Ive always gone into the backcountry, years ago I ventured into Chippawa Bay on Powell Lake, I had my camera, my trustie Kodak 110 with a whole 12 picture capacity and went for a walk. Well first I had to go for a boat ride, a friend of the time Steve Wilson went with me up Powell Lake in a 12 foot boat and a 7.5 motor, I was 13, he was 11 (wouldnt get away with that today) and we went looking for this steam donkey in Chippawa. That trip was 34 years ago now, but I still remember it well which is good, well keep reading you will see.
We arrived at Powell Lake about 7 am, my dad put the boat in the water and told me he would be back at 5pm, so off we went, a 7.5 horse goes about 12 knots with two people in it, and it took about 35 minutes to go from the Shingle Mill to Chippawa Bay. The location was easy to spot, because 35 years ago you could still see the line in the trees, the line is the old logging line, from miles away it was visable, today, I can still see it, sort of. When we arrived I took the pictures you see, on the shoreline were old wheels, and a set of wooden lined tracks, moss covered. I searched around and found the old dump, I would come back I said, and up the hill Steve and I walked. We followed the tracks, up, up and up, then a ravine, and a beautiful old tresle was still standing, we could even walk across it, but I went below it, and took 2 nice pictures, then up the other side. On the other side was a small timberframed structure, I never understood its meaning or use, so a picture, that made 7 pictures. Up Steve and I walked, it really wasnt that far but took us about an hour and some to get there, then, the Steam Donkey was before us, click, 8, click 9, click 10, oh look over there a building, inside was a huge stove, table and chairs, and dishes, click 11, click 12, clickack, clickack, I was out of film.
We walked around and looked, and then we headed back down, myself taking mental images of the walk, still vivid inside my head, useless to anyone else really. On the way down I wanted to walk across the tresle, so I did, about midway I slipped and went to a knee, and as I did, my camera was in plain view falling towards the bottom of the ravine., NOoooooooo. I went back and then down, found the camera, broken, I wrapped it up tight, put it deep in my pocket, and we went down to the boat. We arrived back down at The Shingle Mill at about 4:30 pm, and waited for my dad to come get us, which he did.
I sent my film in to be developed, only 4 pictures survived that fall, 4 out of 12, I was devastated and I said I will go back with more film, and more walks, and more looks, 35 years later I never went back, I will though, yes, yes i will, I will walk up the same way, if I can find it, alot logged off now, but I will just the same. Not much in pics for this post, mostly the story. but enjoy
