Missing canoeists rescued

Three girls from Minnesota were rescued on the Pigeon River east of Lake Winnipeg on Monday, more than 40 hours overdue after losing their canoe and some of their gear a day earlier.

The three, all aged 17, were unloading their canoe at a portage site when the river -- known by canoeists as the province's version of the Colorado River -- tore the watercraft from their hands.

Fred Rupp, head of Les Voyageurs Inc., the St. Cloud, Minn.-based organization which organized the 30-day trip for the teens, said he decided to call the police after talking to the trip's tour leaders by satellite phone.

"Normally we wouldn't have triggered this big of a rescue effort, but the water's so high this year that the danger level is high," Rupp said Tuesday.

"I thought as the girls were loading or unloading their canoe it got taken away, but they also could have been swept away. The water levels on the river are more than double this year.

"I didn't want to take a chance... but now they're safe and sound and have a great story to tell when they get back."

Bloodvein RCMP chartered a helicopter on Monday and, after a search, found the three teens on the Pigeon River at about 2:30 p.m.

RCMP Cpl. Kevin Elliott said he was able to jump to the ground and use an axe to clear a landing area after the helicopter hovered near a rock ridge.

He said it helped that in a previous job he would be helicoptered in to fight forest fires with the province.

Elliott said the three teens told him they were forced to sleep overnight huddled in garbage bags to prevent bug bites. "The girls were tired, wet and a little shaken up," the officer said, adding they weren't injured.

The trio has since continued on with the rest of the trip.

Les Voyageurs is a non-profit organization which helps men and women aged 16 to 18. According to its website, the organization's mission is to "expand the horizons of young people as it challenges their physical, psychological, social and learning skills through an intense outdoor experience."

The organization's Expeditions North, the main part of the program, take the young people on an outdoor leadership program for 30 days into eastern Manitoba.

Each of the two trips each summer consist of seven young people and two guides.

Elliott said that as part of their trip, the young women were each left alone about a kilometre apart for 24 hours before rejoining each other. They were supposed to reunite with the rest of their group further downstream, but shortly after they got back together they lost their only canoe.

Elliott said the three were first found by four paddlers from Brantford, Ont., who helped them catch up to their missing canoe.

"The four canoeists from Brantford were upset that (the teens) had been left alone, but it's not for me to determine that," he said.

Rupp said young people on all of the wilderness trips get that chance.

"It's not a requirement, but close to the end of the trip they have the skills to do what they need to do and their comfort level is there."

Meanwhile, a couple and their two grandsons were rescued on Tuesday after their canoe capsized on a lake in Riding Mountain National Park.

Wasagaming RCMP said an off-duty Onanole volunteer firefighter, along with Parks Canada employees, pulled the four into his personal boat on Katherine Lake at about 11:10 a.m.

RCMP credited the successful rescue on the family all wearing personal floatation devices and staying with the overturned canoe while waiting to be rescued.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 5, 2009 A6