Upper Mississippi River Trip

[Not For Hire]

Returned to Michigan after twelve days and eleven nights on the river. Wow, what a beautiful piece of country. I am tired from compressing two day return trip into one and promise and threaten to give updates on how perfectly my 22 cruiser behaved and what a good time I had and how magnificent this land is.

In the meantime if you have a fast connection I have uploaded many pictures to the site below. This is a rough draft from a tired boater.

Mississippi Trip

Regards, Mark

[Fairbro]

Great pictures Mark! You just missed lock 9 breaking down and causing a very long delay. We're talking days?? Everyone says being on the river is not about being in a hurry. Glad you got to see the Mississippi Queen on your trip. It goes by here late at night on it's way to St. Paul. