Day 33 - Pirate Camp

River Mile - 526

Today’s Distance - 27 miles 

Total Distance - 815 miles 

It was hard getting out of bed this morning. It was 54 degrees and my sleeping bag was super warm and cozy. My first sight after leaving my tent was Jon heating up water for coffee. That always helps get me going. 

We decided to stay out of the main channel and weave our way through the braid of small islands that our friends at the Army Corps of Engineers have built for us. We did have one channel that was super sandy. We ended up having to jump out of our boats and walk them over the shallow spots. 

We always like to keep an eye out a place to get out and get lunch. The island of Sabula is a small town that the modern world has passed by. The “Business District“ is. Couple blocks of crumbling brick buildings. We tied off our boats at a boat landing and found a small cafe called Sandbar Grill. The building was not well marked, but the residents definitely knew about it. It was a typical small town diner, but the food was good, and they even had WiFi. 

Leaving Sabula with full bellies we paddled off. Our end point was a bit vague, there are no campsite areas around so we were going to have to find a remote place to camp. In looking at the maps, it looked like there were going to be plenty of options. As we progressed, there were huge Lilly pad fields, blocking us from any places to camp. We identified one last island that might work. We ended up having to blast through weeds to get to a spot just big enough for our two tents.