April 2019

       

 April turned out to be mostly about kayaking, the kayak has slowly drawn me in to become an equal with the bike. To start, our family did a three day camping trip on the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. This river is truly a gem with towering cliffs, clear blue-green water, and an abundance of gravel bars for camping. From our starting point at Ponca the river was swift, the frequency of rapids and riffles kept us on our toes and the excitement level high. We could be heard cheering each other on as we passed through the tricky sections not knowing if we would simply get a lap full of water or go for a swim.

Getting ready

Pee break?

  Through the three days no one dumped it, but everyone ended up pumping or sponging excess water. Camping along the river is super easy, find a spot that looks suitable and set up. Our first night was about 50 yards from shore in a semi established site used most likely by hikers on the Buffalo River Trail that exists on both sides of the river. Our second night was on a long gravel bar. We hid out there under a tarp, sheltered from light rain as we devoured our dehydrated meals and whatever else we hadn't rationed for the next day. Our final day was the warmest and sunniest, as we pulled into our take out it was kind of a bummer to be done so soon. I will definitely be back.

Needed to warm up mid-day after light rain got us all pretty cold

First time needing/using Cooke Custom Sewing trap...I'm a believer. We all sat and ate dinner under it in a light rain....so nice 

Camp second night

I got two decent gravel rides knocked out in April. The could not have been more different in terms of weather. The first being the Lime Grinder, when mother decided to bitch slap us with snow storm the night before. It was 50 plus miles of wet sloppy slush over dirt soup, but the company of the other riders was so good I hardly noticed I should not be having a great time. The second, only a week later was a magnificently sunny, splendid day on the bike in the driftless region of southwest  Wisconsin...The Dairy Roubaix. While I would have loved to ride the 100 mile route I needed to get home unexpectedly sooner than I had wished, and thus settled for the the 100K ish route. I will try and make this happen next year and extend the weekend to include kayaking and MTB (Upper Iowa River and Decorah) riding in the vicinity.     

Yuck

There are pastries inside 

I think I need some new bearings....all of em'

Start of Dairy Robaix ...I guess it's not a race. I was told people already left at this point

This is the iconic cliff overhang that initially drew me in to want to ride this thing 

 As April rolled on, the kayak made it's way out a couple more times on the Minnesota as well as the Mississippi at flood stage.  Paddling the flooded backwaters can be a little sketchy (dangerous) but, super fun. I was pleased to get my wife out, she hates cold water. I also got sAMMO out for a short jaunt after work one night.

ArcFlash is always up for a good time 

4-5 feet below me is a mountain bike trail

A lot of folks take pictures here...usually with their feet on dry ground 

sAMMO on the mighty Mississip'

Urban exploration beyond?

D Rider...................................................out

Similar

launch

Almost three years ago I did an overnight kayak/fat-bike trip with Vandy similar to the one just completed with my middle and youngest sons. My oldest son G Man, was out with an elbow injury and my wife was going to Spirit Mtn for DH MTB riding so it's not like they were excluded.

It's common to have full sized trees in the middle of the river

Someone else camping....old skool style

artifact or trash ? 

Just ahead is Carver Rapids. Doesn't look like much  now, but when the water is down is a continuous chunk of rock stretching all the way across the river

Vandy and I had such a good time kayaking ,camping and riding , I've been thinking about making it happen again ever since. In case you didn't go check out out the link first....Our first trip was on the Minnesota River from Belle Plaine to Chaska, this was a little long for my youngsters so we opted for Jordan to Chaska (19mi vs. 8.5mi).

we've arrived

Standard issue Imperial Venture Corps eating utensils 

Dinner

We could not have asked for better weather, it was warm and sunny during the day and cool at night...........great for a camp fire and comfortable sleeping. Our camp location will remain a secret here, but is a well worn site that can be easily located if you pay attention. After paddling for approx. 2.5 hours we arrived at our location about an hour before dark, this gave us lots of time to set the tent, find wood and get our cooking underway.

You can bring a lot of stuff when camping out of a sea kayak

dueling spoons 

 Hidden cache of fat-bikes for our return trip   

  As far as peace and quite goes , this  may have been the noisiest place I have ever camped. None of the noise was man made, instead it was the animals. As the day turned to evening the birds seem to turn up the volume just before the lights go out. About the same time the birds quite down the coyotes begin howling, not just the kind you here in the movies but horrible screams and high pitched bellowing. All the while this is going on large fish, presumably carp , are jumping and splashing in the river just below the bank we are camped on. Along with the fish jumping all night are the numerous beavers that are constantly slapping their tails on the water. Getting to sleep that night was a bit difficult as my mind often wanders from what the noises actually are. My kids on the other hand thought it was completely normal and left me to fend for myself while they quickly nodded off.

24inch  Framed, Mini-Sota

 Fortunately, nothing attacked and killed us while we slept, morning came , we ate breakfast and we were off. We had about an hour of paddling before reaching our bikes to complete the loop and get back to our vehicle. I choose to use the fat-bikes because the trail is often sandy and fat-bikes are awesome. Also I paid a shit ton of money for them and I want the bikes to get ridden before they need the next size. The ride was just as good as the kayaking. Sometimes the trail gets very overgrown to the point that it can't be ridden, apparently people are cycling/hiking/horse back ridding  down there enough that the trail was good to go. By the time we got back the boys were tired out and hungry, we loaded gear and bikes, shuttled boats, and then finally topped off the weekend with large meal at a local Mexican restaurant.

Thanks boys, for hanging out with your old man....G Man....I wish you could have made it...Lady DR....I know you had more fun riding your bike down hill, so I'm glad I didn't keep you from that.

D. Rider ......out