Week later, mystery remains: Whose canoe?

(Update: Week later, no info on whose canoe was found)

More than a week after a submerged canoe, gear still aboard, was found overturned on the Deschutes River near Pringle Falls, the mystery of who it belongs to and what happened to them remains, an official said Sunday.

“Still a mystery,” sheriff’s Sgt. William Bailey said. “No one ever came forward to claim it.”

The canoe was found pinned against a log above Pringle Falls west of La Pine the afternoon of Saturday, June 23, prompting an extensive search along the river that failed to find its owner. The sheriff’s office asked the public for help in finding the owner, or any witnesses to what happened.

The bright green canoe was found with gear still tied inside, including a life jacket, packed lunches and a still-running electric motor, Bailey said.

Sheriff’s deputies, U. S. Forest Service Law Enforcement, Bend Police Department and DCSO drones and pilots, La Pine Fire crews and Deschutes County Search and Rescue personnel spent the afternoon searching the river from the Wickiup Reservoir Dam downstream to La Pine State Park for anyone who might be associated with the canoe, Bailey said.

The drones were used to search the river and river bank, but turned up no new information or clues.

“We are still working to determine if the canoe was occupied when it became submerged,” Bailey said in a news release.

“We currently do not have anyone reported missing or unaccounted for in that area,” he said. “This may be a case of an unoccupied canoe that came untied and washed downriver. We just want to confirm no one is still in the river.”

Anyone with information about the canoe or who might have seen it June 23 on the river above Pringle Falls was asked to call non-emergency dispatch at 541-693-6911.