July 22 - Waverly to Boonville
Last night was interesting. Just after I settled in for the night a boat came up next to my camp and shined a huge light over towards me. Then it continued downstream for about 100 yards and anchored. A few minutes later another boat anchored about 100 yards downstream of me. They had me surrounded! What they were doing was fishing for catfish. So, until about 1:00AM I had two beams of light coming towards me.
When I did finally got to sleep I was awakened about 2:00AM by dogs. Just above me someone was out coon hunting. Needless to say it was a short night of sleep.
Tough day today. It was very warm,, I mean hot! I did come out of the water at around 8:00AM and portage around a loop thinking I was saving a little time and distance. Turns out I'd been just as well served staying on the water. I think the time spent loading and unloading did not save me any time.
One thing for sure, the decision to go downstream back to St. Louis was a wise one. I experimented a couple of times to go upstream and found it almost impossible. If you do not have your paddle constantly moving you go nowhere and even backwards at times. At Waverly I met a pastor walking his dog by the boat ramp and he told me the current stays strong because to keep the water level up they continually release water from the dams upstream. Another gentleman who has spent a lot of time canoeing the Missouri said basically the only time you can go upstream is when they stop the release of water from the dams in the late fall and winter. So, it eases my mind that I'm doing this section in reverse and also will now go up to the first dam near Yankton, SD and back to Kansas City when I finish this section. Once that is done I will need to find a way to get back up to Yankton and continue on to the Pacific. (I will worry about that later)
To put things in perspective about going with the current, I made close to 100 miles today. Although that was starting at 6:00AM and paddling past 9:00PM. If I was going the other way it would have been an average speed of about 1 mile an hour.
The last few hours of paddling have been very enjoyable, not much heat and beautiful sandstone bluffs along the north side of the river, plus numerous sandbars that a number of people are camping along this weekend.
I made camp just on the east end of a long sandbar that a couple was camping on, making sure I was far enough away to give them privacy.
Just after setting up camp and taking a swim to clean up, the couple camping upstream came for a visit. Erik Feather and Deirdre Lester brought some drinks and food for me. We visited for over an hour. Very nice couple and I hope to stay in touch with them as I continue. By the way Erik, the food you cooked up was great!
When I did finally got to sleep I was awakened about 2:00AM by dogs. Just above me someone was out coon hunting. Needless to say it was a short night of sleep.
Tough day today. It was very warm,, I mean hot! I did come out of the water at around 8:00AM and portage around a loop thinking I was saving a little time and distance. Turns out I'd been just as well served staying on the water. I think the time spent loading and unloading did not save me any time.
One thing for sure, the decision to go downstream back to St. Louis was a wise one. I experimented a couple of times to go upstream and found it almost impossible. If you do not have your paddle constantly moving you go nowhere and even backwards at times. At Waverly I met a pastor walking his dog by the boat ramp and he told me the current stays strong because to keep the water level up they continually release water from the dams upstream. Another gentleman who has spent a lot of time canoeing the Missouri said basically the only time you can go upstream is when they stop the release of water from the dams in the late fall and winter. So, it eases my mind that I'm doing this section in reverse and also will now go up to the first dam near Yankton, SD and back to Kansas City when I finish this section. Once that is done I will need to find a way to get back up to Yankton and continue on to the Pacific. (I will worry about that later)
To put things in perspective about going with the current, I made close to 100 miles today. Although that was starting at 6:00AM and paddling past 9:00PM. If I was going the other way it would have been an average speed of about 1 mile an hour.
The last few hours of paddling have been very enjoyable, not much heat and beautiful sandstone bluffs along the north side of the river, plus numerous sandbars that a number of people are camping along this weekend.
I made camp just on the east end of a long sandbar that a couple was camping on, making sure I was far enough away to give them privacy.
Just after setting up camp and taking a swim to clean up, the couple camping upstream came for a visit. Erik Feather and Deirdre Lester brought some drinks and food for me. We visited for over an hour. Very nice couple and I hope to stay in touch with them as I continue. By the way Erik, the food you cooked up was great!
posted by Coach at 4:27 PM
1 Comments:
Yeah I'm with you on going downstream coach! Some of the ultra-lightweight Kayaks make only 1-2 mph upstream and even then they have to constantly take the eddie-side of the river. This sounds like a great trip--why didn't I go along!
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