Day 14: W 9/26- Lunch Excitement

We got up a little bit late, but started on the river at 8:00. While we were going to shoot for a campsite 38 miles away, we had decided last night to aim at a little piece of state land 31 miles out.
It was a fairly ineventful morning, saw a few cows grazing by the river. The problems started after brunch. We stopped on this little delta sand/mud island created, by the Aitkin County Flood Diversion Channel.
It was a nice break. A mink came up to check us out, peeking from behind rocks. Lily didn't notice for a long time, but nearly exploded when she finally did. When the mink came up the grass for a better look. Lily jumped the mud and water and started chasing the little guy in a very clumsy Scooby Doo style. When I started to go after her, I sank up to my knees in thick clay.
After the lunchtime excitement and washing my pants that were covered on clay, we were back to paddling. The water level seemed to go down again as large rock beds and boulders started to emerge. We confirmed that this theory when we reached the Highway 6 Bridge. It had a level gauge, low is under 3.5'and below 2.5' was suppose to mark poor boating conditions. The water was just below zero, poor boating would certainly be ahead.
We made it through a little frustrated and slow, but we finally reached Pine Rivers outlet. This marked a small section of state land that we would camp on that night.
We camped right on the beach next to our canoe. The soil was a good mix of sand and pea gravel, which was a nice change from sticky, clay mud. We We had an hour of sunlight left and used it to journal, blog, and read a little Huck Fin before bed.