July 30th - Bellevue to North of Brownville
This was a long day, hot day! I stopped often. Well, I stopped a couple of times! I did have lots of water with me and drank often, so even with the heat I still felt strong. Nothing really exciting happened today. Being Sunday I figured I'd see a lot of boats again today. I did see a few, but nothing like yesterday around Omaha.
Maybe about 10 miles from my put-in point I passed the mouth of the Platte River where it empties into the Missouri. During spring and flood times this river supposedly really increases the flow of the Missouri, along with dumping a lot of debris like logs and other things that can cause problems for boaters. Today that is not the case. In fact, not far from the mouth of the Platte there's a bridge that crosses it and I was told there was very little water running under it. So what I saw was basically water from the Missouri backing up into the mouth for a ways.
Basically the Missouri is probably 100 yds wide. Maybe a little more and in some places less. It has numerous sandbars so camping is not a problem. There are lots of boat ramps. I figure I see one at least every 15 to 20 miles. Most have water and toilets and also make for good camping.
There also are a lot more homes, trailer parks and cabins than I've seen on either the Ohio or Mississippi. On those rivers homes are usually near towns. Here they seem to stretch all along the river both on the Iowa and Nebraska side. Also it seems homeowners can do almost whatever they want to the shoreline. Many times I've seen new homes (cabins) going up and sand being moved around right up to the banks of the Missouri. Not sure what the laws are here, but you could never do it back home on our lakes and rivers.
I've also been wondering why I have not seen any barge traffic. I was told today that barges do not come up this far any more. They only come as far as St. Joseph and they figured at this time of the year and as low as the water is, there are probably no barges running. I'm sure that is the case, because I did not see a barge on the river between Kansas City and St. Louis last week.
All in all this section of paddling has been enjoyable. Good scenery mixed in with nice city waterfronts and neat cabins and homes. Just wish the heat would let up and the wind switch direction. It's been in my face since I've started, with gusts over 20 miles an hour according to the reports on my radio. It sounds like it will be over 100 the next three days and with the same type of southerly winds!
I wonder if there's a better camp spot around the corner!
Maybe about 10 miles from my put-in point I passed the mouth of the Platte River where it empties into the Missouri. During spring and flood times this river supposedly really increases the flow of the Missouri, along with dumping a lot of debris like logs and other things that can cause problems for boaters. Today that is not the case. In fact, not far from the mouth of the Platte there's a bridge that crosses it and I was told there was very little water running under it. So what I saw was basically water from the Missouri backing up into the mouth for a ways.
Basically the Missouri is probably 100 yds wide. Maybe a little more and in some places less. It has numerous sandbars so camping is not a problem. There are lots of boat ramps. I figure I see one at least every 15 to 20 miles. Most have water and toilets and also make for good camping.
There also are a lot more homes, trailer parks and cabins than I've seen on either the Ohio or Mississippi. On those rivers homes are usually near towns. Here they seem to stretch all along the river both on the Iowa and Nebraska side. Also it seems homeowners can do almost whatever they want to the shoreline. Many times I've seen new homes (cabins) going up and sand being moved around right up to the banks of the Missouri. Not sure what the laws are here, but you could never do it back home on our lakes and rivers.
I've also been wondering why I have not seen any barge traffic. I was told today that barges do not come up this far any more. They only come as far as St. Joseph and they figured at this time of the year and as low as the water is, there are probably no barges running. I'm sure that is the case, because I did not see a barge on the river between Kansas City and St. Louis last week.
All in all this section of paddling has been enjoyable. Good scenery mixed in with nice city waterfronts and neat cabins and homes. Just wish the heat would let up and the wind switch direction. It's been in my face since I've started, with gusts over 20 miles an hour according to the reports on my radio. It sounds like it will be over 100 the next three days and with the same type of southerly winds!
I wonder if there's a better camp spot around the corner!
posted by Coach at 12:29 PM
1 Comments:
As I walked the "Trail of Death" this year I crossed the Missouri at jacksonville and went in to the US Corps of Engineers station there (as I had when I canoed down the Missouri). They said that the barge traffic had "dried up" because of the water levels and economics... yet they remined with their mission--keeping it open in case. I recall lots of barges when I was there--they were fearsome if you got too close then.
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