Day 52

Day 52

It was another slow start at the kanoe house this morning. The guides were thankful for the break, they had just worked a nine day stretch without a day off.  Mike and I talked about a menu for tonight's trip. The plan was to meet the group of fourteen clients at the boat ramp, everyone loads into a large canoe and paddles to the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and lands on an island. A wood fired dinner is prepared for sunset on the sandbar dinner before paddling back to the main land. Mike went to hunt down ingredients for dinner while guides began the task of gathering all the equipment we would need for the trip. Shortly, Mike was back at the house with several bags of groceries and I began to prep for the the nights dinner. As I repacked food items, seasoned chicken and sliced cheese, Mike brought in the coolers, kitchen gear bags, and cooking grates. The kanoe house has a small kitchen but I enjoyed was having good equipment to work with, large volume stainless steel bowls, spoons, work top cooler, large lexan containers with locking lids for food transport. Boats, life vests, tables, chairs, coolers of food and drinks, ropes, cooking grates, plates, forks, knives, serving utensils, were all loaded and at the boat ramp by 6:30. Mike and I backed the canoe trailer with fully loaded canoe into the water while Alyce handed out life jackets and paddles to the clients. The main body of the canoe sits two paddlers side by side with a single bow/front paddler and stern paddler on the rear of the canoe. Guide Alyce would have the honor of being stern paddler, responsible for twelve lives. Sitting in the front it was my job to set the pace of paddling so everyone could paddle in unison providing the forward power Alyce needs to guide the boat from the stern. We had an easy paddle down to the confluence and were greeted by the sight of a bald eagle perched close as we landed the boat and guests. I took the clients out to gather firewood along the sandbar while Mike and Alyce unloaded the canoe. With Mike building a fire, Alyce organizing camp gear I set out a corn and black bean salsa, balsamic marinated vegetables, cheese, chips and pretzels for the clients to enjoy. With a nice bed of coals to work with I started cooking dinner aiming to have it done in about and hour at sunset. While I was cooking, Alyce and Mike encouraged the clients explore the large sandbar. Mike jumped in for the last few minutes of dinner to help me get everything on the table hot. Dinner was served family style and included fire roasted chicken, brussel sprouts, grilled diced squash and zucchini, smashed new potatoes with dill and butter and french bread. While we gathered around the campfire and ate dinner, Mike spoke about the river and the all the environmental challenges it faces and what we can do to help. We placed chocolate, fruit and cheese out for desert as we began to load the canoe for the return trip. Everyone was safely reloaded onto the boat under a sky quickly filling with stars. The paddle downstream to the take out point was quick and easy with the water from both rivers pushing us along. After landing at another sandbar Mike left to drive the clients back to their vehicles. It was well after 10 when Mike returned and we began to load everything but the canoe into the truck and trailer. We would leave the canoe on the beach tied to tree, retrieving it tomorrow with more help. I had enjoyed the experience of the trip but upon reaching the kanoe house I was worn out and quickly went to bed.