We set out late morning after meeting up at Tyler's apartment. The plan was our classic route; Klondike Dam to the Highway 18 Bridge a total distance of 8 river miles.
It was a beautiful morning and it felt great to be back outdoors again but it was COLD. Chunks of slush littered the river that had formed from the freeze the previous night. It felt like we were paddling through a slushy. With only one pair of gloves Tyler and I took turns with either a right or left handed glove to keep some feeling in our hands.
This was the earliest that I had ever been out on the Big Sioux River and it was really cool see the river in such an early stage of spring. Tell tale signs of springs approach littered the river but the amount of birds that we saw was a dead give away. Unknown to us until after the trip but we were traveling the river in the height of the bald eagles migration period. We were lucky enough to see 3 (THREE) bald eagles during our trip.
For our trip we had with us a New Belgium variety pack, supplies for fresh coffee, and two cigars from Europe that Tyler had been saving. When we stopped at our first sand bar to give the cigars a shot we decided that a fire was needed. It did not take long to get one going and it felt awesome to warm up and thaw out our hands while enjoying the cigars.
Highlight of the trip was our next stop where we built another fire and brewed up some fresh coffee. I don't know if the coffee was really that good or just the environment but it tasted amazing.
