuff, they never do.

I'm fairly certain I will never do the Steel again, so I always appreciate well documented reports with lots of pics, thanks again!

 

[CanoeDaddy]

You certainly had a lot more water to work with than I did in the Fall of '23 but it seems that talking to policemen about driving habits may be prerequisite (I got pulled over in Ohio).

You are absolutely right that the scenery is spectacular and the lake portion will not disappoint when you do make it back.

Like you, if I make another trip, I would like to tackle the Diablo portage for comparison purposes.

Glad there's no permanent damage & you're on the mend. I may add safety glasses to my portage pack as well (better safe than sorry)

Honestly, getting a branch in the eye to severely injure it is something that I just thought wouldn't happen, especially with a canoe on my head. I think I just got REALLY unlucky having it attack me from below, where I would least expect it. lol. Given the hassle and scare that it gave me, that little extra moment of throwing them on for bushy portages might save you a world of hurt. I guess on the Steel River, you can't cheat the devil, after all!

P.S.: I like the cops in the Greenstone area!

 

[CanoeDaddy]

You clearly made the right decision by pushing the SOS button on your Zoleyeo, as a paronomastic paddler might facetiously write even after his river trip had become unbearably scratchy.

Paronomastic paddler! Wow, Glenn! I must say that you are a master of eyelliteration!

 

[CanoeDaddy]

Great report! The Diablo vs three ports is always something to consider. I've done Diablo 9 or ten times. My buddy has done them both, he says the three ports is the way to go. When I was 40 and in great shape, I single carried Diablo in under an hour. When I was 50, and not in very good shape, it took me 4.5 hours, and the suffering was fairly intense.

9 or 10 times! Sweet Jesus! You've earned your stripes, memaquay!

At 54 years old now, I'm sure if I do Diablo in the future, I will be closer to the 4.5-hour timeline than the one-hour mark, for sure. The 6 hours that it took me to do the three ports had a lot to do with the eye injury. Injury-free, I'm sure, I could have knocked it down to 5 hours and 45.

 

[Pseudonym]

bring ophthalmic antibiotic and sterile eye rinse.

Sage advice.

I injured an eye doing yardwork in June. I was pulling weeds under a cedar tree with low branches. I bent over and pushed a branch out of my way and before I even knew it "BAM" the branch had sprung back and whipped me in my open eye. I crawled away in agony. After an ER visit and a trip to the Optometrist, I spent a couple days in bed sleeping it off. The optometrist put a "bandage" contact lens in my eye that aided in my healing and comfort, but my recovery was not linear and included a number of setbacks. After swapping in another three or four bandage lenses in the intervening months, I finally had it removed for good this week with a clean bill of health.

I was always diligent about using safety glasses when I was working with tools in my workshop, and even when using my wee-whacker, but it had never occurred to me to do so with more general yardwork. Needless to say, I've started doing so. @CanoeDaddy's trip report has be realizing that I need to add them to my tripping kit too.

 

[CanoeDaddy]

Needless to say, I've started doing so. @CanoeDaddy's trip report has be realizing that I need to add them to my tripping kit too.

Seriously, though. I did three more wilderness trips in the summer after the Steel River trip and wore them on any portage that had branches coming at me from the sides, above, and below, which, in Ontario, is pretty much every portage.

I first thought about an old-school hockey goalie mask along the lines of Tony Esposito, but thought that might scare the living bejesus out of other trippers on the trails. (Dating myself?)

 

[CanoeDaddy]

I injured an eye doing yardwork in June. I was pulling weeds under a cedar tree with low branches. I bent over and pushed a branch out of my way and before I even knew it "BAM" the branch had sprung back and whipped me in my open eye. I crawled away in agony. After an ER visit and a trip to the Optometrist, I spent a couple days in bed sleeping it off. The optometrist put a "bandage" contact lens in my eye that aided in my healing and comfort, but my recovery was not linear and included a number of setbacks. After swapping in another three or four bandage lenses in the intervening months, I finally had it removed for good this week with a clean bill of health.

Wow. What an ordeal! I'm so glad you recovered. After hearing your story, I realize I got away relatively easy. Definitely take the glasses.