Summer Shandy Sunday

10:15 am

I headed out from Kelsey's house after church and a fresh haircut to meet Fluth and his buddy Tom at the launch point at Klondike.  The plan was to stop at the sandbar that Fluth and I had seen 3 weeks ago, set up some lawn chairs, and have a few beers.  I stopped quick at Jimmy Johns and added a sub to compliment my 6-pack of summer shandy.

12:00 pm

We had a quick paddle to our destination.  Even though it was not quite as perfect as the first time Fluth and I had come across it (the water had gone a little bit too low) we had an ideal spot to spend the afternoon.  We got comfy in our lawn chairs and got to work on the beer that we had brought along.  It is pretty amazing how the conversation flows once everyone has a couple of beers.  I felt at ease right away hanging out with Fluth and Tom.  They had been friends since high school and shared some pretty funny stories about each to me.

After we had worked through our beer we made a fire so that Fluth and Tom could cook up the hotdogs that they had brought along.  Fluth and I decided that this spot would be the perfect place to bring all of our friends for a summer bash.  This will hopefully be something that we do in the near future.  Too be honest we all regretted only bringing 6 beers.  This mistake will definitely not be repeated in the future!

We hit the river after spending about an hour and half on the sandbar.  It was a great day out and although nothing exciting happened it was crazy to see how different the route is now that the water is a little lower.  This was my third trip down this stretch and every time it has been different.  Pretty awesome.

Tyler and Tom had made plans to go to a winery in Canton after the trip and then hit up the new casino in Iowa after that.  I wasn't able to join mainly because work was just around the bend.  Still a great trip.  Can't wait to plan a trip so that we can show all of our friends the sandbar.

2 seconds

This past week flew by.  I honestly felt like I blinked and it was the weekend again.  I was barely ready for it.  I have been so busy trying to stay afloat at work, have a relationship, workout, study for the CPA exam, and still have friends that I hardly have 2 seconds to take a breath during the day.  I am in constant "go" mode from the time I wake up at 5:30 til I hit the sack at midnight.  Anyway I guess that is what these trips are supposed to be for.  Help life slow down for 2 seconds.

9:00 am

Boe picked me up and we head out in his dad's pickup to meet our friend Tyler at the bridge on highway 42 (entry point #3).  We were going to go south for 8 miles and get out at grand view county road (entry point #5) .  We couldn't go on a really long route today because we needed to be back in town around 2:00 pm so that Boe could make it to work on time.  We ran almost got stuck when we dropped off our kayaks and canoe because the area was so muddy at grand view county road.  Last weekend when we saw it the water had completely covered the area where you can normally get.  It was kinda nuts to see how far the water had gone done in just a week.  We had to ride 3 deep in Boe's tiny truck back.  It was not comfortable at all but we made it back and set right out on our journey.

10:30 am

It felt great to be back out on the water again.  The 3 of us were in a great mood.  Boe and I were messing around in our kayaks and Tyler looked at home in his canoe.  He was the one that turned me onto the Big Sioux.  

Tyler and I saw a side route that we wanted to check out so we broke off from the river.  We told Boe to follow us but he couldn't fight the current back upstream to where we were going.  The water moving fast again.  Once we reached the dead end we made our way back.  Tyler spotted a huge snapping turtle and we waited for a few minutes to see if it was going to come back up but we didn't get a chance to see it again.  As we were going back to the main river I yelled "BOE!!! I AM COMING FOR YOU!!!" at the top of my lungs.  We found him about 80 yards down the river hanging out waiting for us.  He had heard my battle cry.

About 20 minutes later we had the highlight of the trip.  Tyler spotted a Eagle in a tree on the right bank.  It took me forever to find where it was in the tree and as soon as I did it took off.  It was way bigger then the one that Boe and I saw last weekend.  It flew to a tree about 50 yards away so we quietly approached it again.  We got to within about 15 yards and it took off again.  It was really cool to watch.  Definitely made my day.

