One of the canoe trips that started it all

This picture shows us making a voyage down Milligan Creek, which runs through my hometown of Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, twenty-nine (!) years ago during spring runoff season in April.

In the lead canoe is Nevin Halyk, now the principal of Foam Lake Composite High School, who first inspired the idea back when we were kids, suggesting we make the trip in a rubby dingy. That would have been treacherous considering all the hazards we faced (barbed wire, dead trees fallen across the water, sharp culvert edges, beaver dams, etc.). The aluminum canoes we borrowed from the school were perfect. Just off camera in the lead canoe is Victor Loeppky, one of my best friends growing up, whose farm bordered ours. In the front of the second canoe is my younger brother Al, and I'm bringing up the rear. Watching us from the bridge is my mom. I think my dad took the picture. We had just put in on the other side of the bridge. 

Like the boys in my novel Up the Creek, we went against my dad's advice and continued beyond the graveyard bridge, wanting to see how far Milligan Creek went. We ended up finally pulling out in the middle of a muddy farmer's field and having to portage the canoes quite a distance back to the highway.

I can't believe we haven't done another trip since then, but it's a tricky thing because there has to be enough snow, and it has to melt fast enough to create the right conditions. Even twenty-four hours can make a significant difference. For example, the year before, I made my first trip down Milligan Creek with my mom, and we kept getting hung up on beaver dams. I made a second attempt the following day with Victor, and those beaver dams had become rapids, and the water was moving so fast that we rounded one corner and were swept into a dead tree that had fallen across the creek, which caused us to capsize. Victor disappeared under the freezing water for a few seconds, losing his paddle, while I was stuck on the tree, the current holding me in place. 

Despite these hazards, hopefully Foam Lake gets a good dump of snow this coming winter, and I can hit these guys up for a thirtieth-anniversary trip next April. 

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