This weekend I was on Canoe Lake for the holiday. Yesterday I helped fish a group of paddlers out of the water who dumped with about half an hour to sunset while still pretty far from the access point docks. The first thing one of them said to me when we pulled up to them in the middle of the lake was “help me find my phone”. This person was too cold to help get themselves into the boat, but was more worried that they’d dropped their phone.

But that was nothing compared to what happened to a friend of mine last night. He’s got a cottage close to the South end of Canoe, near the Drummer portage. He went outside to use the bathroom at 11:30 pm and thought he heard someone crying. He did. Turns out it was two guys who had decided to paddle out from Tom Thomson at 7 pm because they didn’t like the bugs (?!). They were drinking while they went, drunk AF by the time they got to Canoe, missed the access point, swamped and were stuck in chest deep water against a rock wall. When he found them they were halfway to Bonita Lake, both hypothermic and barely with it. If he hadn’t gone to use the bathroom they’d be dead.

What’s the purpose of these stories? Not sure, just sharing because I can’t believe either of them actually happened. It feels like I’m seeing more people making more bad decisions in shoulder season weather in recent years.

Last edited by AlgonquinLakes (10/12/2026 4:43 pm)