OmaHiker's August Adventure

“IA-MN Car Camping-Paddling Trip Report

Wednesday August 8 - first night of vacation - entertained several folks from Omaha and Ohio (college friends of my husband, visiting family in Omaha) with a cookout at Memphis State Recreation Area in Memphis, NE, where my brother-in-law runs the concession. Kept the kids busy fishing for bluegills and paddling around the lake in our inflatable kayaks.

Thursday August 9 - John (aka Yellow Foot), eleven-year-old Emma (aka Alpo), and I packed up the station wagon and headed for Minnesota. We left my son Chris with a family friend who took very good care of him, the dog and cat, and the house, while we were gone. Made the mandatory stop at Cabela's in Owatonna, MN where we ate sandwiches for dinner and bought a dry bag. Found a campground at Lake Byllesby in Cannon Falls, MN. A little too well-groomed for my tastes, but a pleasant area nonetheless. Camped right next to the lake. The weather this day changed from uncomfortably hot to delightfully cool, and stayed that way the rest of our trip. We encountered virtually no bugs, which is almost miraculous for this time of year in Minnesota, by all accounts.

Friday August 10 - Got up, packed the car, and went for breakfast at a coffee shop that had a deck overlooking the Cannon River. Then we rented kayaks from a local outfitter & went for a three-hour float trip (although we had brought our inflatables, we had never paddled hard-shell kayaks & were curious about the difference in performance & wanted to try them). Lovely scenery, clear water. Since there is no whitewater in our neck of the woods, the Class 1 rapids we encountered were a fun and exciting learning experience for us. After our paddle we drove to a friend's home in Minneapolis, where we were to spend the night. We met another family for dinner, went grocery shopping, and helped our friends with their packing.

Saturday August 11 - Got up early, re-loaded our car and helped load our friends' car. Then we rounded up the kids, and drove 50 miles to Wild River State Park near Sunrise, MN, where we met up with the rest of our group (thirteen in all) and set up camp on two adjacent sites. That afternoon we sent the other three wives and the two smallest kids into town for fun, while I, the four men, and the three daughters (ages 7 to 11) piled into our kayaks and floated down the St. Croix River for an eight-mile trip. The St. Croix was a beautiful river, but the trip turned out to be quite demanding physically, since the current was almost non-existent. It required almost constant paddling for four hours, which would cause us to be quite sore the next day (note to self - in future, research river currents before committing to a long river trip). That evening we cooked out, and then found an open field where we laid on the ground to watch the meteor showers. I wish that we had had more time to explore the park, which seemed very nice, but our schedule was full that day.

Sunday August 12 - Woke around 5:00 a.m. to the sound of a brief thunderstorm. I leapt from my sleeping bag to zip down the rainfly, which was draped over the tent but not staked out, and then went back to sleep for a couple more hours. When we did finally get up, we had to contend with some wet & muddy gear, since I had not been careful with the placement of the tent ground cloth, and we had also left our kayaks & other paddling stuff outside all night. Ate breakfast & drank coffee prepared thoughtfully by our fellow campers - it was great getting out of my tent in the morning and having the coffee already made - usually I am the one who has to get up, pump up the stove, light the stove, pour the water, heat the water, find the mugs, etc., etc. Broke camp and loaded up the cars again, and drove back to Minneapolis to the home of one of the other members of our group - they wanted us to see the improvements they had made to their house since our visit last year. I stayed at the house & showered, while John & Emma went to the Mall of America. When they returned, we hit the road again and drove 150 miles south to Decorah, IA. There, at a local park, we met lizs, who shared pizza, beer, and conversation with us. That night we were too road-weary to find a campsite, so we dived into the decadent lap of luxury, and checked into the historic Hotel Winneshiek, right next door to the pizza place. A good night's sleep was had by all.

Monday August 13 - Got up, showered, and checked out of the hotel. We decided to stay in Decorah, so we got a campsite at Pulpit Rock Campground, beside a beautiful trout stream, and had our camp set up by 11:00 a.m. John was not feeling well (must have been the pizza, lizs and I later suffered ill effects as well), so he stayed in the tent while Emma and I went to buy groceries. When we returned, he was still feeling too sick to even shuttle the two of us for a float trip, so we looked in the phone book for an outfitter. Hruska's in Kendallville was happy to rent us a couple of kayaks and drop us off for one of the best paddle trips I have ever been on. The Upper Iowa River there is simply gorgeous. It is heavily wooded, and surrounded by high rock walls in many areas. The water was rather shallow, and we scraped over the bottom in a few spots, but the current was strong enough that we never really got stuck. We saw and heard a bald eagle (apparently we floated right under its nesting site), and also saw an unidentified rodent-like critter with reddish-brown fur - possibly a muskrat, weasel, or small otter. That evening we cooked out at the campsite and went to bed early after roasting marshmallows and taking a short hike along the stream.

Tuesday August 14 - Got up and fixed breakfast. It was quite chilly so we built a big fire. Lizs stopped by our campsite on her way to work, to say goodbye. We took a final walk beside the trout stream for a few photos, packed up the car for the last time, & drove the 350 miles back to Omaha.

