The Great Mississippi River Adventure

Day 15

Stats

19.98 miles traveled in 5:33 hours

River mile start:853

River mile end:832

River mile today: 21

River mile total:509

% complete: 21.4

Averaged 3.6 mph (lock, breaks)

Burned 1502 calories

Kayak: Carolina 14

Temp at launch 49 degree, at recovery 58 degree

Today was a great day for milestones. Not so great a day for paddling. I started at 11 am at downtown Minneapolis, Bohemian flats park. That took me down River 5 miles to lock #1. I  went through my first Mississippi lock today!

After leaving the lock I had to deal with the wind. The prevailing wind was out of the east at 20 mph sustained and 40 mph gusts. The thing I have learned about wind direction and the Mississippi is that the river will funnel a 120 degree cone of acceptance from the prevailing direction and send the wind straight in. What does this mean? Unless I am paddling 60 degrees off the prevailing wind direction I will encounter winds head on. Shortly said, the wind was in my face with large waves. 

On the milestone side, I crossed the 500 miles paddle mark. Then I saw my first barge traffic, more on that later. I saw my first river paddle boat. And I saw downtown St Paul. I couldn't take pictures of any of that because the waves were so large and the wind so strong I wasn't going to risk pulling out my phone.

While paddling into the wind I was headed to a railroad bridge. When I was 1/2 mile below it I heard chatter on the radio with the reply, "we'll have it open for you". I  didn't much mind as I was struggling. Then I saw the railroad bridge swinging open. That's when I realized 1. The radio was between a tugboat and the bridge operator and 2. There is something very big heading my way. I kept paddling as hard as I could because of the wind, but also because the swing bridge opening is on my side of the river where I'm hiding from the wind. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure I didn't get caught in a bad situation. Eventually I made it past the railroad bridge and no sight of a tug. 1/2 a mile later I heard motor noises and saw 4 barges being pushed by a tug. If the wind hadn't been so bad I think I could have kept up with it.

On the cool side, today, for the 15th day in a row, I had my male and female eagle escort!