Having done some very heavy napping yesterday we were up on and on the water by 6:30. The river had come up several more feet over night. The VHF radio rattled off a long list of places all over Minnesota and Wisconsin that were under a flood warning. Some places north of us had received 8 to 12 inches of rain the day before. The river was running high and fast, we were making 6 miles per hour and only paddling with half effort. The sky was clear and blue with almost no wind. The goal of 31 miles for the day looked easy enough. The landscape was still a mix of silver maples and cleared hay fields. The deer were out in force after hunkering down from the weather the day before. Our map showed a low head or wall dam ahead that was placed in the river to keep the river from changing course and divert water flows over 8 feet in a canal the river wanted to take naturally. We could hear the roar of the water well before we arrived at the split in the canal. We paddled past the dam and climbed up the bank to see the high water flow ragging over the dam and down the canal.
The last 8 miles to town were nothing like the easy swift current miles we had already covered. The canal had stolen all the extra current and we settled in for a slow paddle to town. The river here looked much like it had a 100 miles before, narrow and slow. As we began to approach town we saw more barns and old homesteads, soon the town of Aikien park was in view. We tucked the boats in the high grass and made our way to town for a late lunch. Returning to camp we meet Todd a nice guy who rides his bicycle down to the Gulf Coast each winter. He gave us tips on places to camp and shower down river. Todd had many interesting stories and as we later found out he makes it a point to greet any paddler in the park. We are waiting for a pizza to be delivered now, after it will be time for a hot shower. Life is rough on the river!
Do Mississippi River paddlers have a "river name" like AT hikers have a trail name?
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