Canoeing the Mississippi

Episode Number Two: From Wetlands to Beaver Dams

Tom has finished the second episode, in which Karl shares the first wild—and surprisingly shallow—miles of the Mississippi, encountering challenging wetlands, fellow adventurers, and, to his chagrin, many beaver dams. Enjoy! If you missed the first episode, you can find it under the “videos” category on the left.

A Wet Week on the River

I am sitting in the EconoLodge in Brainerd, MN looking out the window at another wet and rainy day, yet thankfully I am dry. The last two weeks out of Grand Rapids have been a bit of a blur, as I try to push to get a little speed going to get south to warmer, hopefully drier weather.

Palisade, oh Palisade, you are everything a river town should be. From the wonderful Bergland County Park to your fabulous, hot home cooked meals. Bergland Park is right on the river, with hot showers and best of all a covered picnic area with tables and a fireplace to hide out of the rain if need be (this is the first one of these covered areas that I have encountered and it is such a very good idea!) The town is a short 5 minute walk away, and let me just say that Kelly’s Kitchen is one of the most delicious home style restaurants that I have ever eaten at. I pulled into the park on a cold evening, so having learned that up here winter restaurant hours have begun already and small town eateries close at 8pm I hurried into dry clothes and ran into town. Kelly’s, with it’s hand drawn whiteboard drew me right in. The food was amazing, the room toasty warm, and they offered baked sweet potatoes or sweet potato fries, both of which I adore (the sweet potato I consider the most under appreciated tuber in the US). I inhaled it within the alloted hour and as I went to pay the waitress says to me, almost conspiratorially, “are you riding the river?” I look utterly surprised and asked how she knew. “We get lots of people riding the river. They start as soon as the ice melts in the spring.”

That night the temperatures dropped to 27 degrees, and I awoke to a covering of frost on everything. The temperature warmed quickly though and I pushed on 19 miles to the Hassman campsite, past the beautiful, well marked Willow River campsite as I wanted to get more miles in on a warm day. Hassman was unmarked but luckily I saw the picnic table from the river. I had to scale up the side of a bank, so steep I was sure that this couldn’t be the campsite. But it was, so up I had to haul everything. As I was scaling up each load I looked out and saw the food container floating in the river!!!! After screaming “Oh God No!!” twice I ran down and untied the canoe, and retrieved the errant container. Well let me just say thank you Colin for your airtight, floating, bear proof vessel. The other odd thing about the camp site is that it should have been called the beaver campsite, as so many very large, maybe two foot diameter trees were felled by the beavers. They fell them by the edge of the banks and then chop them up in the water. It was incredible. I heard them chopping all night, but when the sun rose so I could video them, they hid away. Sadly this has been the story of the wildlife on this trip. The otters, beavers, eagles, ducks and loons run away as soon as they see me. Man I so need a camera person.

The next day I made it to Aitkin, MN and whiled away a rainy night. The next morning I went into town to re-provision, being low on food, since Palisade only had a convenience store. It was a nice town, but as I knew more rain was coming I couldn’t explore much, having tasks to accomplish before the next round of rain, as the campsite was a good 15-20 minute walk from the business district. I do want to recommend “the Beanery” downtown for its great coffee and warm store to hide for hours from the rain. As I walked back to the campsite I was shocked to see a couple by an RV. Monika and Eberhard were retired Canadians from Vancouver, just finishing up a 7,000 mile trip across Canada and then back through the US. They invited me into their warm, dry RV for wine, then coffee and yummy homemade, hot scones. They were so much fun to talk to, and we spent hours discussing life and our trips. What great treasures they were. In the morning they brought me coffee as I was breaking down camp in the steady rain, and we waved enthusiastic good byes across the park.

The next two campsites were well marked, thank you MN DNR!! It was a serious fight yesterday to get across the Brainerd lake district into the town. The weather called for 10-20 mph west winds for the next few days, with 25 mph gusts. I have learned by trial and error that I can do 20 mph winds with breaks, but that it is a grueling, exhausting day and the upper limit of my ability. Since most of the day would be southern travel I decided to try it. Unfortunately there was a 4 mile westerly stretch that was really hard, and it took hours to cover, and I was unsure of my ability to do so. I made it, and as I turned south was able to use the western tree covered bank as a wind shield. Unfortunately I had one 210 yard portage around the Wassau paper mill dam just two miles from Brainerd. Ouch!

I slid into town at the canoe landing in Kiwanis Park. I love the supportive canoe environment here in MN, from the free DNR canoe campsites to the great little yellow canoe sign in Kiwanis Park saying “canoe access”. How great is that? As it has been two weeks since I have been in a warm bed and the weekend is supposed to be rainy, I got a room at the EconoLodge. I called for a taxi from the park, and they so kindly came to get me and said that all my gear should fit into the cab. It did, but how nice of them to barely blink an eye when I called and explained that I was a canoer who needed a ride to a cheap motel? Actually the guy seemed pretty amused by it all, so much so that a second cab driver came to watch the spectacle. I chained the canoe to a tree with a bike lock, and at their suggestion called the parks department and let them know, and they said no problem, and just asked me to call the police, who also said no problem. What a great, kind community. Erin is on her way up here to spend Saturday with me, and I can’t wait. Wishing you a happy weekend as I take a two day break from the river, and let my tired muscles recuperate. My best to you all.

Episode Number One

One man, one canoe, one camera

Tom has finished episode number one, documenting the start of the trip, from leaving St. Louis, driving to Lake Itasca, and finally putting the canoe in at the headwaters. Enjoy!