River Miles 1287
Days Milage - 22.8 miles
Total miles - 77.9 miles
Today marked the beginning of a series of lakes that the Mississippi River runs through. Launching a lake Bemidji at 7:30 am we crossed the 2.8 open miles of water to where you he river drains on the eastern shore. It started off very straight forward with calm winds and smooth water. Unfortunately we ended up paddling though a mile of reeds that drastically slowed our progress.
From Bemidji to river flows threw Stump Lake where there were several stumps we had to navigate around. From there we had to land at Otter Tail dam for the 2nd of 13 portages on the upper river. This was our first opportunity to use our portage wheels, and they worked great!
From Stump we paddled across Wolf lake, then Andrusia lake. The last big crossing was the western half of Cass lake to our destination, the river trail camp site on Star island. Our total distance for the day was 25 miles, our longest total so far, with almost 10 hours in the boat.
Our site is nestled in a wooded area, just odd the beach. We set camp, had dinner, a little Whiskey and enjoyed a fire and an amazing sunset.
Tomorrow we enter a more remote part of the river, so it might be a day our two before I can post.
5 comments:
Sounds very fun and very challenging so far. We love the pics, that paddle pic in the rice field/wetland was great. Hugh and Pam
My old territory when I attended BSU. Caught a lot or walleyes in Lake irving.
Long day for you...glad it’s over for you! Rest tonight!
Jeff! Glad you guys are doing well! Sounds like we may meet again at Cass lake tomorrow? Jon said he heard you snoring, so will wait to hear from you guys in the morning. Hope the hotel stay way great! Xoxo
Great photos Jeff. Beautiful spot to camp.
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