X4

The beginning of a perfect day

 This past spring I found myself with an unplanned mid-week day off due to lack of work. Most of the time I welcome these days and scramble to find someone to join me in some type of outdoor endeavor. With notice going out the night before I couldn't find anyone in a similar situation so I planned for a peaceful kayak ride down the Le Sueur River solo.

looks fun right ?

  As I loaded my kayak gear I threw in a couple pack-rafts and a dry suit just in case. On my way south I stopped at a little park, the detour nothing more than slowing down and taking a right hand turn. The creek I had checked out on my way home a couple weeks prior was now flowing strong and from what I had seen looked to be a fun ride. The Le Sueur would have to wait just a little, maybe an hour and a half. From the parking lot, the pack-raft now loaded on my back,  I hiked up river on the well worn trails that honeycombed the park with a watchful eye dead falls and strainers in the creek. Less than a mile upriver, as the rapids looked like they were petering out and the vegetation was beginning to make the paddle more trouble than it's worth, I dropped in.

There are  twelve of these at the end of the run..looked to be recently built....going back with kids next spring so they can have fun too

Rush River

 .On my way down, I hit bottom a few times and ducked and weaved through dead falls, but damn was I having fun. With the water being way up from recent rain, I didn't take long for my true plan to materialize,  something I was waiting for but wanted a couple other paddlers to join in as a challenging day.....kayak or raft three of the "fun" rivers in the vicinity. I say fun because they all have long stretches of class I and II white water, with one rapid pushing a III at really high levels.  The creek I was on would just be an unforeseen bonus, upping my challenge to 4 creeks in a day, unfortunately the challenge would be mine alone.The Le Sueur was definitely going to wait, I had a mission and with a late start I would have to hustle.

Start point on High Island Creek

  The first creek was 7 Mile Creek just north of Mankato, from there I headed 10-12 miles north to Rush River. Rush was flowing well and was lots of fun, it's wider than all the others and strainers or trees completely blocking the river were non existent. After a quick shuttle with the mountain bike and a snack in the van on the way to High Island Creek, I was back in my boat in about an hour and a half. High Island is a favorite of mine, since finding it a couple years ago I've been down about a half dozen times. Feeling comfortable running this creek solo, I decided to give the now discontinued Alpacka CuriYak a run. I bought a couple of them for my kids when they were closing them out, and I wanted to see how they would behave in some light white water.

Lots of this 

 As the description stated....the CuriYak didn't do so well in anything but flat water. At about 200 pounds, when I went through the rapids the stern would drop in and fill the boat with water. My kids weigh much less, and in the summer months I'd have no problem letting them run this river and maybe get a little wet. If not for the dry suit this would have been a miserable run, by the end of it I was a little chilled despite staying dry. Last but not least, came Sand Creek, this run is fantastic and has the biggest water. I was a little nervous since it looked way higher than when I ran it last, it also usually has some strainers in the worst possible places, usually in fast water and in the spots where the river pulls you in. By now I had three creeks done and had plenty of time to run this one ,so I went for it, but was cautious. The run went without a hitch, but did contain  two sketchy areas with trees all the way across the river. I still haven't paddled the Le Sueur River....maybe next spring.

The take out.....1/2 mile hike to the shuttle bike or several more miles of paddling fast moving but flat, water

Back in the Yukon Yak on Sand Creek.....all photos basically look the same cuz no one else was with me to take pictures of

   x 4
1)  7 Mile Creek... approx 1 mile                         
2)   Rush River...... 6 miles
3) High Island Creek.......5+ miles
4) Sand Creek...........5+ miles
 Bike shuttle..........approx 20 miles
I'm up for it again next spring and may add in one more..... Cobb River?


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

Bike, Raft, Tent

every camp-out starts like this...in a messy baesment

 For several years ArcFlash has been talking about an abandoned power plant  he's been wanting check out with some camping and paddling thrown in to the mix.

Lanesboro

Found this little spot to launch

underway

spooky

 Things finally came together when Thor was pushing for a packraft, bike-pack adventure. I ran it by AF, got a kitchen pass for the weekend and the three of us were headed out.  Friday night, after a 10-12 mile ride, a couple miles of rafting we were just below the large concrete structure. In the dark we ascended the steep bank to take our place in the power plant and set camp

breakfast time

  Camping inside proved a little troublesome with the damp floor, vegetation, and open holes but was well worth the inconvenience. The next morning we paddled onward to town for breakfast a few miles downstream. From there, we spent most of the day paddling, and dodging the rain under overhanging trees. By a pure stroke of luck, it started down pouring immediately following tent set-up. It only lasted about 30 minutes, just enough time to take a nap and recharge for the rest of the evening.

dodging rain under the forest canopy 

 Dinner time was closing, the sun was shinning as if it had not rained in days, so we hopped on the bikes beelined it to the closest road and pedaled into town. Night time was typical for camping, large fire, bullshiting and adventure stories late into evening. Our final day consisted of a 25ish mile ride back to the vehicles interrupted by breakfast in Lanesboro. I'm not sure how the other guys felt, but the weekend was perfect and as I look back, I wish I was there now!

