PJ's out on a limb. Should we leave him out there or join in on the fun? Some folk will need to be brave.

I rolled my boat twice in the same lake at both portage landings. The first time West lake and I became intimately  acquainted I was a fairly new canoeist and when I went to get into my boat it released from a smooth rock and my boat rolled over just as quickly as you please. Ruined a nice SLR camera in the process......put me into a bit of a funk for the rest of the trip and I actually buggered off early.

Fast forward several years later and as I'm loading at the opposing portage at West Lake I was explaining what had happened to my partner with one foot still in the water and the rest of me in the canoe.....little by little I had drifted past the point of recovery and before I realized it I was in a bit of a fix........Then I started shouting for assistance (HELP ME!). Later my friend admitted that the whole scene was quite surreal as I was at the time explaining how I had rolled my boat and here it was actually happening in real time. Sure enough over I went again. Ludicrous.......Now I have promised myself if I ever paddle West Lake again I will just throw myself into the water fully clothed and just get it over with.

Funny thing, in spite of several ill timed "miscues" (my most recent in Irregular Lake this past summer) it is pretty rare for me to take a fall on a portage trail or in the woods. 

Confession is good for the soul.  Absolve me!!!

70x7 anyone?

Relieving yourself in the lake. Absolutely not.

PhantomJug wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2014 at 11:46pm:


Because I don't always filter my drinking water! 


My confession is that I (sometimes) troll two rods. Hey, I'll be muskie fishing this weekend and we'll be trolling eight rods! If the wife is along then I buy her a license just to get that extra rod in the water.

I don't burn much trash lately. I got tired of replacing a perfectly good bags. I'll burn paper and whatever meat was wrapped in but that's about it. I bring back the rest to give customs extra stuff to check out.

I use to leave nothing but ash but more recently, since I've enjoyed the coals I've found from time to time, I try to return the favor. Nice sized coals are as good as wet welcome wood. Wet ash is a heat sink to overcome. I still spread everything out after dousing. (Darn. More foil to pack out.)

If you're healthy, tinkle is sterile yet no one swims in it.

I'll continue to be guilty of poking errant TP into the duff with a nearby stick and I use to take two rods and cheat a bit. Hey, if a walleye is stupid enough to hit a lure dangling next to the boat again I'm claiming ignorance.

That's it?  No illegal fishermen?  Never killed a living tree, shrub or flower?  Never took some rocks home?  Never killed a fish you didn't eat?  Dropped a deuce 97 feet from shore?

Dang.  You guys are so good.  I'm taking advantage of a long weekend tomorrow.  If anyone (well, almost anyone) wants to run down to Batch for a few days and fish and camp the east side of the lake with me . . . 

PJs post reminded me we took a piece of driftwood once. Still in back yard. Seems odd we could have burns it but not take it home.  Probably a few pebbles - does that count?

I'm unclear whether the purpose of this post is an on-line confessional ("Bless me Father for I have sinned ...") ... or a call for red-faced and sheepish stories ("Can you believe how stupid and clumsy I was ...").

As to the latter, I once -- in front of six people -- stepped into a perfectly serviceable solo canoe on a perfectly flat (I believe "glass-like" is the oft-used cliched describer) lake at an easily navigable landing ... and promptly went over backward on the other wide. It was my only set of dry clothes, having endured an all-day rain and sleet event the previous day.   

As for the former, I heard tell of someone who brought home a 9-point whitetail buck rack from Russell Lake. It appeared to have been killed by a bear, given that the skull and "snout" had been crushed as if from a big ol' swat. The way I heard it, the rack slid sideways (i.e. "on end") into an extra-large rubber canoe bag with about 1/32nd inch to spare all around.

As for myself, I confess I have a nickel-sized piece of quartz taken from what could be the highest point on Agnes Lake. Nothing unique or sacred about it -- just a remembrance of a special hike.

Does that make me a bad person?

