The bad and the ugly truth!

Day 8 - 9.23.2022 Kootenai River Part 3

No matter what sport of outdoor activity you participate in you must be prepared for accidents as much as you can. I have spent countless years taking safety classes from water safety, fire safety, hazardous chemicals, field medical situations, and heat related conditions. I have also had countless hours of water survival technique classes. Then there is the acceptable risk factor. I also need to add another factor my partner and I have entered several confined spaces together and trust each other with our lives.

I knew going into this that the lake canoe did not have high walls and that was a concern. I bought outriggers that would give us extra balance and buoyancy. As, you can see in the photos what I am talking about.

All our gear was lashed into the canoe except my coffee cup. We had an extra oar in the canoe lashed to the canoe. My 24”x27”x14” dry box was lashed into the canoe and secured. These two items saved us from losing the canoe. All of our rods and other gear was not lost. All of the gear was tied in by rope or lashed in with heavt velcro straps.

My details of what lead to our titanic moment on the Kootenai River. The river was 57 degrees on this day. I ran upon a submerged rock and could not push off fast enough and the current pinned the canoe to the rock. We would get lose but not fast enough. The stern go swamped and filled up with water. As you can see in the photos.

We had on out PFD’s, wading belts and wore not cotton. This only allowed the water to get in up to our knees. In our fight or flight moment we choose to fight for each other, and my partner did not abandon me, and I did not abandon him. We where about 17 feet from river left, but it felt like a mile. We kicked out legs as hard until we drifted closer to the river bottom. My partner reached bottom and then I touched bottom.

Even thought the water was that cold and due to what we wore along with the air temp of 60 ish hypothermia was not an issue yet. The risk of hypothermia waned as we emptied the canoe of water and cargo before pressing on.

We had three miles to go according to my Garmin. With a combination of portaging and canoeing we made it safely to our takeout. I have several take aways from this trip for sure!

Be safe on the water and be prepared is not my only take aways and there are many more!

We are laughing now, but only because all that we did preparing for what if worked out in our favor along with alot of luck.​

Yes, I know this was not the best choice for river fishing in Montana on a river I am not familiar with!