Mississippi River Paddle

Another first: the Red Kayak's maiden voyage on a river.

We decide to start at the top so we headed out to the Mississippi River, putting in at the Port Louisa boat ramp. (yeah, "we", I got the Camo Kayak to come along because I was nervous about the spillway).

We paddled a total of about 6.5 miles, ending up at the Toolesboro boat ramp just about exactly three hours later. We didn't paddle hard most of the time, did a bit of floating and a lot of poking along the bank looking for snakes.

The search turned up quite a few, including a copper-bellied water snake which is on Iowa's endangered species list. Just a hint, if you're trying to identify one, you'll have to lift it up and take a peek at the belly. And a warning too, when bothered these snakes give off a musk that smells exactly like skunk. Luckily, they don't actually spray it out!

The biggest surprises for me:

1. We met only a couple of boats once we got away from the boat ramp and off the main channel.
2. The spillway turned out to be no problem - the portage on the land side is very easy.
3. There really isn't much of a current since we were actually in the pool behind the dam.

Though we saw the snakes, a few herons, an eagle, a couple of tame ducks, pelicans and a tern, I have been spoiled by the abundance of wildlife on Odessa so it seemed like we saw very little.

It is a beautiful river, especially back on this sheltered chute away from the barges and other big boats. I'll definitely try this one again.