moments before rain

it's sunny aagain

there is a reason the bridge is closed

the end

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

Cannon Sub-24

 Spring has sprung and I couldn't be happier, with that, I was itching to get out and do some camping, riding, paddling or whatever. Coincidentally I was sitting on three new pack-rafts that were begging to be broken-in. Thor, friend and IVC (Imperial Venture Corps) member in good standing had just purchased a raft as well, and put together a route leaving from his house that would encompass all three of the activities mentioned above.

country roads...Y wasn't real happy about cars driving by so fast but he held his line and did just fine 

closing in on camp

Cold start.....everything was covered in frost. Didn't sleep too well either, on account of giving my light weight, warmer sleeping bag to Super Y...that's Ok, I think that's what dads are supposed to do anyway, right ?

  To clarify........Alpacka raft was closing out 2016 models cheaper than I've ever seen offered....I bought three, mostly so I could plan trips in which every member of my family would make use of them. Thor also bought one on the discount.  As I was packing, (and nearly finished) Thursday night for a Friday afternoon departure, my middle son Super Y announced that his plans for a sleep over were cancelled and he would be joining us on our excursion. Great!....fortunately I had Friday off of work and spent most of the day getting his bike ready and all the gear for two of us. The thing about an overnight-er is.....it takes just as long to pack and requires the same amount of gear as a much longer trip...minus multi day supply of food. If nothing else it's a good way to learn to pack efficiently.

Starting to warm up

wait for me

  Upon meeting Friday afternoon, we set out for 10-12 miles of road riding to our camp on the Cannon River. Arriving well before dark we had time to set camp, get a fire going and really enjoy the evening chilling -out. The next morning, with our camp right on the river, we simply packed-up, aired-up, and paddled down stream towards our take-out in Northfield. We were on the water approximately two hours, cruising along with a nice current, some riffles to occasionally add excitement, and plenty of warm sunshine on our faces. At our exit , we were able to ride a little bit of single track on our way to lunch at a BBQ eatery. From there we only had 5-6 miles back to the start point, and made quick work of it.

One of several sets of riffles....fun 

Old mill...I think

I'd like to get back to this trail soon and check it out thoroughly 

  Thor's route with the addition of the fantastic lunch stop made for a really freakin' awesome sub-24 outing. I was especially impressed with SuperY for his ability to carry himself in a way befitting of a respectful, driven, and responsible young man in the company of adults...............looking forward to more outings like this................

almost home

until then, D Rider..................................out

      

Rained Out

 What I (we) thought was going to be a good idea and a safe bet for a December outing in northern Minnesota turned out little different than planned. I'm reserving the details of said route until it comes to fruition....but trust me, it will be good.

   Originally,  ArcFlash, Vandy and myself were going to do an overnight winter bike-packing ride and spend the remainder of our three day weekend doing whatever we thought fit. The forecast was for rain off and on all weekend, and into Monday.....booo. Optimistically, we all decided to go for it, drive north, and see how it would all shake down.  Leaving very early on Saturday morning had us at The Fun House (TFH) by about 10:30 am.

 The camp-out was out of the question  due to a 100% chance of rain Sunday, with a high of 35 deg F, so we improvised. From the heavily gear laden van, we picked fat-bikes, ropes, harnesses, and pack-rafts. Not far from TFH was a short but fun route that would utilize all the items of gear mentioned above. The pack-rafting was a big question mark as some the lakes in the area were frozen, while others remained open. After a short ride in either mud or glazed ice, we stashed the bikes in the woods and began our hike to the top of the cliff we were to rappel. From this vantage point we would also be able to see if the lake was going to be in our favor.

  I waited till the final steps of reaching the precipice to lift my head and survey the entire scene.......it was 50-60% open! Although short and sweet our little endeavor would be able fill the void of things we were going to miss out on in the next couple days. After setting up, rapping, and pulling ropes we made our way down a slippery, steep boulder field to the lake below. The water, obviously very cold, had a beautiful, clear, blue-green hue and proved irresistible to ArcFlash, who after a few minutes of slipping into a dry suit was now swimming. I envied not bringing my own suit and so vowed to not leave it behind so often.

  The three of us messed around for at least an hour, paddling to the far end of the lake from our start point and poking around the ice. After deflating and stowing the boats we continued on a trail faintly outlining the shore and eventually rendezvoused  with our cached bicycles. We returned home with the daylight fading and the weather deteriorating. By the time we refueled it was dark, and the wind was kicking up, thwarting our attempts to have a camp fire lakeside (Lake Superior).

   Instead, we retreated back to the house with a couple rental DVDs and relaxed for the rest of the night. As the forecast played out, it rained all night and well into late morning before we decided on bagging the trip and going home......but not before nearly getting stuck on the remote back roads of the Grand Portage Reservation.

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