Day 17: S 9/29- Shallows

Day 17 took us past the Camp Ripley Military Reservation, a 20 mile stretch on the W bank. This stretch of river had a bunch of islands in the channel. According to the MN dnr, these islands are a result of logs catching on shallow areas during the last century of logging and the subsequent build up of sediment. They were interesting to paddle by, but had the unfortunate effect of widening the river and creating shallow riffles. If the water were higher, even by a foot or so, these areas would be no problem. This year, however, the river is the lowest it's been in about 50 years. So, we spent the day paddling Ina river a quarter mile wide that had enough water for something 200 yards wide. We had to get out again and walk through some shallow areas, wondering if there were some army grunts in training laughing at us on shore. Luckily it was super warm and walking in the water was pretty pleasant.
We were aiming for the Pike Creek landing, at mile 960, for the evening. First we had to go over the Little Falls dam at mile 962. The portage out was just beyond a bridge and fairly easy to get out, and the path was through a nice city park with paved trails. The othe end was a series of wide, deep concrete steps then a few feet of rocks. We were able to carry it down the steps okay, but getting over the rocks were a challenge. My back has been hurting on and off, but with Aaron on the heavy stern end and me on the bow we manage to wrestle it over the rocks. We had a bit of an audience, who gave us encouragement on our way down, which was nice.
After every dam we were a bit nervous because the water is lower and rocks become a huge issue onec again. This time, though, our way wasn't too bad. There was only a few miles till our campsite and no bad rocks to slow us down.
The site was tucked up Pike Creek on the W bank about 300 yards in the Charles A Lindbergh state park. The Mississippi is low, the creek was barely paddleable. We finally wormed our way back to the site, pretended to ignore the self-registration payment sign and camped in a very cute little nook.
The pics aren't very good, but we tried to show just how low the water was. From that point we walked/dragged the canoe over 1/2 a mile.