Days 39 & 40 - Paddling with Friends
Day 39: Breezy Beach → Blair Island
Date: August 16th, 2022
URM 532 → URM 510
Distance today: 22 miles
River Time: 6 hours
Countdown to St. Louis: 330 miles
Today I awoke with an extra bit of pep in my step, because I knew I was going to meet some of my best friends before the day was out, Solange and Will!
I paddled through Pool #13 and didn’t stick to the navigation channel, but rather explored the “stump field” as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) deems it. It’s basically the shallow areas outside of the 9-foot navigation channel. These areas were solid land before the dams were put into place. Now, they are rich with fish and bird life. I saw a huge flock of pelicans here.
After locking through, it was time for lunch. I made landing at what I thought was a wilderness sandbar, but turned out to be right next door to a homeless encampment. Once the residents noticed me, they eyed me warily from a distance. I ate my lunch quickly and was on my way.
Soon after this, I made it to Albany Landing, the rendez-vous point to meet the crew. I arrived early and took a quick power nap. Those give me so much life these days! We met up, thanks to Jo the River Angel from the Quad Cities, and put our boats in the water. It was so good to see fellow paddlers, especially paddlers who would join me. Thanks, Jo!
We were going to do ten miles, but after three miles we found a really neat spot tucked away in the woods, nice and shaded, that we decided to call home. It was the perfect mix of sandbar and shade, and had a phenomenal swimming beach. It also had a Coast Guard navigational beacon, which we swam to and explored.
We ate a feast of a dinner, enjoyed each other’s company, and caught up for the rest of the night. It was a nice change of pace to share my campsite and my stories with some good friends!
Day 40: Blair Island → Illiniwek State Park
Date: August 17th, 2022
URM 510 → URM 493
Distance today: 17 miles
River Time: 6 hours
Countdown to St. Louis: 313 miles
Today we paddled as a crew of three all day! It was nice to have conversation during the day instead of audiobooks and my own thoughts. As typically happened, we discussed philosophical questions from A to Z while paddling the long hours of the day.
It was also a scorcher today. Multiple swim breaks were in order, but there was only one good spot to do so, thus unfortunately we had to get by with mainly hat dips. We stopped at Princeton Beach for lunch, and that was our only dip of the day. It was a very nice, sandy beach with cottonwoods, oaks, and willows.
We stopped at at a local brewery in Le Claire, Iowa, then shortly thereafter locked through at Lock #14. After this, we immediately booked it to the Illinois bank and made our camp at Illiniwek State Park.
I’m enjoying time on the beach with friends, so won’t post much today, but here are some photos to highlight the day.
River Log Day 39
Pool 13: Last good spot in Pool #13 is “Breezy Beach” URM 532.
521: Some very subpar sites following the dam.
510.2 - Blair Island: LBD. Really nice spot with beach and shade.
River Log Day 40
509 - Camanche Islands: RBD. Decent sandbar sites.
504 - “Princeton Breach” : LDB Large spacious sandbar with some trees a bit far removed. Last good place in Pool #14.
497 - Le Claire, IA: RBD, services right on water including brewery.
493 - Paid campsites LBD immediately upstream and downstream of the dam.
That's a great photo of Solange, and the photo of you and Will on the U.S. Coast Guard beacon is a winner, too.
The field of cardinal flowers is stunning!