My prayers were answered and I was blessed with beautiful weather for at least a couple of days.
Day 4 (June 3) was particularly awesome. It was my first taste of just how tranquil and gorgeous the river can be. I paddled 15 miles from Brownie Landing to Fox Trap and encountered a couple very easy rapids. I thought they were going to be much worse and was worrying about them all morning, but they turned out to be a breeze. I zig-zagged through winding marsh for a while until I arrived at Fox Trap, where I stopped for lunch. I then proceeded to paddle my last nine miles until I reached Iron Bridge, my campsite for the night. The sun allowed me to recharge my solar panel and also dry out some items that had lingering moisture, such as my camera. I've seen a little wildlife so far but am hoping for much more later. So far its been lots of different birds - ducks, swans, and bald eagles, as well as deer, grass snakes and what appeared to be a river otter diving into the water. Iron Bridge was absolutely beautiful, it is definitely my favorite campsite so far. The best part was that there were no mosquitoes or ticks! I was able to cook outside and made my first hot dinner - Japanese rice noodles in chicken broth. Up until then I was eating cold MRE's and lots of beef jerky, trail mix and protein bars to stay energized. Overall, it was a great night to relax and enjoy the nature around me.
On Day 5 (June 4) I departed Iron Bridge and made it to Lake Bemidji (14 miles away). I arrived pretty early and thanks to my mom I was able to stay at a hotel right on Lake Bemidji until Gabe met up with me in the evening. He was planning on arriving around 5 pm but ended up getting there at 8 pm instead. I took advantage of the hot meals and showers because I'm certain that staying at a hotel will not happen very often. Thank God that we did though, because it gave us both the opportunity to organize all of our gear, plan for the next day's departure, and rest up for the night. We ended up doing some basic shopping at Walmart and grabbed a beer at the restaurant by the hotel.
After buying the rest of Gabe's gear on the morning of Day 6 (June 5), we packed up and headed out on the water a little after noon. We paddled a short 12 miles to Island Point so Gabe could get used to his new kayak. We encountered a dam that we had to portgage about 700 ft around. After passing the dam, we went through some very tiny rapids and large rocks that we had to avoid, but otherwise everything went very smoothly. We were even able to start a fire at Island Point, depsite almost all the wood and branches being wet.
Our goal for today is to make it to Lake Winnibigoshish, which is 30 miles away from Island Point. I've read that this lake can be very dangerous if you try to cross it directly, so we'll be playing it safe and riding the shore line.
Day 4 (June 3) was particularly awesome. It was my first taste of just how tranquil and gorgeous the river can be. I paddled 15 miles from Brownie Landing to Fox Trap and encountered a couple very easy rapids. I thought they were going to be much worse and was worrying about them all morning, but they turned out to be a breeze. I zig-zagged through winding marsh for a while until I arrived at Fox Trap, where I stopped for lunch. I then proceeded to paddle my last nine miles until I reached Iron Bridge, my campsite for the night. The sun allowed me to recharge my solar panel and also dry out some items that had lingering moisture, such as my camera. I've seen a little wildlife so far but am hoping for much more later. So far its been lots of different birds - ducks, swans, and bald eagles, as well as deer, grass snakes and what appeared to be a river otter diving into the water. Iron Bridge was absolutely beautiful, it is definitely my favorite campsite so far. The best part was that there were no mosquitoes or ticks! I was able to cook outside and made my first hot dinner - Japanese rice noodles in chicken broth. Up until then I was eating cold MRE's and lots of beef jerky, trail mix and protein bars to stay energized. Overall, it was a great night to relax and enjoy the nature around me.
On Day 5 (June 4) I departed Iron Bridge and made it to Lake Bemidji (14 miles away). I arrived pretty early and thanks to my mom I was able to stay at a hotel right on Lake Bemidji until Gabe met up with me in the evening. He was planning on arriving around 5 pm but ended up getting there at 8 pm instead. I took advantage of the hot meals and showers because I'm certain that staying at a hotel will not happen very often. Thank God that we did though, because it gave us both the opportunity to organize all of our gear, plan for the next day's departure, and rest up for the night. We ended up doing some basic shopping at Walmart and grabbed a beer at the restaurant by the hotel.
After buying the rest of Gabe's gear on the morning of Day 6 (June 5), we packed up and headed out on the water a little after noon. We paddled a short 12 miles to Island Point so Gabe could get used to his new kayak. We encountered a dam that we had to portgage about 700 ft around. After passing the dam, we went through some very tiny rapids and large rocks that we had to avoid, but otherwise everything went very smoothly. We were even able to start a fire at Island Point, depsite almost all the wood and branches being wet.
Our goal for today is to make it to Lake Winnibigoshish, which is 30 miles away from Island Point. I've read that this lake can be very dangerous if you try to cross it directly, so we'll be playing it safe and riding the shore line.