Canoe Trip down the St. Croix River

The canoe trip was awesome. We got in up by Hinckley, MN off of HWY 48 (Thayers Landing) at the same place I put in when Seth and I went a number of years ago. After a couple hours on the river the boys stopped to swim and found fresh water mussels, some as big as my fist. The water was calm and except for a little breeze from time to time paddling was more for course correction than forward movement. Jon P.'s GPS indicated we were doing 3 to 3-1/2 MPH which is average for the river.

Some of the boys tried their hands at fishing but I didn't hear that anyone caught anything. One of our campsite neighbors was up early Saturday morning and said he had lost a bass and a northern as they snapped his line. We did see a few big fish jumping and a lot of turtles sunning on logs and rocks. Some of the boys saw deer. Jon P. saw a bird up close - he was lucky he didn't have any damage to his car.

We planned to go to the group camp site at Nelson's Landing 6 hours on the river (19 miles) but a storm came up. We were blessed we came to a campsite (which are as far as 30 - 60 minutes a part or more along the river) so it was a blessing to be coming to a site just as the storm appeared. If we had gone down river as much as 10 min. earlier or stopped 10 min. longer at our play break we would have been in a fix, the wind was strong and the rain relentless. Did I mention it came without warning? We did hear a sound in the distance like an airplane which turned out to be the wind just as it got to us. As it was we had just enough time to get off the water move the canoes onto the bank and locate a site.

We put our tents up in the downpour, I was so wet I could wring water off my clothes after I changed to dry stuff. The mosquitoes must have been really hungry as the rain didn't even phase them; we were under the trees which blocked the wind but, not the water. After waiting for the heavy rain to slow we setup a plastic tent liner over the picnic table using canoe poles to support the plastic, and bungies to tie the poles to the corners. We cooked chicken on the camp stove - the original plan was to cook over the fire, which Jon P. started by using his stove fuel. A couple boys had wet sleeping bags (not covered in plastic) the bags were so wet there was no hope drying them, even over the fire, by sharing extra dry clothes and bedding everyone had a "mostly" dry spot to sleep.

Well once I got food in my stomach my thinking brain started up (it was in survival mode prior to this) and I started thinking about the car we had parked at our pre-determied campsite an hour down the river [left there so we could have mobility the next moring to move a vehicle at the "out" location]. So, since it was getting late I decided running was better than taking a canoe in the dark. I had put a fine plastic skirt on (white kitchen garbage bag) over my last pair of dry shorts, and a jacket. This maybe more detail than you want but, I wrote this for Seth's Monday letter and didn't delete it...

We estimated it was 5 miles to the car, but I could not be sure which roads to take, I started out with a jacket and my skirt, a hat and a light that goes on my head like a miner. It ended up being 2 miles to the main road straight south in the dark. The air was so heavy with moisture water was gathering on my arm - I would have drank it but the bug spray I was wearing would have killed me (50% deet). When I got to the main road HWY F (Wisconsin names their roads with letters) I turned West which I knew "should" lead to the campsite road. I couldn't be sure it was HWY F as it was not labeled (I should let you know we had driven F that morning to drop the car off, but I clearly was not paying that much attention to know if it was the same road.) I continued running glad I had done some running over the past months.

The first car I saw slowed down but not long enough to ask directions, etc. I think the skirt scared them off. I ran an other mile and there was a house near the road, there was a sign "Grandma Parking Only" so I figured it would be safe to knock on the door - I'm sure I could outrun Grandma... When Grandpa came to the door, he told me I was on the right road and had 3/4 miles to go, he was partly right after running some more I came to the turn off and the sign said 3/4 miles. I wish he would of also told me his neighbor a few farms down had a big dog, fortunately he wasn't interested in me past the front yard, I was a bit worried - it was a big dog and I didn't figure I could outrun him as easy as I could the grandma.

By the time I got to the 1/2 mile point in my last 3/4 mile my sandels had wore holes in my ankels so I slowed down a bit - but not too much or the mosquitoes would have taken me out. I honestly gave blood Monday to the Red Cross and didn't figure they'd have interest in my empty tank - but they did.

The car ride was intersting - the windows would not defog with all the moisture and my body heat, I was constantly wiping the window - poor Jon P. he'll wonder how he got such a smudge on his front windshield. I only drove 40 MPH to ensure I safely stayed on the road.

Back at my tent, sleep was slow in coming as I was so wet, sticky, and stinky... plus my face was touching the tent, as were my feet.

Morning came early, but the weather was so much nicer. I was able to dry my shirt on a sign post (I only had one - who wnats to over pack... not me.) We setup the stoves for breakfast. We opted to move too the clearing (away from the shade and mosquitoes) and put the stoves on the cooler and on a tub to get them off the ground. The boys doing the cooking got to sit on lawn chairs, it doesn't get much better than that. We had pancakes and eggs, with sausage in the eggs. Yum, it was sooo good. Not any food left so the boys must have liked it too.

The sunshine was nice too. Our next leg of the journey was over the rapids - just "class I" rapids so mom's no worries, the worst that could happen is a canoe tipping over in waist deep water. One canoe was haing trouble going down the river straight - We switched spots so we had leader and boy for both canoes. It turned out to be good as the rocks were big and some covered with just enough water you couldn't see them.

We realized the canoe didn't have much keel and this was most of the steering trouble. I know the canoe I was in shined a few rocks, I told the boys I had made an agreeement with the local rock shop to polish all the rocks in the river. Two times we got high centered and the current spun us on the rocks like a basketball on a players finger. What a ride! All of the young men did really well and I think they will have good memories of the activity for years to come. I hope we get to do it again next year.