Am I the only one who instantly thinks of paddling when ever I see open water. A puddle, a small open swamp pond, a tiny creek, a half frozen lake, ...

Please reassure me that I do not have a problem.

The two lakes by me (Tainter and Menomin) both on the Red Cedar river flowage are about 1/2 open.

Oooohh.....we ALL have problems

Yep. Let's see, within the last week, I have: portaged around and through the snowbanks with a canoe (still snow by me), hand augered and measured ice thickness (still a ways to go), and started making some more yoke pads to pass the time. Spring is kind of a weird in between. It feels like snowshoes and skis are behind us, but paddle season isn't quite here yet.

You are not alone!!!

This past weekend while lighting a bonfire in a friend's back yard.

boyfriend: Is that a pond over there?

friend: No. Their backyard is just flooded.

boyfriend: You ever take your canoe over there?

I think this is referred to as a case of "canoe fever".

From my experience, it is highly contagious. Just reading about it can trigger symptoms.


JW

Every day I am driving by the lake where we store our canoe. Last night my husband said, "You want to paddle after work tomorrow?" My son responded, "But the lake still has ice." Husband, "Maybe it will be open by then, I can hope."

I have been seriously considering at least paddling around the shore since ice is gone from shoreline to about 10 feet out.

One Match (Jerry) wrote a paddling song a few years back called "More Than a River". The first line goes, "Have you ever driven over a highway bridge and couldn't help but look below?" Of all the songs he's written, it's one of my favorites.

I cross two bridges every day on my way to and from the office (the same river) and I automatically look at the water every time and think about paddling.

Waiting patiently for ice out in central Minnesota. A couple more weeks yet...

Yes, the second I see a puddle I want to put my paddle in it. Especially this time of year.

Jackfish cited One Match's song, also my first thought.
I think the line is, "Hi, I'm Ben and I am an addict." It is something about the feel, the rhythm and the zone that comes with a paddle and open water. And like any good addict seeing the product triggers the high. Then there's the search for a new high, a new place to paddle. Not all addictions are bad...can get expensive.

Not the only one. I heard Trumpeter Swans this morning for the first time (south of Brule, Cook County). Ran to lake - they must have been circling and looking for open water - it wasn't here :(

I drove down the Mississippi yesterday on the Wisconsin side and found a lot of open water. Lake Pepin is nearly all open water as are most of the sloughs and backwater channels along the stretch of the road near the Chippewa. I drove on over past Nelson toward Wabasha to the Nelson/Trevino unit of the Upper Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Refuge and found that most of that water is also ice free. One of my favorite places to paddle is in the Pontoon Slough area. It's all ice free and I will be going back there with a canoe next week.

Yippee! Lake Owasso opened up yesterday so we paddled last night. We are usually the last paddlers on the lake before ice up and the first paddlers on with ice out. But we had company yesterday. Two kayaks and another canoe were out at the same time. There was still one part of the lake with ice on it...very, very rotted ice. But it was fun to paddle up onto the ice and then listen to the tinkling sound as our boat wake traveled through the ice for the next few minutes.

There is hope. I checked the river in Thief River Falls MN yesterday and the ice is off it below the dam for several miles. The ice on the pond above the dam is in very poor condition and should be going off soon. The best part of this is Thief River Falls is further north than Ely and most of the BWCA.
I have a new solo in the garage just waiting to get wet, so Sun shine hard and finish the job!
Carl