Rescue on Hula - Part 5 - Do You Have Cigarette?

So, continue going clockwise we went.  Shining at the rocky shoreline with more jackpines now on the eastern shores of Hula.  As we moved further away from the northwest corner, the wind which never really left , made sure we knew it was there.  Further on down the shore,  Nick was shining low and high,  when he said excitedly, “HEY, what’s that?!”.  About 8 feet straight up the side of a rock wall and laying on top, he just barely spotted the end of the canoe.  For visibility and in case someone stole our canoes. We painted a big red stripe around one end.  Nick saw the red color and then the very hard to see end of the canoe.  Somebody put it there.  It didn’t climb that rock by itself.  We quickly went to shore and climbed that rock wall.

At the top, was the canoe, right side up, with a little water in it but scrubbed completely clean and shiny.  The paddles lay on the ground and there was nothing else.  No gear, no nothing except for on the stern.  Tied to the canoe was a stringer with 6 average northern pike on it and most of them were alive with the cold temperature and they were outside of the canoe laying on the light green reindeer moss.

We looked at each other and wondered what the heck is going on?  No blood, no tracks on the rocks, fish still tied to the canoe, canoe scrubbed clean. The wind continued to howl at our backs as if it was angry with us for the prior hours spent in the darkness looking at floating stumps.  Now, I’m getting angry.  It’s 2 AM, we’re in the rain and snow,  the wind refuses to cut us a break, and we have a canoe and no bodies – live or dead.

I’d now been up since 6:30 AM the day before,  and my adrenaline supply is starting to show some cracks.  I told Nick if these dumbbells tried to walk out of here, we’re gonna find them tomorrow and they will be dead for sure.   We’re in the middle of nowhere in the most inhospitable terrain and they’ve disappeared into the woods, I thought.   Not really knowing which way to go, the natural way was forward towards the deeper woods.  Nick said, we should try yelling, so we did.  When we yelled,  the wind rushing forward carried our voices and it was like yelling into a black hole.  After about 5 minutes of yelling, I’m so exhausted that I’m also getting creeped out by this adventure.  There was no response and the hill we were on dropped off about 50 feet ahead of us into more trees and nothingness.   What happened to these guys?  Then, in our dying flashlights, we saw a slight movement ahead.

There was a guy in a raincoat looking dazed and confused who stood up in front of us.  I think Nick was a little spooked too, because neither one of us budged, but we yelled for that guy to come towards the light. At first, he just stood there not moving. Finally, he took a stumbling step forward towards us. Then behind him a big guy came forward out of the darkness.  He looked like a zombie.  He was pale, hunched over and walking like, well, a zombie.  He had no expression on his face, and did not look well.

The first thing the little guy said with urgency in his thick accent was “Hi!!! Do you have cigarette?!!!?”

I burst out laughing and said “Cigarette?!  No!  How about a can of pop and some beef jerky.  You must be dehydrated and pretty hungry!”   He said, “Oh, OK.  That vould be good, too.”

Huge sigh of relief by us!!!!  These were our guys!!!  Mikhail (the short one with a beard) and  Hrzckzc, (the big zombie).   Our adventure was not yet over.  These guys were both appeared to be in trouble.

We took them back to the spot below the hill’s edge from where they came to get them out of that friggin’ wind.  We sat them down and began to snap off dead jackpine branches quickly and by the armload.  In  the BWCA, nobody who visits there ever leaves their campsites.  That means there are vast untouched resources in non-designated areas.  Lots of dry, hot-burning  jackpine branches were easy to find hanging right on the trees.  While I was lighting the fire, Nick radioed in and let Dispatch know that we found our guys.  Dispatch called my dad and he told the women in Cabin 6.   It was now 2:30 AM.

We had a really hot, large, very illegal fire.   I thought my raincoat was going to melt so I moved back about 5 feet.   I was hoping that the US Forest Service would swoop in and try to give me a ticket so I could stuff these guys on a Beaver and fly them out of there.  No luck.  We were on our own.

Mikhail and Hrzckzc sat next to the fire and warmed up.  Under their rain coats, they were soaking wet.  They both began to undress by the hot fire in the sheltered spot to dry their clothing out.  While the little guy was drying his stuff, he began to warm up and I got to see the reverse of hypothermia take place.  He began to shiver violently and so did Hrzckzc.  At one point, the little guy  said “Look at my stomach.  It is shaking and I can’t stop it.”  Finally after about 15 minutes of shaking he began to calm down and then the shakes were all gone.  Then he backed-up from the fire as well.

I was having a problem staying awake and told Nick.  He said that he had just begun his shift only an hour before this night began, "so go ahead and catch some sleep".  I conked out next to the fire and slept like a rock until daylight cracked.  Nick woke me up at 5:30 and said we were going to get going.  I would have much rather stayed by the fire since the temperature dropped to 26 degrees and the wind still didn’t stop.

We crossed the lake and the Hula portage and when we hit Wood Lake, the wind chewing on my high hand of the paddle wanted me to know that I was alive.  Whatta bite it was!  It was absolutely miserable in the early morning.  We still needed to find Ted who had spent the night in a tent with two kind strangers.  Ted had no idea if even we survived.  When we rounded that corner the night before, that was the last he saw of us.  When we made their campsite that frosty morning, Ted heard us and popped out of the tent fully dressed like we left him the night before. The look of relief on his face was very evident.  Poor guy was in the dark all night.

More paddling and we finally all made it back to the Wood Lake portage and Ted grabbed my arm to make me stop and said, “Joe, whatever cost for being late is – I pay it.  Thank you!”   

I said, “Ted, you don’t know how happy I am that we found your guys and got them home!  We don’t charge for legitimate accidents.  This was a legitimate accident.”  Nonetheless, Ted bought me a bottle of some very expensive scotch.  I kept if for many years but finally gave it to a friend who appreciates the liquor.  The sentiment would last me forever.