by Cade Musch - age 11

It was spring time and all the snow was melting. This made all the creeks and rivers very high, especially the Rocky River. Springtime was pretty much the only time that you could canoe it, but this year it was hugely enormous, too big to canoe. But nothing was going to stop the three daring boys from going down it.

It was about six o'clock when Danny, Dick, and Dee got up to pack their lunches. Today was the day they were going to go down that river, no matter what.

They got to the landing around eight o'clock. They took the canoe off the truck, put their lunches in, and strapped them down to the bar in the canoe. They didn't hesitate a second as they pushed off into the river. This is what they had been dreaming about for months, and at last it was here. The plan was to canoe for about three hours, take a break and get a snack, and then shove off again.

The river was okay except for the couple of rapids they hit every once in a while. They went through that pretty easily though. After three hours they stopped and ate, then shoved off again just like they planned. But only this time it was a lot harder. They hit rapids anywhere from fifty to one hundred yards apart. Several times they just about tipped. They were forced one hour later to beach. Soaked to the bone they tried to start a fire, but had no success, so they shoved off again. Surprisingly, the river was pretty calm. They canoed for a good two hours without hitting a single rapids, but little did they know what lay ahead.

They were getting a little drier and warmer as they canoed along, and the sun hit their backs. Dick said, "Hey, if the river keeps up like this, this trip will be great." But just about five minutes after he said that they heard huge rapids looming ahead. It was terrifying. They were so big!

Dee said, "Maybe we should portage the canoe around the rapids.

The others agreed on that. They were going to pull up to the rapids as close as they thought they could get. But they got too close. The rapids were so strong that even as they paddled it sucked them right in.

They went down the rapids out of control. Danny tried to steer, but his paddle snapped on a rock. As they went crazily down the river they hit broad side on a rock and flipped over. Dick, Danny, and Dee fell into the water and the canoe went down the river being battered to pieces. The boys went down the river half the time with their heads under water.

Danny managed to grab a small log to hang on to, but Dee and Dick weren't so fortunate. They just kept going under the water. Staying above the water, Danny held on to the log. He paddled with his feet to get to shore, and to his surprise he succeeded.

He just laid there on shore, gasping for breath. Then he remembered his friends. He tried to get up, but his body was so weak. After about twenty minutes of rest he decided to go look for his friends. Every hundred yards or so he had to take a five minute break. After Danny had walked what he figured to be about a mile and a half, he thought he saw something lying on the shore. He gathered up all his strength and tried to run over there. Sure enough, there lay Dee unconscious.

Danny dragged Dee a little way into the woods and this time managed to start a fire. Thankfully, the matches in his pocket were in a water-proof container, and they hadn't gotten lost in the river. Danny took off Dee's clothes and dried them, then put them back on Dee. Then, too tired to do more, Danny collapsed into sleep.

About an hour later Danny was awakened by a call. He got up and started calling back. Then in a few minutes Dick staggered into the makeshift camp. It turned out that Dick was walking down the shore looking for Danny and Dee. When he saw the smoke from their fire he came calling towards it.

Just as Dick was telling Danny his story they heard a groan. They looked over to see Dee open his eyes. They were very happy to be together and alive, but they didn't have any food, and they didn't even have any idea where they were. They talked about what to do and decided that Dee would stay at camp while Dick and Danny went further into the woods to see if they could find some food.

After what seemed like forever to Dee, Dick and Danny finally returned to camp with a rabbit they had managed to club. They skinned it up and then cooked it. The boys ate it down to just the bones. After they ate the rabbit they set to work on pine bough beds because they figured they had to spend the night out there. They fell asleep exhausted.

It was early the next morning when Dick awoke. The other guys were still asleep so he figured he'd go get some firewood. Dick was just sort of putzing around looking for wood when he heard a sound. At first he didn't recognize the sound, but the more he listened to it the more familiar it got. Suddenly it grew louder and louder, then all of a sudden a helicopter came flying over his a tree top level.
Dick dropped the wood and started yelling and waving his arms, but nothing happened. It just flew away. He ran back to camp and woke up Danny and Dee and told them what he saw. They had to find some other way to get the attention of a helicopter or plane if they should see another one. So they decided to build a big fire on the shore of the river.
It was dark again by the time they had gathered enough wood for a good supply, and made a lean-to to sleep under. They went to bed that night wondering if they ever were going to get rescued. So they kept the fire going all the time, even through the night.
Late the next morning at about nine o'clock the boys were awakened by a "Hello there." They jumped out from the lean-to and started yelling for joy. They ran out to the shore of the river, and there beached by their big fire were two canoes with four men standing by them. The three boys were so happy they thought it was a dream.

The tall, skinny man in the middle said, "Is this your fire?" The boys needed with enthusiasm. Then they explained that it was a signal fire because they had been lost out there for almost two days. The man spoke again, "There isn't enough room for you in the canoes, so we'll go get help while you wait here."

The boys knew he was right about there not being enough room in the canoes, so they agreed even though they didn't want to stay there one second more. The men left them some food and shoved off again, promising to return.

After what seemed like a life time they heard a familiar voice again, saying, "We're back!" Then in a few minutes the four men appeared again with two more guys and a spare canoe.

So they set out down the river, happy to be alive, and telling themselves never to challenge a river like that again in the spring time.