Upper Iowa River 2a: C. Baker County Park to Decorah

The night was quiet but I woke with a start at around 2:00 AM. Obviously, some sort of a domestic disturbance was going on in the vicinity, fortunately not at our park. A woman was yelling at a Chester to come back and Chester was just as adamant about not having any intention to return (punctuated by both parties with four-lettered expletives that will not be repeated on this blog). I was just worried that Chester might be walking in our direction. The argument was punctuated by the mournful calls of a barred owl (Strix varia), and later by the yipping and yapping of a largish family of coyotes (Canis latrans). Fortunately, Chester must have been walking in the other direction and soon quiet reigned again. 


Tom preceded me out of the tent and around 5:45 I began wondering who he was talking to. The guest, who brought his own breakfast beer and invited himself turned out to be Larry "Campfire" Myer, itinerant musician on tour, planing to crash at our park after a gig in Mason City on the previous night and a gig at Whistle Binkies in Rochester this very evening. After a few cold ones and regaling us with stories from his life, Larry was ready for bed and departed.

After a good breakfast of oatmeal with various trimmings and my intensely strong Dunn Bros. coffee, we were ready to depart, too. Our neighbors had preceded us after a short, but loud argument and we had the landing to ourselves except for three young people having their family photo taken with the truly picturesque bridge as a backdrop.

We took off around 10:00 AM, after securing our gear with bungee cords, just in case...

The case would soon arise. We paddled past the Chimney Rock Camp Ground and came soon on a place where a narrow channel branched off behind a small island. While quite narrow, the current entering seemed swift and some fallen trees provided formidable obstacles. I made sure to give the entry a wide berth and yelled to the boys to NOT enter this estuary. Of course they decided to ignore my advice and swept into the branch. Tom and I rushed by the islet looking back to see our boys' canoe pinned sideways against one of the fallen trees. as they struggled to to free their craft, it capsized and they both went into the water. Fortunately, they did not get caught by the branches. The canoe and various attached bags and boxes began floating down, as were the boys and various lose odds and ends. Our initial worries were for Colin's and Mac's safety. Colin ha disregarded my mandate to wear a life jacked and was, in spite of his precarious situation, attempting to catch as many of the lose objects as he could. So did Mac, who was fortunately wearing his PFD. We stopped and let them catch up, made sure that Colin had proper flotation and began looking for a suitable landing spot. We also tried to reign in the lose canoe, but the current was too strong and the toppled canoe provided too much of an anchor to keep our own navigable.

We let the canoe go for now and stopped at a submerged sandbank, making sure that Colin was wearing his life jacket. We instructed the boys on the hazards of the river and told them to float, following us. Then, the chase was on. We soon caught up to and passed the submerged boat. We looked for a good spot to stage the rescue operation. Unfortunately, the banks were high on both sides and sandbanks were submerged, due to the recent rains. We finally found a place where the water was only shallowly sweeping over a weedy island. While Tom tied a rope to a tree, I changed into swim trunks. I tied Mellie's leash, sporting a quick release clip to the other end of the rope thinking that I would not have the time to properly tie the rope to the canoe.

Meanwhile we heard the boys catching up to us and saw the canoe coming around the bend. Of course it was following the opposite bank of the river. Time to get wet. I walked through the more than knee-deep water leaning into the current. Just as I had made it across, my quarry arrived. I jumped for the stern held on and attached the quick release to a loop of rope. Then I guided it as it swung towards the other shore at the end of the rope. Tom told me later that he was concerned that the rope would snap, such was the tension. but we made it across and I was immediately able to dump most of the water. I waited for Tom to help me empty out the remainder and together we moved the canoe, he pulling and I shoving, to where the other canoe and meanwhile the boys were waiting.

I figure that the pursuit, and the boys' swim was about a mile long. They did get a good talking to about the dangers of swift currents and listening to their elders. Amazingly, we only lost Tom's two lawn chairs and a water bottle of ours. Everything else was salvaged. Some lessons I am taking away from this misadventure:

• As parents, we have to insist that our children, even if they are almost adults, wear their life jackets. Everything turned out OK, but if Colin had lost consciousness it would have been a different story. 
• I am glad I tied down just about everything in the boat. The job was not done as well as in my own Woodsman III, which I recently equipped for that purpose but it still prevented us from losing several bags and the cooler. 
• I was glad that my canoe had lining ropes at either end. However, I need to upgrade my cheapo Menards ropes because they seemed close to the breaking point. 
• One rope needs to be equipped with a carbine hook or a similar quick-release device. 

Rescue Operation Successful!

We continued downriver, glad that no major losses and more importantly, no serious injury were to be reported.