-- kypaddler

- I travel in Quetico and never taken the compass out of my pack.
- I have returned from Quetico and waited until showering and unloading the car to check in at the US Customs office in Ely
- Bathed using ivory soap in the lake.
- Spit my toothpaste rinse in the firepit (before burning).
- Seldom wear my life jacket (summer trips).
- Definitely urinated with 100 ft and probably dropped a deuce as well..
- I have carried in and packed out a can.
- While traveling by border on a Quetico permit, stopped at an empty BWCA site to use the facilities.
- I have sometimes gone more than a yr without donating to this site.
- Paddled out to middle of lake and dumped some food scraps.

you want me to confess!   I'm innocent I tell Ya!  I was framed!

Puckster wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2014 at 2:22am:


...puckster, puckster, puckster.....sigh....I can see I still have a lot of work left to do with you.... 

PhantomJug wrote on Sep 30^th, 2014 at 4:29pm:


PJ,

Well said and you are absolutely right! There are the "admit-ers" and the "deny-ers". I'm firmly in the snore-ers club -- why run from it?  I sleep well at night (nobody else does though) 

Love the thread though. Great idea. My favorite exchange on this one is the "relieving in the lake" -- had me in stitches.

Use up the courtesy firewood without leave as much when I was done with the site. Once I didn't leave any....cringe

Once I cooked and ate an undersized bass when I had no food left on the next to last day of my trip. It was only by about 1/4" and I'm sure if I stepped on it, it would measure up. I was hungry and it was pretty tasty!

other than that I'm a perfect angel 

In 2013 Mastertangler and I were traveling in solo canoes to Conmee from Poohbah through the Memory Lane portages. We got an early start and finished the first of the three “memorable” portages in good time with me about 15 minutes ahead of the Tangler. I stopped at what I thought was the landing for the second portage and began scouting. The grass was trampled, trees were saw cut and there was a definite trail but it looked woefully unmaintained very unlike the portage we had just done. I’m working up a sweat tramping farther and farther along this faint trail clearing brush and marking a route when Mastertangler comes along and asks what are you doing? I told him that I was moving full speed ahead and was ready to hack through this portage. He failed to fully hold back a chuckle and then stated with complete calm and superior logic that this can’t be the trail because it doesn’t look as used as the last portage we did and that anyone passing through that portage would be going through this one as well. Of course since I was the self -appointed team leader reluctant to admit I was wrong so I insisted with an inappropriate amount of arrogance that we begin portaging our stuff and stop wasting time talking about it.   Mastertangler quietly and calmly got in his solo canoe and pushed off heading east along the shoreline. Several minutes later he returned to tell me that he had found the real portage. I was trying to use an old portage trail that probably hadn’t been maintained in several years and would have caused us all kinds of grief if we had actually used it. His deliberation and calm reasoning saved us a ton of work. It also made me realize that I had prejudged him because of an earlier incident and was not giving him due respect. It was a humbling experience that I am grateful for and have not forgotten.

i seldom wear my life jacket
i dont bring a compass
i dont use a map

i carry any birch bark i find during portages to my campsite

i at one point in my last trip had in my possession one extra fish than my posession limit 

Came across these from MNR Canoeing and Kayak regulations today.  This list is the minimum for compliance for all SUP's, canoes and kayaks when paddling in Ontario.

Quote:


Also,

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Dang!

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I'm going out on a limb here and say that I doubt few or maybe no-one is compliant 100% with those rules.

I have bow-stern lines that float, but they don't total 50'. Flashlight ( The human eye can see a candlelight at 10 miles), so I'm assuming my waterproof flashlight(s) should be good for a mile?

Yes/No on the bailer. I sometimes forget mine and I know I've never measured it for minimum capacity/opening. IMHE, paddling solo, if conditions get so bad you need to bail, your probably struggling to keep bow into wind and stopping to bail isn't really an option?

Fox Whistle is good for waterproof sound signaling device, but you need to keep it pinned to that PFD, where it's easily accessible when you need it.

Well PJ,

Your one of those rare cases of individuals who probably can get by without a PFD.

As we all know from science class, alcohol FLOATS on water, like that sponge absorbs it.

From your personal comments, I'd say unlike the Titanic, you probaly are "unsinkable".

pine_knot wrote on Oct 14^th, 2014 at 11:27pm:


"Kept all the rules"? Or paid the penalty on your behalf for breaking them?

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