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.

Upper Iowa River 1: Kendallville to C. Baker County Park

On Friday morning I first checked the NOAA river gage for Bluffton and then called Hruska's again. Duane confirmed my readings of the gage, all systems were on "go." 

We left St. Paul at 11:00 AM, heading south on Hwy 52. We seemed to be surrounded by thunderstorm systems but never saw as much as a drop of rain on the windshield. We had a quick stop at Chipotle's in Rochester after we couldn't find Jimmy John's) and were in Kendallville at 2:45 pm. Kendallville is just a couple of houses and a park with the canoe landing. I called Hruska's and Duane said he'd be there in about 15 minutes. I joined the gang readying the canoes for departure and brought the van back to Hruska's. It took about 10 minutes to deal with formalities and have Duane explain to me the map on the back of the contract: little graphics described all bridges as modern concrete, low profile, span bridges, etc. There were 14 in total on the 30-mile stretch to Decorah. 

I felt a few raindrops on my walk back to the park. If anything, the sky was getting darker. The canoes were all ready, we pushed off into the swift current, Tom, Mellie and I in my Gallyans/Bell Woodsman III and Mac and Colin in Tom's Old Town Discovery. Our first nature observation were the cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) nests sticking to the Kendallville bridge (and pretty much every concrete bridge thereafter) like gum under a diner table. 

The current carried us along the meandering stream, making it often difficult to tell what direction of the compass rose we were following. It seemed like we were heading straight into a thunderstorm, but the end of the front seemed always always just within reach. The high limestone bluffs were immediately in evidence, some at least 20 m (60 ft.) tall.

At one point we all took our rain gear out because it appeared to start raining in earnest. Cloud-to-cloud lightening lit up the sky and we started to be a little worried to be caught by a big storm in the open. But there was really nowhere to escape to and the rear end of the system, a sharp yellow line between dark gray and light blue kept getting closer and closer.  Even the rain never amounted to anything that would have warranted the wearing of a raincoat.

We arrived at C. Baker County Park well before dusk and were able to set up camp without any trouble. Only one other party was present, a father-son team, the boy quite a bit younger than Colin and Mac. Mosquitoes were a nuisance but only until we put on repellent. Our only concern was that at least 50 cars drove by, all in the same direction. We were worried that they would come back in the middle of the night. It appears that (the private) Chimney Rock Camp Ground was at the end of the road. Away from the road, and towards the river, the park was surrounded by a a chest-high sea of Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) an invasive species. Despite being a nuisance, I found this plant entertaining because its ripe seedpods explode and fling the seeds up to 7 m.

I fixed the steak that had been marinating in a concoction of pureed onions (thank you, Claudia Borden!), lemon juice and steak seasoning for the last 24 hrs and served them one by one on a kaiser bun, with tomato slices. Since there was no grill on top of the fire pit I had to use the Coleman stove and a frying pan. The bonus of this was the onion/meat broth which was great to coat the buns. On the downside, there were dishes to wash ... No complaints from the eaters, the adults washing down the food with a few Stellas.

Meanwhile, in the dusk the most amazing display of fireflies was underway. I do not recall that I have ever seen as many. Colin and Mac went on an exploratory trip to see if they could crash a party with live music underway in the vicinity. They returned not too much later saying that they got pretty close, but unable to cross some pretty thick forest. Exercise, fresh air, food and drink are strangely soporific and we soon turned in. 

Upper Iowa River Preparations

Tom and I had planned this outing with our eldest sons for quite some time. Initially, we had decided to paddle the Namekagon River, but while monitoring the water levels of Namekagon and Upper St. Croix it became clear that the water levels would be tenuous at best, because of drought conditions. Since my friend Joel had mentioned and praised the Upper Iowa River just a week ago, I discussed this as an alternative. Tom was immediately enthusiastic, as he, like me had done the Namekagon before. We decided immediately to switch plans and head south instead of north. I kept monitoring both rivers, due to the recent rain the water levels on the Namekagon were still low, but at least they were not dropping while those of the Upper Iowa were above average.

On Thursday, June 17, the day after our return from Portland, OR, I called Hruska's, a Bluffton, IA based outfitter. Duane Hruska, the owner of the campground and canoe livery service indicated serious concerns about the high water levels. He also said that it would all depend on whether they would get any more significant rain tonight, as the levels were decreasing. He also said that it would depend on our skill level but that he was not renting out any canoes this Thursday.

I alerted Tom of this fact and he thought we should still move forward with our plans.