Temagami River Debacle

On Friday night I rushed up north from being in the city for a couple days to lead a 4 day LIT trip down the Temagami River.

Day 1
8:30am - Leave camp
12:00pm - Put in at central access on Lake Temagami
2:30 - First portage (50m)
5:00pm - Make camp on Cross Lake. Chris (one of the leaders) appears to have pink eye

Day 2
6:50am - Wake up. Chris wakes up and one eye is swollen shut, the other eye doesn't look good.
8:10am - leave site

An eagle's nest.

10:15am - after paddling over 10km we reach the dam at the top of the Temagami River
10:45am - I give a lesson on basic white water paddling just below the dam. A group from Camp Kandalore is nipping at our heels.
12:00pm - Finally leave the end of the portage after throwing our stuff in the empty boats that we were running but can't get started on the next set of rapids due to a group in front of us. Kandalore is also held up.
12:15pm - I'm going crazy and have to eat. lunch
1:00pm - Pull up to the next rapid "keel hauler" and I head off to scout it. There is a full sized motor boat with steering wheel and everything pinned in the middle of the river at the top set. You can tell people have tried to get it out with wires and stuff but no dice. This is a very long (600m) set of 3 ClassII-III rapids. The water is big but runnable so Chris (one of the leaders) and I run 4 empty boats down improving every time.
2:30pm - Pull up to the next set "short and sweet", Class II. I scout it and remember that I ran it last year fully loaded with campers with no problems so we try it again. My boat, fully loaded with the wannigan and food barrel takes on A LOT of water and we almost tip but luckily make it to shore and can bail it out. The next boat comes down while we watch from the side and they fail to make it far enough to the right and tip. Barrels of stuff, day pack, paddles, etc. are floating down stream. Nyssa (the other leader) and Carrie make it to the shore while their boat is pinned. They can't pop it out and I tell everyone to start portaging gear. I run up shore, jump in the river and let it bring me downstream to the other side to pop the boat out. A couple of guys run down stream to ferry around in the current and grab all the gear that is floating away. This portage took forever b/c of driftwood at the end of the path.

Chris and Sarah coming down 'Short and Sweet'.

4:00pm - We pull up to Heron's Leg rapid (Class II - III) with Kandalore right behind us as they had better luck on the last set running it fully loaded. We portage all the stuff after I scout it and remember that the end of this one is really technical. Myself and 5 eager LIT's agree to begin running the boats after scouting it together. Kandalore passes us. The top section of this set is big but a straight shot into a calmer pool. An island in the middle splits the river in two, one way is inpassable while the other offers a 1.5m drop. Kandalore ran it and we're confident we can too. Katie and I are the first to take the plunge. It gives one big wave after the initial drop but nothing we can't empty out on the side. The other two canoes make it as well but take on a lot of water. Katie and I head for the technical bottom section. This section has a big staircase and at the bottom a huge rock that you have to go left around really quickly. We make it down but kiss the rock along the way. Dave and Anthony aren't as fortunate and get sucked to the right of the rock down the bigger section of water. It isn't pretty but they make it out bumped and bruised while Katie and I gather their paddles and help them with the boat. I hadn't realized how tough this section was until I did it and didn't have enough time to warn the others. Poor planning on my part. Here comes John and Robyn... They nail the rock and flip, their boat pushed up on the small island behind it along with them. They push it back into the current and are able to make it back to shore. Turns out John got sliced by the canoe after falling out on his lower back and is going to need stitches... This section took forever with all the portaging, running, flipping and rescuing.
7:45pm - I have called camp via the sattelite phone and arranged for someone to come and pick John and Chris up at a spot about 13km away. It's going to be a LONG night for them. It will be good to have Chris go to the hospital too though as his eyes aren't looking so good.
8:45pm - We've hit the last 2 sets of rapids (CI, CII) and the stars are coming out.
9:00pm - We have at least 3 km of paddling before we come to a site that I know of so I offer to "eek out an existance" in a tiny, sloping clearing. This proposal is unanimously voted down. I pray that something good can come of this.
9:10pm - We pass Kandalore who's site (if you want to call it that) is tiny at best.
9:20pm - I offer to go as at a fishing camp if we can camp on the lawn. This motion is unamiously passed so I timidly head up to the only cabin with the lights on and ask. The French Canadian guy that I meet takes me to see the owner who actually isn't there so he offers to guide us by motor boat to a campsite he knows is empty. We have no lights on our canoes and it is now dark so I gratefully accept. Along the way he meets his friend who takes the front of the pack while he guides the back of our 6 pack of canoes. We are entertained by country music and "row, row, row your boat" in a french accent. We are led to an awesome campsite lit up by a flashlight from the baot. I ask if they would be so kind to drive Chris and John out (now about 10km) to Loon Bay to the evacuation point. They agree but one of the guys has to drop off his wife.
10:15pm - We begin to set up camp and about 20min later our friends return and are off with John (who by this point can't paddle due to the 2 inch gash in his back) and Chris (who is destined to wake up with 2 swollen eyes).
11:15pm - Nyssa and I decide to cut the trip short and pull out at Loon Bay as well in two days time, thereby I decide to sleep outside on a rock and look at the stars (horrible idea).

Sleeping outside did let me see the sunrise which was really nice.

Day 3
9:00am - wake up followed by a bedhead breakfast of pancakes
1:00pm - leisurely paddle for 3km to have lunch
4:00pm - open our gigantic bag of candy and eat gelatin candy until our stomachs hurt

Dinner scene

10:00pm - head to bed with a stomach full of garlic bread and pasta

Day 4
7:00am - wake up
9:00am - leave site
10:15am - we take a big detour our way to the pick up point courtesy of an LIT's navigation
12:15pm - we meet the bus at Loon Bay. Hooray!