Tuesday, May 31, 2011
500 miles and counting!
I've hit that magical milestone of 500 miles paddled for this trip. Not a bad tally for 14 days of actually being on the river. Doing the math, I've averaged 36 miles per day. I tried to put it in perspective and Mapquested a route across Nebraska and it turns out that I've paddled the distance from Omaha, NE, to Cheyenne, WY. Fortunately, the scenery on this trip is much better than that of the I-80 corridor!
I piddled around this morning at the New Haven waterfront and didn't get on the river until a little after 9:00 a.m. One chap stopped and talked to me about river conditions and how things have been coming down from Jefferson City. He's waiting on a group of paddlers to come through in the next 24 hours and stop for lunch before continuing on to Washington, MO. That's the second rumor I've heard of other paddlers being on the river behind me but I've yet to encounter anyone else using muscle power to drive their boat. In fact, I've only seen two barges on the river and a few dozen motor boaters, mostly people fishing. It's been a real secluded stretch of water the last few weeks and I'm not complaining.
Today's paddling was a real contrast with yesterday. The water dropped about 2.5 feet overnight and I had trouble putting in as the landing at New Haven was covered with about a foot of thick, slimy silt. I hauled my boat and gear down to another location to make a bank launch and was just about to shove off when the city dozer came to clean up the mess. Timing never seems to be on my side.
That water was as smooth as a mirror and little wind so I made good time down to Augusta. There's a nice campground for bikers on the Katy Trail here but it turns out that it's about a mile from the landing. Not real useful to us paddlers and nothing new in terms of being ignored when the powers that be were planning these landings and camp areas. People tell me all the time the location of different facilities and all I can say is that if it's not 50 feet from shore it's useless to a paddler.
When I got to the Augusta landing the ramp was clogged with silt and debris. Some yahoo designed this one with the landing facing into the current. It is choked and useless as a boat ramp until the State comes and clears it. I paddled up and down the shore and eddy to find a way to pull out and ended up hauling my canoe and gear up a 10 foot bank. One good thing about paddling 4-5 hours a day for two weeks straight, the arms don't lack for strength when tossing a 30 or 40 pound bag.
Since there's nothing here I'm just chilling and watching the day go by. I have two more days of paddling and one more night of camping. Where did the time go?
Monday, May 30, 2011
Hello wall!
Well, I wondered when I would get to the point where the body just didn't want to go any further. Today at about 1:00 p.m. would be when it happened. The day started well, I was on the river at 8:30 a.m. and making good time. I even took a small side channel around an island for about a mile just for a little adventure. I was down to Hermann, MO, around noon and had about 18 miles to go when the wind kicked up. There must be a law that strong winds are only allowed to blow in a canoeist's face because this one was relentless. The river has widened and there are more of those blasted roilers and whirlpools to worry about on this stretch. My arms were spent by the time I got to New Haven. It was one of those "I can't go another inch" kind of days.
When I got here it was clear that accommodating canoeists isn't a high priority for this town. There is a boat ramp and ample parking with a bathroom but no place to camp. I was expecting a few places from my reading on the MO Parks and Game website. I eventually set up my tent on a spot by the river that used to have dock anchored to it. I'm basically at the river front park and lots of people pass by walking and exercising. One couple walking their dog stopped to talk as I was setting up my tent. He's a carpenter (not much work these days) and also a canoeist/kayaker. He actually owns the same model of tent as I do and we spent some time talking about my trip and some of the trips he's done (down the Colorado in a kayak and being tossed out 3-4 times, "do you run a trail line off your stern in case you dump and have to recover the boat?"). He also informed me that where I set up camp was fine and was used by most paddlers that stop in New Haven.
After I set up camp I pulled out the camp chair and sat and watched the river. Eventually, I fell asleep and took a nice little nap. I was awakened by a couple showing their brother from Boston the riverfront. I'm now part of a tourist's vacation photos. He was quite intrigued by my boat and the trip I'm doing. I pointed them to my website so maybe they'll see themselves in print!
I have two nights of camping and three days of paddling left. Since my ride won't pick me up in St. Louis until Thursday there's no rush to get to the end of the trip. My next three days are all 25 miles or so which will allow me to take it easy getting up in the morning and paddling. By noon tomorrow I will have officially paddled 500 miles. That's a pretty good number but one I had hoped would be higher this summer. Oh well, such is life.
A few people stopped to chat this afternoon including a fireman from the town over from here. He told me that he was briefed this morning that the river will rise again starting sometime next week. It had gone up about 3 feet when I was at Cooper's Landing and floating down to Jefferson City. This morning it had dropped about 6 inches to a foot and was still going down this afternoon. If he's correct, they are expecting peak waters rivaling last year's and maybe as bad as the 1993 floods. It's the weekend and the stream gauge information hasn't been updated on the USGS website but if he's right then I'm doubly smart for having made the decision to stop at St. Louis.
I did walk around New Haven today. A very picturesque midwestern river town. There's a nice educational display here about John Colter, one of the guides on the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Turns out he married and lived near here after his life as a guide and mountain man. I'm getting educated as I float along! I really should have stopped at Hermann at lunch, it looked like a cool place but their landing looked hairy and I was in the mood to keep paddling since I was making such good time, at least that's before the gale force winds began!
There's not much else to report. I'm savoring the quiet times on the river where I stop and just float with the current and look at the world. So much of the satisfaction of doing this trip is about those moments and not about the daily mileage tally or destination. I sure wish I could bottle those times and take them home with me but for now I'm happy with a soul that's been wrapped in nature for over two weeks.
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