I live in the Latchford area. I often bike the local trails, especially the remote Highland Trail to the SE of town, accessed via the dump road and then a left turn on the aggregate access, which, once past the pits, narrows to two tire tracks left by the occasional hunter's truck or off-roader's jeep...ATVs of the townsfolk and the snowmachines of the seasonal "easy way" long distance trekker are the only other vehicular traffic. The trail is the only wilderness-based rout through from Temagami and beyond to the S on through and to the N of Latchford AFAIK.
Well, I like to take my mountain bike out on the trails again after a long separation due to snow in the early spring, when there is a crust that will support me like pavement, and this spring I was doing just that. Late March? A fine sunny day. Pass the bifurcation where to the left goes the trail to the Montreal River, continue on up the steep hill, down the other side to the flat stretch...somewhere in the middle of that it was (a bit hazy on precise location) that I found a complete spine in the snow, a few other small bone fragments, old blood, and the entire area for a surprising distance around right packed with wolf tracks...they had clearly cleaned whatever had died up quite well, leaving little behind but for that oddly intact spine, which was nearly fleshless, with only faded, washed-out brownish residue upon it filling in between the bones. It was clear that the snow had melted from the top down to where the bones / tracks had been left much earlier in the winter; that day all just so happened to be sitting just so on top of the crust. I stopped and parked my bike to take a better look, having never seen a complete spine just sitting out in nature before. Turned it over in my hands, measured it using the old thumb and little finger eight inch method...just under two feet I think...then left it where I had found it. I had an odd feeling about it.
My find bothered me on and off since that time. I have on numerous occasions pulled up deer-human spine comparisons, seeking to put my mind at rest, but so far inconclusive. I am no doctor, just an laborer at the GP OSB mill in Englehart who spends his free time out in the wilderness long distance biking. Never knew my town had a missing person until I checked Northern News for a rare time this morning before work and saw the OPP's advert (
Police searching for missing man). Found this just this evening (
Error - Cookies Turned Off), and I have to say that for the photos in Figure 2, what I recall really seemed close to the second and fourth, even before knowing which species they belonged to...I was at first too tired to read the directions posted below, so I just looked them over for a few minutes before comprehending and thinking "oh ****."
Still, I just don't know...nothing indicating human was in the immediate area besides a length of wire and maybe a piece of towel (may be mixing things up on that latter point) but the wolf tracks continued on down the steep wooded ravine to the trail's immediate right and I did not follow them, knowing that if I went down I would not be able to go back up.
Just typing this rambling story out was a chore...I'm quite sore in the wrists and right elbow from work this week and today. I'll probably come back tomorrow and re-read shaking my head. Forgive any omitted details or awkward sentence structure / typography, I'm just really tired. I'll be back later this evening or tomorrow.
P.S: Thought of taking a trip back up to the location in question tomorrow or Monday (my two days off), but then remembered that with all the pipeline brushing (excavator with attachment) and pipeline work (excavators, bulldozers, more) over the late spring / summer so far and still ongoing, there would be nothing left to show to myself or anyone. Sigh...Was out that way last weekend and recognized none of the terrain. I think they even moved the trail to the other side of the line, I can't even tell. So much had changed.
P.P.S: Having read before how easily deer bones can be mistaking for human, put little stock in my story...probably shouldn't have shared it, but here I go for better or worse.
