So much has happened in the last week, it feels like it's been just a day and an entire lifetime, both at the same time.
Day 8, we got to paddling for a bit, me looking forward with excitement to our first stretch of river with full days of no ground support, Sydney lamenting our break from interacting with people. Things started off well, with dark clouds hanging in the sky well past sunrise. Sydney spotted an old abandoned barn, and we decided to go check it out, but when we were done exploring, we noticed lighning and checked to radar to see that a storm was moving in. We decided to go back to the barn to wait out the storm.
After we got back on the river, we soon passed a takeout and a house with a small dock, both with signs that said 'paddlers welcome’. We probably could have come knocked on their door to wait out the storm, but we couldn’t have known that at the time. The rest of the day was very tranquil. We passed Ms. Keto campsite (and did not stop) but still our campsite was pretty buggy.
The next day, when we stopped for lunch, we met Olivia, a really friendly woman with a beautiful garden right off a public access boat ramp. She gave us fresh tomatoes from her garden and refilled our water with cold fresh water from inside, and wished us the best as we continued our journey.
Later that day, we noticed a flood cutoff but couldn’t find an easy way to get a better look at it safely - we could hear rushing water, and it was marked on our map as a dam with no portage, so it made us nervous that we couldn’t see the edge. We pushed a bit past our original planned campsite so that we could stay somewhere with showers and access to town. It was a long day, but well worth it for the restaurant meal and chance to feel clean(ish).
The next day, we decided to take it slow: we were a bit ahead of schedule, but frustrations were high and we had started to get into a bit of a spat, so we decided a less stressful day might do us some good. We still fought, but there were good points too: trying (and failing) to climb a tree, swimming in the river, sleeping in, and getting to camp early were all nice.
Day 11 we continued to try to troubleshoot our relationship, starting out the day with a few hours of paddling with space between us. I saw a doe and fawn swimming in the river. When we met back up, the sun was out, there was a thick haze in the air, and a slight headwind.
It quickly became clear that our time apart did not solve anything, either. We talked about it some more, completed our first portage without outside assistance, then made it to camp early enough for a game of cards before an early bedtime for me.
It stormed that night, waking me up around 10pm. Sydney was still awake, but learned to her dismay that her tent was not sufficiently staked to keep the storm out: one of the poles caved in letting water gush in from the rainfly. Fortunately it was a short storm, but it was a wet night.
On Day 12, we tried again with a few hours of solo paddling with regular check-ins, based on the learnings of previous days, and made it all the way through lunch and to the beginning of our portage before we were squabbling again. The morning was full of fast river that threaded between and around islands - I think it was my favorite river topology so far this trip.
The Little Falls portage was our first portage through town, which was neat, but it was also far longer and more physically demanding than the one we had already completed. We overcame our irritation with one another more quickly that day than in previous days: if nothing else we were learning to recognize the fights. Still, we spent much of the afternoon trying to figure out how to stop them entirely.
Our goal for the night was Robbie and Abby Skiba’s house, which is right before Blanchard Dam. They had recieved our resupply packages, and offered us showers, dinner, beds, and portage assisance for the dam. After scouting the portage route, we were very grateful not to have to carry boats along the steep and narrow footpath, or wheel them along the long gravel road.
Rob helped us load our boats into his truck and carry them down to the river after the dam the next morning. After Rob came back with a missing wheel pin for Sydney's portage wheels, we set off, knowing we had up to 3 more portages left to do that day.
Sartell Dam was next, almost halfway through the day. We arrived in high spirits, and a little curious, because some police officers were setting up a roadblock around our portage route. Apparently some fishermen had found a car that might be connected to a cold case from the 60s, and the police were looking for bodies just upstream of the dam.
We scoped the two put in options: we could walk a few hundred feet, then carry the boats down a steep rocky bank, or we could carry them about 3 times that distance and still have to carry them down a steep rocky bank. We chose the former, but while scouting the second route, we noticed a restaurant called the River Boat. With our own boats safely protected by a police barricade, we decided to go in for lunch before we got on with the portage. Robbie very kindly brought us the rest of the supplies that had not arrived yet, then we quit stalling and set to work emptying our boats, carrying them down to the water and repacking them. It was longer and more difficult than I was expecting - already I can tell my legs are weaker than when we started this trip - but we got back in the water and set off for Saulk Rapids just a few miles later.
We encountered some mild rapids even before the typical scouting point. From the Overlook, it seemed like there was a path through the rapids. We /might/ be able to make it. But neither of us wanted to bank on “might” so we decided to portage - we needed to go into town for tortillas and protein bars anyway.
By the time we set off again it was almost 5 pm, but we were only a few miles from our last portage, and still very much in town, so there wasn't a good place to camp.
The takeout wasn't bad, put there was a steep and winding staircase down to the put-in. We partially unloaded the boats, then slid them slowly down. The stairs- the front edge of the stairs is worn away a bit from countless others who did not lift their boats to carry them down to the bottom. By the time we had boats down, it was approaching dark. We set up tents at the put in, ate dinner and called it a day. Even with all of the labor intensive portages and long hours, we fought less that day. We may be starting to get the hang of it.
Yesterday marks 2 weeks into the trip. We slept in a little due to our late night the previous day, and quickly encountered a strong headwind. The current was stronger though, and we made it to our designated campsite before 2pm. We decided to go to the park a few miles downstream to refill our water and wait out the impending storm, but the park didn't have water, and the storm never came. A friendly neighbor let us use their hose to refill, and Sydney called the local police to see if it would be OK if we ended up camping in the park. The police kept shuffling her around and never gave a straight answer, so when the rain passed and it became clear the storms weren't going to hit, we paddled a few more miles to an uninhabited island in the middle of the river and stopped for the night.
We've had a few repairs so far, but nothing too major:
Heading into week 3, we still have 2 portages left and we'll get to go through our first lock. Hopefully we'll continue to encounter new and exciting river phenomena, continue to meet kind and helpful strangers, and continue to grow as friends and people.
Continued prayers for you girls. Thank you again for this great endeavor. Sydney, every time see your mom I get a peek at your progress on her gps. You’ve got lots of people cheering you on. ❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