High Falls on the Namekagon
- a destroyed canoe and lessons learned
by Bryan Whitehead
June 11, 1997
The following afternoon we broke camp and headed back down river to the vehicles.
The wrecked canoe was towed behind as we double tripped to get the mountain
of gear back to the vans with one less canoe.
We fully loaded the vans and wrestled the canoes, including the bent and wrecked Grumman onto the trailer and headed back up the rutted path. Thankfully it hadn't rained much during our trip, so the road remained passable. The vans rocked and the trailer strained as we churned back towards the gravel road.
Steve had learned that one of the road crew lived in an isolated cabin by the river with his family, and had made arrangements to return the come along to him on our exit. We found what we hoped was the right cabin and knocked on the door. Apart from a barking dog, no one was home.
Steve propped the come along next to the door. We then pulled a couple of trip worn banana boxes with excess and unopened non-perishable food out of the van and placed them with a thank you note inside the cabin's door. I hope the owner accepted our gift in the spirit in which it was intended - and I do hope we had the right cabin by the Namekagon!
The return trip was uneventful, however the vans were so crowded that my youngest spent the entire return trip lying on the floor staring at the ceiling! Bob was dropped off at his summer lakeside home and the rest of the group returned to the cities arriving at about 4AM.
The canoe was of course totaled and sold for scrap.
I asked my boys what the best thing about this trip had been? They weighed the amazing fishing, the thundering water falls, but decided that in the end watching the fathers labor on the sunken canoe had provided the most memorable moments. Remember, as my Grandfather said, there are no hard jobs, just jobs done with the wrong tools!
Bryan Whitehead