Our friend, Phil contacted us and suggested we do a river trip with him, as he had never kayaked a river before. We chose the same section we did last Saturday, as it is the only one in the area with sufficient water for a decent paddle right now. It's also pretty easy, with very few obstacles to get around.
Lynn dropped me and our kayaks off at the bridge and then left to go meet Phil. While he was gone, I decided to put in and wait for them in the water. Well... I got my kayak down the embankment, but as I was trying to get myself down, I slipped, and my kayak went floating out into the stream. I tried to grab it with my paddle, but it was just out of reach. In the meantime, I am sliding down the slippery grass watching my kayak heading toward the middle of the river. By the time I got my footing, it was about 10 yards away. So, just as the guys returned with Phil's kayak, they saw my kayak floating away by itself, and then they saw me chasing through the water after it. Luckily, it was only about knee-deep there, so I was able to catch it. Note to self: next time, hang onto the tow rope! lol
The guys still had to shuttle vehicles to the take-out point, so I while I waited, I found some entertainment. This little guy was cute:
Although the frog was pretty sweet, he wasn't very sociable, so I decided to paddle upstream to a fallen tree that Phil had seen from the shore. He didn't think anyone could get through, so I thought I'd take a look in case we decided to do that segment sometime. I think it might be possible to get through on the left (upstream) side.
Thinking it unwise to try to get through this tangle while by myself, I turned around and headed downstream, floating most of the way.
The guys returned shortly thereafter and put in.
The paddle downstream was nice. We saw the eagle again, but I didn't have my camera turned on at the time, so he got away without a photo. It was a fun night, and Phil enjoyed his first kayak river run. So did we!
Thanks for documenting your Waupaca River paddling adventures. Have you paddled the section between Kiwanis Park and hwy 54? - Mark from WI Paddle.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark. No, we haven't done that section yet. When we scouted it last summer, there were some large trees down, so we didn't try it. We might give it a try this year if it gets cleared. Waiting for the snow to melt...
ReplyDelete