Weather conditions:
High: 79
Low: 61
Skies: Partly cloudy. Stray shower and thunderstorm.
Winds: S 15-25 mph
Today’s mileage: 6
Total mileage: 80 miles
Where we traveled: Chippewa River confluence to Island on the edge of Robinson Lake, mile marker 757.9
Ate:
Breakfast: steel cut oat, quinoa, and fruit
Dinner: lazy lasagna
Dessert: chocolate pudding cake
11:00 a.m.
Right now, we are eating lunch on a bench at the Wabasha Park. We have taken care of our in-society chores—filling our dromedaries, using the restroom, and emptying the trash.
This morning, after a 5:30 alarm and a few snoozes, we were on the river the river around 9:00.
Keep us upright and safe.
The wind is an issue today, creating three-foot waves. The waves scare me as the bow slams when it hits the bottom of the wave and propels us in the direction it chooses. We’ve paddled about three miles, but physically and emotionally, I feel like we have gone twenty. At one point, I told John, “We are working too hard for only a few miles.”
I forgot to mention John’s bite valve on his dromedary. The night we turned Ripple over on the beach to prepare for the storms, a mouse found refuge and nibbled half the lip of the valve’s perimeter. John misses the eaten portion because he can’t hold it in his teeth as easily.
Break complete. Time to fight the wind and waves.
2:45 p.m.
The wind beat us up. After stopping for a long nap at 1:00, we returned to the river hoping to put in a few more miles, but the wind was too much. John finally said, “This is enough. We’ll get an early start tomorrow.”
At about 2:00 we pulled Ripple on the beach of a dune. We carried everything up the hill, did laundry, and took a river bath before relaxing. Tomorrow will be an early morning, as long as the forecasted storms don’t delay us. Mother Nature is in control.
I’m going to have venison jerky with my last chunk of parmesan, and Gatorade, while my swimsuit dries (I couldn’t bathe nude because although we are on an isolated island, there was a fisherman nearby.)
4:10 p.m.
To pass the time, we discussed Irene’s latest question.
Irene: If it were the year 1950, what would your current trip be like? Would you still do it? And how would you prepare?
Me: The trip would have looked different.
- I don’t know if the river was dammed and engineered for boat traffic yet. If not, it would have been smaller.
- We wouldn’t have had technology. No cell phones to stay in touch with society or to check radar.
- I think we would have taken the trip. Prep would have required the purchase of many books, or probably simply winging it, since we couldn’t surf the web.
John: We would have been paddling a boat made of a mastodon bladder. We would have to urinate on it every 3-4 days to keep it supple. For food, we would just pluck children along the bank.
Where does he come up with this stuff?
7:30 p.m.
We are in the tent to escape mosquitos and biting flies.
During our afternoon relaxation, John and I discussed the pieces of gear that are new to this trip.
- Jet Boil: Previously, we used an MSR stove to reconstitute my dehydrated meals. The Jet Boil heats water quickly. We pour the hot water over the food in a freezer bag and nestle it in a big sky international cozy while the food absorbs the hot water. This takes less effort, and we estimate it uses only 20% as much fuel.
- Large dry packs: In kayaks, it’s necessary to compartmentalize many small dry bags. In the canoe, we use three large NRS dry packs (50 and 100 liter). This allows us to transport most of our gear in one or two trips. Inside those large packs, gear is organized and stored in individual small dry bags.
- Gamma lid buckets: This would not work in a kayak but a great choice for the canoe. We store my dehydrated meals in color-coded mesh bags inside the food-grade buckets fitted with screw on sealing Gamma lids.
- Nalgene water bottles: We liked our thermos water bottles, and they seemed more durable, but the mouths of the Nalgene bottles fit our water filtration system.
- Sonthin leg sleeves: Since our legs are more exposed in the canoe than in our kayaks, our quads roast. A “cool” (temperature) solution is runner’s leg sleeves. They feel cool when you wear them. They rinse clean and dry quickly. A real home run.
- Helinox camp chairs: On our previous trip, we sat on Grand Trunk stools. A good product, but they didn’t have a back (key for relaxing after a long paddle), and the feet sunk in the sand. These Helinox chairs are a similar pack size and weight but have comfy backs and collapsible pads that snap onto the feet to prevent sinking. A high-quality product.
- Female peeing: Wearing packable, quick dry dresses and using a Kula cloth makes peeing easier and uses less toilet paper.
Since the forecast calls for storms tonight and in the morning, John placed the tarp over the tent.
Read and then to sleep. To make up for paddling only six miles today, John set the alarm for 4:00 a.m.