Upper I-O-Wanna Canoe/Kayak Trip, June 3 -5

“I loved the stock tank pics.

Did you ever sled down a hill in a pick up truck bedliner? We've all tried to walk in a pick up bed with a dusting of snow and know how damned near impossible it is to stay upright. Try it down a golf course hill that empties into a small, fast running creek full of rocks. Ride of a lifetime!”

“Yep, lizsbaby sure needs a paddlin'. ;-)”
StoveStomper
2:09:32 PM
4/10/05

Geeze Stovie.... :(”

“LOL
You want one too???
Hee hee hee
You get something better!”

“OK, some may call it backwater or what have you, but when I was a poor kid growing up in Wisconsin one of the great pleasures us poor kids had was when the local hardware store would get an order of upright refridgerators in. Three or four of us would climb inside the empty box at night and then try and run in different directions at once. Whoever ran harder would tip the box in their favor resulting in quite a crash. After the boxes were destroyed we would take the slick cardboard to grass covered hills and slide down them. We also went down the area streams in a plastic cow tank whenever the streams would flood. Round cow tanks were the best because you could make them spin if you had three or more people in them.”

“What kinda rack do I need to haul a couple of stock tanks to all my river trips? List me as a "maybe"... :o)”

“Doesn't Sunshine have a rack you could use?
last edited: 4/11/05 7:52:36 PM”

“LOL”

“LMAO!!!

Mine is too small, I'm afraid. :(

;o)”

“Hey Liz, I believe johnhens and his lady will be attending also.

Tagalong and I will be putting kevlar skidplates on the new ride next week. It paddles like a dream!”

“As much as I hate to miss this trip, I'm very excited to inform everyone that my financial aid package came through and I'M GOING TO SUMMER SCHOOL!! Have fun, take lots of pictures and bring back trip reports. :)”

“Boo Hoo for us!
Yea! for sunshine!”

“(you've heard of skipping classes, right Sunny?)

;-)”

“LOL Yes, Lizs, I have. This is a 5 credit math course. It's excelerated, two hours/day, 5days/week for seven weeks. I'll be done mid-June. No skipping or slacking for me!!! Nose to the grindstone! Besides, I have PE classes every morning so I'll get buff for Summer hiking. :o)”

“You know... it's really, really tough to resist the HUGE temptation to comment about the RACK that sunshine has... Gosh! I gotta stop right here!!!! (I'm a dickhead, not a perv, Jim...)”

“You're a smart man, dickhead. I see you value your life. Very smart.


:o)”

“Not really...

It's just that I'm still smitten with you.

:oP”

“Happy for you, Sunny, but sad for us..I'll miss your blow-up sunny face...congratulations on the financial aid package..what are you going to be when you grow up? that didn't sound quite right..I meant, what are your educational goals..I'm not sure that sounds better...I hope you know what I mean..MUST HAVE MORE COFFEE!”

“dickhead, aaaaaaaaaaah! I feel special. :)



matahari, LMAO!! When you said that didn't sound right, I was thinking about that "blow-up sunny face!" You know, Sunny Face, the blow up. Moooohaha!! I am baaaad!

Business Administration -- Accounting”

“Those summer term math courses are killers!
Do not even think about missing a class or not doing the homework!
A took a summer term math course along with a programming course one five week term. Each class was 3 hours long Mon-Fri for five weeks. I got very little sleep in those five weeks. If I wasn't working math homework I was sitting and typing punch cards at the computing center (This is before PCs, only had mainframes). Hell, I slept at the Computing Center a few times.

Good Luck! Work Hard!”

“OK lizsbaby!!!
SCP and I just shelled out over $600 in airfare.

You better make this a WONDERFUL trip!!! ;-)

We will probably rent a car for the weekend and will need to rent a canoe and stuff at the river.”

“When and where are you arriving?

I'm still setting plans... wait, didn't I have to change the weekend????












MOOOOOOOOhahhahahahahaa

That is great news! We may need to stay at the commercial campgrounds, but there could be worse things. Still checking. Got a trip this weekend, so, ummm, checking later. ;)”

“As was pointed out to me this weekend, the trip is a little over a month away. Crunch time. I need to get on the phone with places.

Anyhoo.... If you are signed up on the trip page -- and especially if you're signed up as a "maybe" -- get me your e-mail address, so I can get you on the trip e-mail info list.

Who will be renting here?
Who needs a partner or would be willing to go it alone in a kayak if need be?

As of right now, Prosecutor needs a partner for his canoe. So let me know if that would work for anyone. (really, he's harmless... just be prepared to talk about anything and everything. LOL! I canoed with him and he didn't even dump me in!)

My e-mail is lisapbia at yahoo dot com. You know how to type that in, I hope! *rolling eyes* LOL!”

“Who's lizs' partner???? ;-)

SCP and I will need to rent a canoe.

lizs - Get to work on this trip, slacker!!!”

“I have an SCP of my own. ;-)

Hopefully Ruby can come and she and Prosecutor will hook up, errrr, as paddling partners. She should know by next weekend.”

“Any info for me can be sent to:

climbmda71 at aol.com

There will be two of us, with a canoe.

Looking forward to it!”

“Got the kevlar skid plates on the new canoe and ready to go!

RRRRAMMING SPEED AHEAD!!!!”

“>8-O



LOL!”

“Inquiring minds want to know who is your scp?”

“It's a big secret. You'll just have to make sure to come and find out!!

;-P”

“I am going on the trip and I all ready know the answer to that question.”

