B.C. man reunited with beloved flute, 5 years after it floated away down a Yukon river

Jun Takahashi was stunned when he saw the post on social media.

“Like, what? Like, I couldn’t believe it,” he said, from his home on Salt Spring Island, B.C.

The post on a Yukon paddling group page was by someone who had recently found a blue, waterproof canoe barrel full of camping gear, near the confluence of a couple of remote Yukon rivers. The poster, Colin Abbott, asked if anybody had dumped in Yukon’s Kathleen River “in the last couple of years” and might be missing their gear.

There was also a picture, showing the blue barrel, some clothes and a sleeping bag strewn across a floor — and, in the middle, a flute in a case.

Colin Abbott posted this photo on social media after he found the barrel full of gear last month. (Colin Abbott)

Takahashi recognized it immediately. The flute meant a lot to him — he’d bought in Japan years ago and had carried it with him on his many travels.

It was the perfect thing to travel with, especially on a remote canoe trip in the Yukon. It could be easily stuffed inside one of those waterproof barrels for your gear. Takahashi also loved to play it in wild, open spaces.

“Like, I don’t disturb anybody,” he said.

Takahashi likes to play his flute in remote places where he won’t disturb anyone. (Submitted by Jun Takahashi)

Before last week, he’d assumed he would never see the instrument again.

He lost it in June 2021, when he and a friend were on a canoe trip down the Kathleen River and accidentally flipped their boat. It was a scramble to escape the frigid water with their lives, so the canoe and their gear had to be left to be swept down the fast-moving river.

In the following days, the two took to social media asking any paddlers to keep an eye out for their gear and even offered a cash reward.

Takahashi and Sonia Lévêque on their ill-fated canoe trip in 2021. (Submitted by Jun Takahashi)

Takahashi thought the lost barrel might be adrift somewhere on the Bering Sea by now. Or, he imagined an “Alaskan bear wearing my down jacket or like, playing my flute or something.”

‘Someone would know this story’

It turns out the barrel, and all of its contents, had not travelled that far.

Abbott says he found it last month near the confluence of the Kathleen and Dezadeash Rivers. He was tracking a moose in the bush when he spotted a “patch of blue” near an opening.

It wasn’t a completely surprising find. Abbott has paddled the Kathleen River himself and seen wrecked boats and other remnants of river mishaps.

Colin Abbott says when he found the gear and the flute, he ‘figured that someone would know this story.’ (Submitted by Colin Abbott)

He cracked the blue barrel open a bit to ensure it wasn’t full of rotten food. Then he took it home to fully unpack as “a surprise for myself and my partner and my roommates.”

The camping gear and clothing were a bit mildew-y, but the most interesting thing was the flute, still safely in its case.

“I figured that someone would know this story, but I wasn’t sure,” Abbott recalled.

That’s when he posted the photo online — and soon heard from Takahashi.

Now, a Yukon friend of Takahashi will bring the flute and the other gear with him next time he travels to B.C.

Takahashi is delighted to be getting his beloved, well-travelled instrument back.

“I like playing flute in the nature. That’s a good practice,” he said.