Later down the river we decided to paddle up blood run creek.  All it turned out to be was a heck of a workout.  The current was working against us but we were determined to try to get to the start of it.  That didn't happen.  A combination of getting worn out and the fact that Tyler's canoe was starting be a bit of squeeze caused I us to turn back.  So far the only side route that we have not made it all the way to a dead end.  Something to try and do next time we are on this route.

Other than it being a great day out on the water nothing else too exciting happened.  There were a lot of cool cliffs on this route that I wish I had my camera for but I will be back soon I am sure.  Also found some clam shells on a sand bar that were interesting so I grabbed two of them as a souvenir.  We made the 8 miles in 3 hours.  Pretty good time considering the two back routes we explored.  Overall a great day again.  Hoping that I can go back out again tomorrow before I hit the books

  

A full afternoon

Boe and I before we cast off

12:15 pm
Boe picked me up at my house and we loaded both of out kayaks up into the back of his pickup.  Today we were going to get in at Lien Park and paddle to the Big Sioux Recreation area which is an 11.2 mile route.  When we got to the park the park ranger told us that the boat ramp was closed due to the flooding and that you could not even get under neath the bridge at this time because the water was so high.  We told her that wouldn't be a problem because we had been planning the whole time to get out before the bridge.  So we parked the car and headed back to Lien Park.

1:30 pm
It was another great day to be out on the water and Boe and I were having a blast again.

The water was extremely high and very fast a some points.  We quickly realized why the ranger had told us to be careful.  We came to a bridge and it appeared that we were going to have to get out and carry out kayaks past it.  But we decided that we could probably squeeze underneath it.  We approached by hugging the bank and then caught ourselves on the beams of the bridge and launched to each bar.  It actually went pretty smoothly.

back side of the bridge we crawled under

As we continued down the river we saw an eagle fly from a tree and land in a try about 60 yards away from where we were paddling.  We could clearly see it perched in the tree so we tried to be as silent as we could so that we could get close.  As you can tell from the pictures we were pretty successful.

dead center of the picture

bottom right of the picture

The next part of the trip was pretty cool.  The river was so flooded that there were a lot side areas that we could take that made for a couple of interesting obstacles.  As we started to head south we knew that we were going to have to keep and eye for the Big Sioux Recreation Area.  Since everything was so flooded there was not going to be a definite sign that we were there.

We came to the bridge that we assumed was were were supposed to get out.  Both sides of the river had very steep banks that was going to make it difficult for us to get out.  We found the best spot that we could and while Boe banked his kayak and went to see if we had arrived at our destination I held onto a small tree.  The water was moving very fast where we were at.  Boe came back down a said that he didn't think this was the right spot.  I asked him if we thought that we would be able to fit under this bridge and didn't think that we would have a problem.

It did appear that we had about the same amount of room as the last bridge.  So I let go of my tree and began to approach the bridge.  Right away I knew that was a mistake.  When we had approached the last bridge it had been at a crawl.  This time I was flying towards it.  And as I got closer I realized that there was no way that I was going to fit underneath.  I made an attempt to turn around and paddle back upstream but it was too late.  I turned back towards the bridge and made my best attempt to slow myself down so that I could grab onto the beam. Coming under the bridge too fast to be able to slow myself down my hand slammed onto the beam which I tried to grab. Doing that instantly flipped my kayak sending me me into the water.  I held onto my paddle and came up underneath the opening of the kayak and grabbed on.  I saw my bag floating and gabbed that also.  I flipped my kayak back over after clearing the bridge and jumped on top of it. I looked back just in time to see Boe flip as well.  I was able to climb back into my kayak but it was so full of water I had to get to the shore asap.  I paddled over and beached my boat and looked out to see Boe floating by next to his kayak.  His kayak was too flooded to get back in and the current was so fast that he couldn't swim back in.

I quickly drained my kayak, got back in, and paddled hard down the river to find Boe.  He had made it to shore about 50 yards down.  Both of us were soaked, exhausted, and a little freaked out.  It was quite the adrenaline rush.  Luckily neither of us were hurt but the whole situation could have been much worse.  What was even worse was that we had actually arrived at our destination after all.  We dragged our boats back to the road and Boe ran to the truck back at the park.  Flipping my kayak ruined my camera but luckily the memory card survived.  We took a picture with Boe's phone of what we went under but it does not do it justice.

