Rescuing abandoned canoe on St croix river

Amber (or Sparky!)

Hey bud, went paddling with some friends on the st croix river between northern WI and MN this past weekend. Wasn’t sure if I was still going to be up for going after the news of your passing, but waking up the morning of departure this seemed like exactly the thing you’d encourage me to do. On day 2 our crew came upon an abandoned canoe full of gear apart from life jackets. Was eerie not knowing what had happened, but the rest of the day was spent playing detective until we tracked down the returned the boat to the owners. Turns out there had been an emergency evacuation the night prior to us finding this boat. Everyone was okay but they thought the boat and gear were total goners! Lest we get in touch and what we thought was going to be a relaxing paddling day turned into quite the river trip. Plus black bear encounter and rapids! Thinking of you. Am