Story Time with Zee 02/15/09

There is a cabin in the wilderness of Onterio, Canada that is owned by a family that is friends with my family. In order to get to the cabin from my home town it required a 14 hour drive to get to a little bait and tackle shop that had a dock on a lake. From the small dock its just over an hour boat ride to get to the cabin. Its not a long distance boat ride but you go from lake to lake on connecting creeks and you have to go slow in order to avoid shallow spots and rocks. The cabin is located on an island in one of the inter-connected lakes. It is completely disconnected from the rest of the word. No cell phone signal, no electricity, no television, nothing. There is a generator that is used for lights and the refrigerator as well as propane that is used for heat and cooking.

I've been there a number of times and had a lot of great experiences. I doubt that I will ever forget the last time that I was there which was when I was fourteen years old. I went up there with my father and we brought our two canoes and everything we needed to go canoe backpacking. We spent the first night in the cabin and the next day my father, my friend Christian, his father, and I checked our packs and loaded everything into the motor boat. Christian's mother went with us as we towed the two canoes an hour away (by motor boat). We were dropped off at a trail that lead to another lake a quarter of a mile down. It takes two trips to get all the gear to the other lake. The first trip involves carrying all the supplies and the second trip taking the canoes. We fished for hours hoping to catch lunch but didn't have any luck. The next portage was very short so we carried the canoes with the gear in them the short distance. We paddled slowly through the next long narrow lake enjoying the heat of the summer and fish a little as we went along.

There was one more portage for that day which lead to the lake that we'd be camping on that night and the portage was about a mile and a half long. Like the first portage we first carried all our gear to the other lake then went back for the canoes. My father and I were a lot more experienced then Christian and his father. We had our canoe over half way there by the time Christian and his father passed us going back the other way to get their canoe. After we dropped off our canoe we started heading back to help with the last canoe. Part way back I noticed bear droppings that were fairly fresh. There are a lot of bears in that area and I had backpacked many places with bears at that time. I pointed it out to my father and he suggested that I go back and wait with the packs to keep our food safe.

There was one section of the path right before where our gear was that had thick brush on both sides that you had to push your way through. These paths were not used very often but I'd already gone through it four times and I thought nothing of it as I pushed my way through it a fifth time. I lifted my right foot as I stepped forward and experienced a sharp pain in my foot. It felt like a stick had poked me through my shoe. It was dark in that section of the path but as I left the thick brush I could see my foot and I could see the blood gushing out of a hole in my shoe with every step. I went straight to the pack with the fist aid kit. I took a deep breath then removed my shoe only to reveal a blood soaked sock. It was hard to tell how bad the wound was because it was bleeding a lot so I just wrapped my foot with gauze. My family all know how to whistle in a particular way that indicates to each other that we need help and my father recognized it right away when he heard me. He assumed that I saw a bear and didn't want to be by myself so he sent Christian ahead.

When Christian went through the portion of the path with thick brush he discovered a fillet knife on the path. He came running up holding the knife, "Zee check out what I found! It has blood on it and everything!" I didn't find it nearly as exciting as Christian had. When my father came he properly dressed my foot and found that I had two cuts. A wider cut on the top where the knife had gone in and a narrow cut on the bottom where the knife had come out the other side. I was in so much pain that I couldn't put any weight on my foot and my father was worried. We had just finished the longest portage of our trip and we had to do it all over in reverse. This time not only could I not help with the portage but I had to be helped along as well.

After the long portage the sun was starting to get low. There was a short portage from that lake that lead to the main lake where the cabin was located. It would only be a few hours till dark. My father and Christians father took one canoe and left Christian and I with the other canoe and all of the supplies. That would be the fastest way to get back to the cabin to get the motor boat. Its amazing how quiet it is in the woods and how you hear every acorn fall from a tree and every step a squirrel takes. I find it equally amazing how the minds of two fourteen year olds turn each step of a squirrel and each fallen acorn into sounds from a bear. At fourteen I'd encountered a number of bears in the wild and I knew deep down beers were more afraid of me then I was of them. The sun went down and we sat in the dark with only the light from the moon and the stars when there were openings in the clouds. I never once considered the possibility that my father wasn't coming back that night. I never considered starting a fire or setting up the tent because in my mind it would be a matter of minutes before he returned.

My father canoed the last 10 or 15 minutes of his trip to the cabin in darkness. The ride back to where Christian and I were located was slow as well and not a short ride. We had been sitting in the darkness for around two hours, well I had been sitting, Christian had been collecting rocks and sticks to fight off bears. By the time we all got back to the cabin everyone was exhausted and the adults discussed how to get me some place for medical attention. I convinced them that I could wait till morning and I think everyone was happy to get some sleep.

From the bait and tackle shop it was 2 hours to the town on Timmins, which was the closest place for medical attention. When we got to Timmins I wasn't in much pain so we decided to get to the United States and go to a medical center there. We got to the city of Sault Ste Marie and crossed over to the United States and I was doing alright so we continued home so that I could see the family doctor. I never ended up seeing the family doctor. I still have scars on the top and bottom of my foot but the blade went through clean and apparently didn't do any major damage.