Day 13: Green day, eagles stare, and dark

Day 13: Green day, eagles stare, and dark

20140613_11424620140613_151818 Grand Rapids to Jacobson

I left Grand Rapids, MN today and headed south. The only color I was seeing this morning was green. The grass and the trees are briliant shades of green. It was hard to think about much else and easy to be at peace. I enjoyed the meandering that the river would do all day. The gentle sounds of nature filled the air. There was a couple of eagles flying around me this morning. One flew past me and up to its perch. I had momentum and just let my boat float. As I approached him, I just looked up in awe and admired. He was watching me as I moved by him. It was cool looking into the eyes of an eagle. About a minute after I passed and started paddling again, the eagle came flying up on me. It passed me from behind about 15′ above my left shoulder. It was one of the cooler things I have experienced…….so far. The day would wind on as the river double backed on itself all day.

I made lunch on a bank over the river. There was no one else around except the trees and a breeze. Everyone should be able to have a lunch like that sometimes. I pushed on afterwards and got back to the twist and turns. I ended up seeing a fair amount of eagles, a lot of them golden. Dinner rolled around and I got off at a small dock. I went to check if anyone was home. No one was so I ate there anyways. With it being a full moon, I geared up to spend the night on my boat as I paddled into the night under a full moon. The moon was out, but so were the rain clouds. It is going to rain tonight and the next two days. I am going to try to do an all nighter on the river if the moon will just come out. I will not be able to do this at any other section of the river due to the danger.

The sun set and I was ready to go. The clouds just would not break. I was going off gut feelings, limited eyesight, and the fireflies near the shore. I paddled for 11 hours. I arrived in Jacobson and tracked 41 miles. I overshot the campground in the dark. I did find a flat spot on the river. I pulled my boat up on land and set up camp. It is not officially a camp location, but hopefully no one will see me. I locked the boat up as we are in a flood alert stage. I am close to the river (6′ from it) and hope that the rain does not lift it too much. Otherwise, I may have to deal with a wet surprise sometime in the night. The bright side is my air pad floats if needed. 🙂

All I all, it was a long day. I have another day of twist and turns tomorrow with rain. I will just buckle down and get after it. Now, it is midnight. Time to call this day. Night.

Leave a reply