I was recently on a kayaking trip with a couple of buddys up near a lake in patagonia. its a remote location you have to backpack to get there. This was only my 4th time in this river and only my 6th time kayaking.<br>We set out on a monday morning (my friend just recently acquired his drivers license) and arived late afternoon and set up camp about 1 mile away from the starting point on the river. all of us had notified are parents and told them when we were sposed to be back and how to get there. we were a party of 4 (oldest 16) and all of us had plenty of camping and backpacking experience. me and jj (my best friend) had inflatable kayaks while Tod and chris had fiberglass 1's. Early tuesday morning we set out for the river and when we arived we had breakfast and went over different strategys and assigned partners ( each of us has a partner we have to look out for and they look out for us if we need help getting back on our kayaks. Tod the most experienced set out first then chris then jj and last me. it was a mild river in the beggining then theres a couple of rough spots but nothing hardcore. Half way down the river tod and chris were out of sight. i yelled for jj and told him that we have to stick together cause jj was the least experienced and he needed my help. it was about mid day and we were about 1 mile from the spot where we were sposed to finish. tod and chris were still out of sight. we were coming up on the first drop off ( or water "fall") when jj said he thought he had a rip in his kayak. i told him to pull of to shore when he could and we would repair it. he got thru the fall ok but i fell out and had a bit of trouble getting back in but i finally managed it. we both got to shore fine. i asked him for his patch kit and he searched his pack. he gave me a funny look and i told him it was ok we would just used mine (he had forgotten his). We fixed up his raft and thats when i realized i had a pretty bad tear myself. the patch kit wasnt big enough for my tear and we couldnt both fit in his kayak. he started to get scared and so was i but i told him to take his clothes off and dry them off. i had a personal survival kit on me which i remembered was in my pack. it was about 6 o clock and was getting dark. i told him to gather some fire wood while i built a lean to. i had some dryer lint and a flint which i used to start a fire. i had a water purifier with me in my pack and 1 empty water bladder. i told him every thing would be ok that tod and chris would make another run down the river wensday to pick us up. (tod and chris had spare repair kits and 2 person kayaks) it was almost completly dark beside what light the fire gave out and we used are kayaks as sleepling bags which turned out rather nice but defeated the purpose of the lean to lol. i had spare energy bars but i didnt tell him cause i wanted to save them until wensday for breakfast.<br> we slept ok (besides for the skunk that harrased are camp and pissed on my daypack!!)<br>We woke up soon as the sun came over the mountain ridge and added wooded to the coals in the fire. we waited for about 3 hours untill chris and tod showed up and we were rescued . Not the greatest experience of my kayaking trips but it was a lesson learned<br><br>

Good Story Ron! A book you will enjoy is THE SURVIVAL OF THE BIRCHBARCK CANOE by John McPhee. The Skunk was defending his territory. Next time 'mark' your territory before going to sleep. The animals will usually remark these markers instead of your gear. Citrus peels and cake soap ( Ivory, lifeboy,Irish Spring ) will also work if carried on a camping trip. Your Mom can use these to deter cats and even deer from denuding her garden( Thats your job!)<br><br>

Thanks for sharing you story. Sounds like you kept your head and made then best of a difficult situation. You are to be commended for keeping track of your friend and rationing your supplies. Even though you expected your friends the following day, they have been delayed.<br><br>