Great posts, Mike Benfield. Your story about pulling out the body of a young man with a grappling hook was unnerving, and one that I'm amazed I'd never heard before. In case you don't know, the last of the CK founding fathers and mothers passed away recently. Ibby, wife of Carl Williams and sister of Rod Beebe, died early this summer, and a memorial service was held at the Episcopal Church in Salisbury a few weeks back. My brother, Chris Hinckley, and I attended, and the entire Williams family was there. There were a number of Beebe family members in attendance, and a few CK alums as well. Tom Soper, Tom Addicks, and a teacher from the Berkshire School, whose name escapes me right now, were there, and I may have missed others. You and I must have met at either Jeanette's or Rod's memorial services back in the 90's. At Ibby's service, I spent some time talking with Rod Jr. (or maybe it's Rod III), and you're right, he is in possession of most of Rod's movies. I told him it would be fun to get them digitalized and put out onto the web, and even offered to help. The next time I'm in his area (Great Barrington, MA, I think) I hope to stop by and pursue this further. I told him I was sure that an appeal could be sent out to the ever growing list of CK alums who've reconnected via the internet which could help to cover the cost of such an undertaking. So be prepared to be solicited! The pictures on Facebook were actually posted by Shannon Calabro, who is one of Carl and Ibby's granddaughters (Peter's eldest). There may be more to come, but, even if not, she's done a great job making them available. Note to Dave Simpson...as I've pointed out in earlier posts, trying to recreate many of the trips we took back in our day would be difficult, primarily because almost none of the portage trails exist any more...they have truly disappeared. To recut them would be very time consuming. However, because of the availability of the ABS-type canoes, many more of the "un-runnable" rapids could be run or lined, which would eliminate the need to recut portages. Heights of land, however, still can't be run, and the prospect of recutting such memorable slogs as the Barry Lake miler, the Wheelbarrow portage, or the 2-miler out of Little Hebert Lake into the St. Cyr River, just to name a few, is daunting. One of the trips which is still doable is the Capitachouane River. Folks still take the train (either from Montreal or Senneterre) and get off at the Bourgmont Station stop (it's still there). From there they can head south towards Lake Choiseul, Crooked Creek, and Lake Capitachouane and then on down the Cap. River all the way to the Dozois Resevoir. Both portages leading south from the tracks are still in good shape. Alternatively, one could drive from Verendrye Park all the way to the bridge over the rapids just south of Lake Capitachouane and put in there. If anyone out there decides to make the trip, be sure to take lots of pictures and post them! Happy paddling. Mark Hinckley
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