“#%R^^$%$#%&*^&!!!
&*&^&^%^$^&*&*


“Who's lizs' partner???? ;-)

SCP and I will need to rent a canoe.

lizs - Get to work on this trip, slacker!!!”
StoveStomper
7:34:56 AM
4/25/05

Stovie!! I thought you were on sea trials..lol”

“Ya gotta watch that Stovey, SCP. ;-) I think he was on "C" trials, cuz he was supposed to get at least a "B" on the test, but.. well... he got a "C."”

“lol..lizs”

“If anyone wants a map of the river, here's an order form and it should be ordered muy pronto:

http://northeastiowarcd.org/Files/OrderForm.pdf”

“Some river info from a paddling forum:

http://www.paddlingiowa.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=141”

“This map used to be available from the Iowa DNR. They still have one, but it might be the RC&D map, which is a big map, and not the one provided here.

But this is good to take a look at and maybe print out:

http://desmoinesriver.org/canoeguide/upperia.pdf”

“Thanks, Liz..I see we have a few campground choices..I'd like to hike and see the Malanaphy Springs...I think Stovey and a few others should change their "?" to "!" on your trip page..I'm curious how many are coming now that it's getting closer (hooray!) I'll send out a check for the Upper Iowa River Guide..how about someone emailing or calling a couple of the campgrounds and finding out prices, availability and other info...you or me? You've probably got more pull...(wink) Certainly more experience...as far as THAT goes, anyway...LOL!
last edited: 4/29/05 11:09:03 AM”

“This weekend I'm going on a cruise to see if there's other places than commercial campgrounds to put in and/or camp. People seemed to mention they'd prefer that, if possible.

don't worry I can call.... I know most of the campground people... if we can't find somewhere private.

I had a thought of perhaps putting in at Florenceville, IA/Granger, MN -- a small village obviously right on the state border north of Cresco. From a little research I've seen there is a park there and supposedly a canoe launch there. I need to check it out.

BUT... if we went upriver that far, we would not make Malanaphy on Sunday, at least by canoe. Then again, we could hit it be car and hike back in when done canoeing.

Ohhhhh the endless possibilities!! LOL!”

“Did some river scoutin' Saturday (and beer drinkin' with the locals in Kendallville and Bluffton. LOL). Now to make a few phone calls... I think my SCTS (secret canoe trip scouter) thinks it looks like a good trip. LOL!

As of right now it looks like this many campsites are needed:
lizs -1
matahari -1 (nice hammock trees may be hard to come by)
prosecutor -1 for sure (probably 2)
Stovey -1 for sure (2, heh, or ONE??? *giggle*)
thelorax and tagalong -1
climbmda -1
hikr1paddlr1 -1

We're at 7 without any "maybes." That may well be too big a group for any primitive sites which, after securing the current map, I see more of. But there may be no access other than river, so I need to call the DNR and RC&D to get details.

Also, at commercial campgrounds, I'll have to check the number of tents allowed per site.

Checked out Harvest Farm campground around 3 miles above Kendallville. Would be a nice site for Friday night, especially since they will shuttle upriver from there and you can do a 3-4 hour trip to reach the campground for anyone arriving Friday who wants to canoe. Yes, I even know where they put in!!! lol

As far as Bluffton, you can't access the river there UNLESS you stay at one of the two campgrounds, which puts the next take-out probably at least 45 minutes downstream. Saw a big paddlng group staying at one of the Bluffton campgrounds on a weekend trip.

matahari, what do you have in mind for Malanaphy? There's a waterfall that enters the Upper Iowa. You can climb up a maybe 10 ft. tall, tree-root lined riverbank there to access the hike up the bluff, which is not for the weak of heart. lol, I always have to psyche myself up for that steep, scree-ish fun.

Otherwise, if we'd do it after the trip ends, we can hike in 1 mile to this same location. It's looking like it may well occur *after* the canoeing part is done.

How was the Wisconsin? SCTS and I were glad we weren't canoeing -- or backpacking with watsocd at Yellow River -- what with the snow flurries and cold rain. LOL!
last edited: 5/01/05 6:49:15 PM”

“Stovey -1 for sure (2, heh, or ONE??? *giggle*)
HA!! Lizs..What's your point...lol

This trip is gonna ROCK!!!

Where is Stovie??? :(”

“Looking forward to this”

“Me too. I'm almost a definite yes, a little more than a maybe.”

“I am still 100%, but my canoeing partner is a little more than a maybe. Ruby, can you canoe better than Lizs?”

“Who can't?”

“AHEMMMMMM!!!!”

“I mean she is a swell paddler”

““I am still 100%, but my canoeing partner is a little more than a maybe. Ruby, can you canoe better than Lizs?”
prosecutor
2:45:51 PM
5/02/05
ignore this user

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Who can't?”
spalpeen
3:14:02 PM
5/02/05

I can't..never canoed..Stovie will teach me though.. :) If I ever hear from him again.. :( Dang Sea Trials..”

“We are looking forward to this trip. Will the final plan for meeting Friday and camping be posted here, or sent via email? We probably won't be able to head out until Friday afternoon, so we will just have to link up at the campground, scotch and cigars in hand.

Look forward to meeting everyone.”

“Will be sent by e-mail. And I'll ask you guys to send me contacts and info of various types in case of emergencies, etc, which I will then put together in a contact sheet that a few people will carry. I normally do this for backpacking trips. Will detail in the -mail. I mean, I have no clue who you are right now, but it sounds like you have the right idea for a canoe trip. LOL! :-)”

“I have done my share of canoe camping trips, and especially for river trips, those are essential items. Nothing like sitting on a rock in the evening, with a fishing pole, some single malt, and a good Cuban (er, I mean Dominican) cigar.

No problem on a list of contact info. Sounds like good practice to me.

Thanks for putting this together.”