Crossing water, treating it, and staying safe around rivers and lakes.
Moving and cold water are among the most common killers in the backcountry, and they rarely give a second chance. These guides cover crossing a river on foot, capsizing a canoe or kayak, being swept through whitewater, breaking through ice, and getting out of quicksand or a bog. Each explains how to avoid the situation, and what to do in the first seconds if you can’t.
In June 1978, 12 boys and a leader from St. John’s School of Ontario died after their canoes capsized on Lake Timiskaming, on a warm day with no storm. What went wrong, link by link, and what to do instead.
A canoe or a kayak is the most efficient way there is to move a load through wild country, and it is also the boat most likely to turn a good day into a fatal one. Paddlecraft make up a small share of the boats on the water and roughly a quarter of the people who die on it. The pattern behind almost all of those deaths is a short list of decisions made before the boat ever left the beach. This guide covers what actually drowns paddlers, how to dress and load for the water you are actually on, what to do in the first seconds of a capsize, and how to get back into the boat.
You cannot out-swim a river. How to read moving water, hold the right body position, use eddies to get out, escape a hole or a strainer, and rescue someone else.
Bogs, mud, and quicksand trap the people who panic and fight them upright. How to recognize soft, sucking ground, cross it if you must, and get yourself out if you’re already stuck.
Cold water kills faster than you think. The 1-10-1 timeline, how to self-rescue back onto ice, and how to treat someone pulled from cold water — including the after-drop trap.
Force rises with the square of speed, which is why crossings fool people. How to judge one, time it, cross it, and recognise the one to walk away from.
