Snake
Falls - Super Canoe!
This is a
Souris River Prospector 17.5 which went for a wild ride down Snake
Falls in the Quetico Park. I don't have the full story yet, but
the photos tell a lot. Upon examining this Souris River first
hand, it appears that it was pretty much flattened out by the
tremendous force of a billion gallons of water pushing it against
a rock. This occurred 2-1/2 days travel by canoe from Ely - definitely
not close to home. The two guys peeled it off the rocks, kicked
it back into shape and paddled it back to Ely. They sealed leaks
with duct tape and reinforced the sides with birch saplings where
the gunwales were wiped out and headed back home. None of the
flexible ribs were torn out of the canoe. All of the ribs still
functioned normally. Notice the seats? They are still fully intact
with all of the rivets were in place. Even royalex has a hard
time keeping its seats intact after a catastrophic event like
this. With polyester resin, kevlar canoes (like Sawyer, Wenonah,
Mad River, Bell, Nova Craft, Seda, etc.) I highly doubt that the
seats would have remained intact, much less useable. Without the
flexibility of Souris River's unique Epoxy resin recipe combined
with their unique , I suspect that ANY foam core canoe would have
come home via rescue airplane - in a bushel basket. So if you
REALLY need to get home, make sure your canoe is truely capable
- and for an added plus - stay out of rapids!
To see this canoe in real time, go to Wilderness Outfitters in
Downtown Ely. You can rent a Souris River for your next trip from
Wilderness Outfitters, too! They know who makes good canoes!
See a Souris River Canoe right here.
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