Adventures... West of Quetico
by Bryan Whitehead
Day Five June 8 1995
We broke camp, fired up the motors and headed back into a quickening and cold West wind. The endless muskeg went faster now that we were running with the current. The wooden rails again did their job (can you even imagine using Kevlar canoes on these) and the sturdy canoes and redlined motors literally roared down stream as the cold drizzle started. Apart from the occasional sheared prop pin we made good time.
We entered a smaller lake and were caught off guard as a float plane came around an island and headed in our direction on the water, engine roaring ready for take off. These things look really big when you are in a canoe directly in front of them hoping the pilot sees you!
Eventually we broke onto Lake the Woods and now we really got cold as the drizzle increased and the temperatures dropped further. We wrapped ourselves in whatever we had and hunkered down - the armada of boats began to spread out as we motored across the lake for the waiting vans and cars.
We reached the vehicles and began to pack. I was still somewhat recovering from a January hospital stay, so I tried to assist with the heavy canoes, but did defer to some of the other experienced fathers as they hoisted the aluminum craft onto the welded steel racks. The top spot was especially tricky - suddenly Jim the carpenter, manning one end of the canoe, felt a sharp pain in his chest. Alarmed he sat down as the pain persisted. Acting on instinct, and knowing that for all of Nestor's Falls attractions, there was no hospital, we assumed the worst and figured that he was having a heart attack.
