Inquest jury views a haunting photograph

As a coroner's inquest into last year's Camp McDougall canoe tragedy continued today, jurors were shown a haunting photograph.

The image was taken on May 31, 2003, moments before Megan Mitchell and Erica Auclair Mitchell left on the canoe trip that would end with the two Saultites dying from hypothermia.

The photograph, projected today on a sheet hung on the wall of Sault Ste. Marie's Courtroom #1, shows four young women in a canoe.

Seated at the bow is Erica, the freckle-faced 11-year-old.

Behind her, in the middle of the boat, is Megan, her 11-year-old cousin.

If you wanted to get on Megan's bad side, all you had to do was spell her first name wrong.

There was nothing she hated more than that.

The picture was taken from the canoe's stern.

It shows calm water and clear skies ahead, with what appears to be Gooseberry Island in the background.

The trip, to view a sunken shipwreck near Gooseberry Island was supposed to take 90 minutes.

But the wind and the waves changed after the young adventurers set out, and three canoes capsized.

Even the next day, when police arranged to have a video shot made of the Camp McDougall and its popular beach, the whitecaps were clearly visible on the North Channel.