I had a weird tripping partner, someone who's been going to the BW/Q since 1976.  We were camped on Crooked Lake and took a day trip to Curtain Falls, my first time there (this was my 6th BW trip).  He moved the boat to a different place and when I got back from exploring the portage trail, I couldn't find either him or the boat.  When I caught up with him he gave me no end of grief and a lot of sarcasm because I didn't know where he'd gone to.

Later on we switched positions, and he took the bow.  I asked him to put a little bit of sweep in his stroke and, instead of asking me why (there's a very good reason), he just mocked me and continued paddling his way.

I'll paddle with him on local rivers but if given the choice I'd go tripping alone.

rlageman3 wrote on Dec 13^th, 2013 at 11:04pm:


Ditto on that  up

MP, look on the bright side on your bushwack adventure.
You can blame it on having a "senior moment"  , what's your partners excuse.

I now know a easy way to get from that logging road into the park.  Anyone want to go with me! :dankk2

Joking

Jim J Solo wrote on Dec 14^th, 2013 at 4:49pm:


hmmmm..........didn't I read about this adventure in BWJ? Reading between the lines it seems to me that this was more than just a tough bushwhack. A bit borderline perhaps? I don't mind working hard but getting turned around and running out of water wouldn't be a cause for envy on my part........of course looking back on such a trip after it all works out OK is supremely satisfying. 

Magicpaddler wrote on Dec 13^th, 2013 at 11:45pm:


Bad trip partner? Hardly
I remember being jealous, wished I was there.

Where do I select the "like" on your message Prouboy.  That is a great story!

starwatcher

My paddling partner wet her pants as she ran down the portage after me. 

The rest of the story is more than a little embarrassing: It was my 6 year old daughter's first portage of her first canoe trip.  I can't remember my logic, but told her to stay at the beginning of the portage (about a 1/2 mile long), while her brother and I carried gear and canoe and then we'd come back to get her and more gear.  I told her "it's okay, Max (our big golden retriever) will stay with you."  Max stayed with her as long as he could see me (about 2 minutes), then he took off running down the trail. 

As we unloaded gear at the end of the portage and prepared to head back, I hear the sound of wimpering, and soon see my little girl running down the portage crying, wet pants, with the bail open on the fishing rod/reel she was carrying, with line out the entire portage. 

My bone-headed stunt should have forever soured my daughter on wilderness  canoeing.  I deserved no less.  But Liz has paddled with me every year since then, and now at 26 is a married woman who brings her husband along with us. 

I'm a lucky man.

prouboy

Would you call me a bad trip partner?
I talked one of my trip partners into bushwhacking 3 miles across previously unknown terrain to McKenzie Lake.  I got him lost, tired, out of drinking water and to where there was no hope of getting to water or a camp site that day.  We survived!  We both look back at it as a good memory. 

TomT wrote on Dec 13^th, 2013 at 2:51pm:


Many thanks to your son for his service.

Pat

A similar experience with my twin sons. I took them on a canoe camping trip in the Sylvania Wilderness while they were still in elementary school. I didn't know much about canoe camping then, so the trip, while still fun for me, was for them just a lot boredom broken up only by extended periods of hard work. They always loved fishing....from power boats.... and staying in cabins on the annual Canadian fishing trips we would take ever since they were 2 years old. They hated this trip. So I waited a few years and with promises of the "potential" to catch some big fish, they came along with me to Quetico and did enjoy the fishing. We have been on a trip together to Quetico almost every year since. They still love the fishing but recently have begun to appreciate the scenery, solitude and adventure.

I'm not sure it was inheritance or influence or maybe something else but both my sons, now 27 years old, are more adventurous than me. One lives and teaches in Beijing, learning the language and traveling throughout Asia over the past 3 years. The other is headed to Panama with the Peace Corps.  The effort I spent trying to convince them to try a canoe camping trip again was well worth it. As comments on the trip reports I post here on QJ have said, those trips to Quetico with my sons have become cherished memories.