Thomas and Cynthia Pineault were expert canoeists and were visiting one of their favorite spots in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness last weekend when tragedy struck.
The Forest Lake couple was found dead in the chilly waters of Alton Lake, wearing life jackets, near an overturned canoe on Sunday, Oct. 7.
The Cook County sheriff's office said foul play is not suspected. Autopsy results are pending.
Thomas Pineault, 55, and Cynthia Pineault, 51, had lived in the Forest Lake area for about 20 years and were known to frequent the Boundary Waters, their son Nathan Pineault said Tuesday.
"They were very experienced canoeists," Nathan Pineault said. "They would go up for multiple weeks at a time, multiple times a year. ... As long as I can remember, that was one of my parents' passions, was being in the outdoors."
Nathan Pineault said his parents had left for their latest trip "earlier in the week." The Alton Lake area was "one of their favorites," he said.
Alton Lake is northwest of Sawbill Lake and north of Tofte, Minn.
The sheriff's office said the bodies were likely in the water for more than 24 hours.
Several agencies assisted in the recovery effort, including the sheriff's office, Cook County Search and Rescue, Minnesota State Patrol, U.S. Forest Service and Sawbill Outfitters.
The Pineaults' bodies were discovered by canoeists in a church group from the Chicago area heading out for a picnic on Alton, said Bill Hansen, owner of Sawbill
Outfitters.Hansen said a minister in the lead canoe quickly determined there was no chance that the two people were alive and herded the rest of the church group, mainly high school students, away from the scene. The group returned to Sawbill Lake and reported what they saw to the outfitter, who contacted authorities.
Hansen said he wasn't sure if any other boats had been through Alton Lake in the past several days.
Conditions were windy Thursday and Friday, with gusts from the west reaching 35 mph on Friday. On Saturday, the wind shifted from the north on the lake, which generally runs north-south. Such winds can be hazardous for paddling, even for experienced paddlers in a seaworthy craft, such as the Pineaults' Wenonah Prospector. Still, Hansen said the situation was "puzzling."
Hansen estimated the water temperatures to be around 50 degrees. In 40- to 50-degree water, unconsciousness or exhaustion sets in after 30 to 60 minutes, and survival time is one to three hours, according to the U.S. Search and Rescue Task Force, a volunteer agency that responds to East Coast incidents.
"The water's cold right now, but they would have had some time to try to reach shore," Hansen said. "Of course, we might never know what happened."
On Tuesday, authorities inspected the Pineaults' campsite on Alton Lake, Hansen said.
"They told me it was buttoned-up, with good gear, and everything seemed to be in order," he said.
"This whole thing is heartbreaking."
Elizabeth Mohr can be reached at emohr@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5162. Dave Orrick can be reached at dorrick@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5512.
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