Paddling Pageant and the Sioux Hustler portage
by Benutzer
Trip Type:
Paddling Kayak
Entry Date:
08/22/2006
Entry Point:
Moose/Portage River (north) (EP 16)
Exit Point:
Little Indian Sioux River (north) (EP 14)
Number of Days:
10
Group Size:
2
Part 13 of 14
Day 10 Thursday August 31, 2006 75 high/46 low
Lower Pauness Lake, Upper Pauness Lake, Little Indian Sioux River
A very short day, but we needed to make time. The wind tried gallantly to give us a good reason to stay for another day or so. It blew incredibly hard, directly in our face all the way out, making it take a fair while to travel the short distance to EP14, and making us work for every inch of it. I'm guessing it was a steady 20-25mph wind (conservative guess). About enough to make a flag stand out straight on the flagpole and snap on a regular basis. It turned out later that it had been so windy due to the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto passing through the area, spawning at least one deadly tornado near Duluth. That explained why the wind kept shifting direction, and seemed to be in our face most of the time. I suppose we were quite lucky that it hadn't brought too much rain with it, but the wind did make for some difficult paddling. I'm pretty sure that if we'd chosen to bring the canoe rather than the kayaks, we wouldn't have made it nearly as far as we did.
It was another quiet time, with both Jeremy and myself totally immersed in fighting the wind, but still soaking up the last couple of hours because we really didn't want to let them go. There was tons of wild rice on the LIS. There was still some in the kayak weeks later.
A bald eagle really made our day and lifted our spirits though. Soared right over Jeremy's head and landed in a tree next to the river. We got to admire him for a bit and take a picture or two.
When we reached the portage back to the EP, I gave Jeremy the car key and went ahead and started portaging all the gear up to the parking lot while he ran from EP14 to EP16 (7 miles). By the time I was done, I didn't have long to wait. It took him about an hour and 15 minutes to run the 7 miles (and then some actually, considering the access roads as well), and then drive back. Plus he'd evidently stopped for a few minutes and chatted with some bear hunters that he passed along the way. I was pretty amazed.
We loaded up and said goodbye to EP14 and the BW. Saw lots more foliage starting to turn to their fall colors on the way back out the Echo Trail. Once we got back into town, we stopped off at VNO's for showers (oh how nice that was!), then grabbed lunch and a couple souvenirs for family and hit the road south towards the Norske Nook.
Lower Pauness Lake, Upper Pauness Lake, Little Indian Sioux River
A very short day, but we needed to make time. The wind tried gallantly to give us a good reason to stay for another day or so. It blew incredibly hard, directly in our face all the way out, making it take a fair while to travel the short distance to EP14, and making us work for every inch of it. I'm guessing it was a steady 20-25mph wind (conservative guess). About enough to make a flag stand out straight on the flagpole and snap on a regular basis. It turned out later that it had been so windy due to the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto passing through the area, spawning at least one deadly tornado near Duluth. That explained why the wind kept shifting direction, and seemed to be in our face most of the time. I suppose we were quite lucky that it hadn't brought too much rain with it, but the wind did make for some difficult paddling. I'm pretty sure that if we'd chosen to bring the canoe rather than the kayaks, we wouldn't have made it nearly as far as we did.
It was another quiet time, with both Jeremy and myself totally immersed in fighting the wind, but still soaking up the last couple of hours because we really didn't want to let them go. There was tons of wild rice on the LIS. There was still some in the kayak weeks later.
A bald eagle really made our day and lifted our spirits though. Soared right over Jeremy's head and landed in a tree next to the river. We got to admire him for a bit and take a picture or two.
When we reached the portage back to the EP, I gave Jeremy the car key and went ahead and started portaging all the gear up to the parking lot while he ran from EP14 to EP16 (7 miles). By the time I was done, I didn't have long to wait. It took him about an hour and 15 minutes to run the 7 miles (and then some actually, considering the access roads as well), and then drive back. Plus he'd evidently stopped for a few minutes and chatted with some bear hunters that he passed along the way. I was pretty amazed.
We loaded up and said goodbye to EP14 and the BW. Saw lots more foliage starting to turn to their fall colors on the way back out the Echo Trail. Once we got back into town, we stopped off at VNO's for showers (oh how nice that was!), then grabbed lunch and a couple souvenirs for family and hit the road south towards the Norske Nook.
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