Save The Leeches #BWCA 2

 

After our Bon Voyage party the night in the Beaver Bunkhouse, I was feeling a bit sluggish in the morning. We had pulled the mattresses off the bunks and slept in our sleeping bags on the floor where it was cooler. We were still waiting for some cool weather that never really materialized. Anyway, when ever I travel, or have an early morning event like a race or a garage sale, I always get a mild case of anticipation nerves and I can't eat. The morning of our departure was no exception. I could barely eat a yogurt, but Scott managed to eat a plate full of pancakes and sausage. The staff at the resort were friendly and helpful and assured me we wouldn't get lost out in the wilderness, and that everyone had always made it back.

So, after breakfast we got out gear pack and bought some leeches to catch those Walleyes and Northerns. We rented a leech locker to house the leeches and drag along beside the canoe. We hauled stuff down to the Seagull River and decided to load from the dock so we wouldn't get our boots wet loading the canoe. We tied a rope on the canoe and dragged it out to the end of the dock and I loaded to dry bag with camera and the backpack with our rain gear and maps. And the leech locker. Except the leech locker wasn't locked. I actually had never seen one and didn't know how they worked. Its that white and yellow bucket in my hand in the last photo. The lid is supposed to just sit on the top and the black handle has a notch that presses against the lid. So, I'm trying to figure this thing out and thought I had it so I tied the locker to the canoe and leaned over the canoe to drop the leech locker into the river. Big Mistake. As I'm leaning on the canoe it tipped and started taking on water, then the lid on the leeches popped off and all those slimy black things started swimming away as the bottom of the locker turned sideways. Oh No! Save the Leeches! I reached across more and made the situation worse until I lost my balance and fell off the dock into the river!

Two men were at the beach loading their stuff and heard or saw me fall, and they came sprinting down the dock to help me out of the water. I don't know how deep it was, but I couldn't touch bottom. They each grabbed an arm and pulled me straight up and out onto the dock. I had the bruises on my arms of their fingerprints to show now. It happened so fast I was just in a daze. The guys were trying not to laugh (I think), because it was so ridiculous to fall off a dock for essentially no good reason. I was glad I didn't have anything in my pockets, and the bags in the swamped canoe had plastic liner bags to keep the contents dry.

Finally, Scott shows up on the scene and is trying to figure out what happened. We thanked the men for their help, and we got the canoe to shore. The men probably thought I was a total knob so they just emptied the canoe of stuff and emptied out all the water. I stood there soaking wet thinking about how this was the most horrible way to start our trip. My hiking boots were totally wet so it actually made the loading on the shore easier from the shore since it didn't matter if I stood in the water. I had a bad premonition that this was the start of a disaster. At least I wasn't cold, and the water actually was refreshing and woke me up a little. I was embarrassed, and trying to laugh it off with the guys and Scott, but it made me uneasy about our adventure. What if I did something careless like that out in the wilderness and no one was there to rescue me? What if I had gotten hurt? What if our stuff had gotten ruined, or what if our canoe tipped out in the lakes?

Now that the trip is over and we made it without any adverse incidents, I think maybe this was a little wakeup call to remind us to think before acting and not rush when performing potentially dangerous activities, especially near water or fires.

To be continued, see earlier posts by clicking links below.

Part 1