Overall it was a great day on the water.  We loaded up on the truck a little after 4:30 pm but we probably finished the the 11.2 miles before 4:00 pm.  The little extra adventure tacked on a bit of time.  We saw some really cool wildlife, explored some flooded woods, and even got a little wet.  So far the best and most exciting trip yet.  Can't wait for the next time I can get on the water!

The Vessel

I decided to purchase a kayak on Saturday after we got back.  It its called the Pelican Freedom 100.  It is a similar model to the one that I rented.  I am excited to take it out for its first paddle!

First Paddle - Saturday

I think the way that I am going to document these adventures is kind of lay out a time table of when we stuff happened and then after putting down a time kinda describe what happened, what I saw, etc.  So...

9:45 am

I met Boe at scheels.  We had decided that it would probably be smart for me to get a kayak carrier for my car since the back of his pickup was so small and were worried that we wouldn't be able to fit both kayaks back there.  We also need to get a cooler for our beverages.

11:00 am

After a few hold ups (Boe's dad forgot his wallet in his pickup) we finally got my rented kayak loaded up and headed out to the old Klondike Dam (entry point #6).  The water extremely high.  The dam had been completely covered and only 2 weeks ago it was a 5 foot drop.  On the way out to the our launch point great tunes were on the radio.  I had my coffee and the sun was shinning.  I knew that it was going to be great day. By the time we got done dropping our cars off at our exit point at the U.S Highway Bridge (entry point #6) it was 12:30 pm.

12:30 pm

Finally we were in the water.  I felt comfortable in the kayak right away which was kinda surprising since I had never been before and the fact that I am 6'7.  It took a little to get used to paddling but it wasn't long before I found my grove.  Within the first 2 min of being in the water I saw a huge hawk fly into some tree's on the left bank of the river.  Then right when we passed that area it shot out.  It was a pretty awesome sight. It always really cool to see a large bird.  Their wingspans are just incredible and they are so smooth when they are flying.  Nothing like the fluttering of a normal bird.  It wasn't long before Boe and I cracked into a beer.  We touched on all sorts of subjects - weights and nutrition (always kinda been Boe and I's thing) - women - and how awesome it felt to be out on the river.  We quickly realized that the sandbar that I had my eye on returning too was going to be completely covered, which it was. That was alright though because even though I had gone this route before it was all new to me because the water had rose high.

2:30 pm

We made really good time mainly because the river was moving so quickly.  I don't imagine that you usually can cover and 8 mile distance in the time we did without the water aiding you so much.  All in all it was a great trip.  We are already making plans to go back out again on Sunday afternoon.

Eye on the prize

This little spot has been keeping me going all week.  Can't wait to have one the aforementioned beers on it.

Take a taste of whats mellow

My Top 3 summer beers:

1.  Goose Island Summertime












2.  Leinenkugels Summer Shandy












3. Boulevard Wheat Beer













I will be having one of these this weekend.  You can count on that.

The Prelude

Hello everyone or mainly hello to myself.  I don't really expect anyone to read this just a place for me to document my "adventures".  Back in the day I used to take all sorts of trips with my close group of friends from high school.  We all called ourselves The Woodsmen.  Most of The Woodsmen still hang out on a weekly basis. I lived with 3 of them during college and 4 of them are in my wedding next May.

The Woodsmen (minus one)

This blog however is less about my good friends and more about the trips that we used to take.  Those were some of the best times of my life.  This blog for me is a way to document and help encourage me to take more of these outdoor adventure trips.

I want to be able to experience some of those same feelings I had with my buddies in high school with them again and hopefully share some of them with my fiance as well.  And maybe in time my children as well.

The Woodsmen "last supper"

But enough of the sappy stuff, I am basically going to use this blog as a way to plan my trips and then document them afterwards.  I want it to be a place that I can look back on someday and smile about all of the trips and adventures that I have embarked on.