All in all we had a marvelous vacation - it wasn't a backpacking trip, but when we made our plans, we never dreamed that the weather would be so nice, so we didn't bring our backpacks (also, our car was so full with the inflatable kayaks, five days worth of clothing, and other gear, that we didn't have an inch to spare). It was great to spend time with so many good friends, to meet lizs, to paddle three beautiful rivers, and to camp in such wonderful and different places.”

“Sounds like it was great..

Next time you plan a trip, give me a yell.. I'm just up here in Sioux City....”

“Sounds like a good time Omahiker. Kayaking is fun!”

“here's a good site for "adventure"
click here”

“cool”

“Hey Spanky, thanks for the link. I bookmarked it for future reference. Nullen, nice to hear from you! Seems like you haven't been around here very much lately. We never got close to Sioux City this trip however.”

“It was great to meet Omahiker!! She and crew are FUN!! Wish I coulda seen you on the Upper Iowa. That woulda been cool. I know people kayak it, but I don't think I've ever had a chance to see a kayak. You were on a less paddled section too, leaving from Kendallville. Did ya get to talk to Duane Hruska yourself at the shuttle/rental place? (I just like to say "ROOSH-kuh" hehhee)

Glad the trip back went fine. Thanks for the pizza and other offer I couldn't make.Come back to our fine corner of the state again. (and maybe let me help ya out with some limericks.......hehehe)

And I gotta remember to get those two photos to you, also. They are on my work computer.”

“Yes, I believe that Duane himself drove us to the put-in spot - he is the lanky older fellow I presume? They have a really nice setup there. Speaking of photos, mine is missing from Phil's Photo Page. I am almost afraid to ask Phil what happened to it - do you think I have been banned for meanness? And as far as limericks go, a great poet such as myself just has to wait for inspiration ya know.”

“I posted some photos on Yahoo from this trip & also some stuff from earlier in the summer. If you take a look at the pic of the six girls backpacking you will get some idea of the ridiculous size of my gear collection. All they had to bring was their clothing.

What I Did This Summer”

“Looks like a real Hardcore bunch.”

“Nice shots OmaHiker!!

Why those Upper Iowa River and trout stream shots sure do remind me of home!!! LOL!!

So you put the kayaks in at Kendallville, right? Where did you take out? Or, how many bridges down, if that's easier. You were upriver farther than I've ever been. I've only been in the river below Bluffton. Did visit Bluffton? It is just gorgeous, with the tall bluffs surrounding the village and the tall pins. (good food to be had, too, at both the tavern in Kendallville and the Bluffton Store, as it's known, in Bluffton)

That rock overhang was pretty cool and I'm wondering where it is. Think you can attempt to tell me?? LOL Say, I should send you a link (if I can find it) about people who CANOE the Upper Iowa on an overnight camping trip EACH WINTER!!! Brrrrrrrrrrr....... (actually sounds kinda like fun. I know a guy who canoes it pretty much all months of the year)

Take care!!”

“whoops, tall PINES...... LOL

Here's a winter link, although I can't remember if this is the one I was thinking of.

Winter canoeing 1”

“Dude, yeah, you could tell from the wet blue jeans & pajamas they had for trail wear, right?

lizs, we did not put in at Kendallville, I think (but am not sure) we put in and took out upstream from there. The only thing I am certain of is that we paddled for about two hours and we got out at Johnson's campground, just past an old rusty metal bridge, which was the only bridge we passed. Duane gave me a rough map but I don't know if I kept it. I'll let you know if I find it. The overhang was about halfway.”

“Ohhhhhhhhh, you got OUT at Bluffton!! You went along a really nice stretch of chimney rocks then. They're fun to crawl around on, as long as you don't fall off! EEEEEK!!

A few years ago was the first time I was out on them, when an area guy put a nesting box for a young peregrine falcon on the bluffs, trying to give it the sense that the bluff was home by the time it was old enough to be released. (They used to next in that valley long ago.) He did that a couple years anyway, but the hawks never stayed. He had much better success on some Mississippi bluffs.

He and a cohort had to stretch a ladder between two rocks to get to the nesting box. It was kinda hairy!! The one rock I like gives a person a great camera shot of the river below and any people on it.

Oh and we have lots of bridges like that. lol! They're cool. But thecounty has started replacing them. They just built a new one about a mile down river from there. I wish they could just strenghten and repair the old ones, usually from early 1900s.

Have a good day, Omahiker!! :-)”

“OmaHiker, nice pics, good to see you. So did you try the hard kayak? I rented an inflatable to take to Monterey, CA. Everyone was passing me & hubby by. Then I turned around to find he wasn't paddling in time with me, but still it was harder to paddle than an inflatable.”

“Yeah, I think it is a little more work to paddle the inflatables. It hasn't been a problem for us up to this point but it definitely was on the St. Croix River, where there was almost no current. If we keep doing this we may need to invest in some better boats. Yay! More gear!!”

“I meant to say it was still harder to paddle the inflatable rather than the kevlar. I would love to own a kayak here. They are so expensive though. There are lots of places to kayak in WA.”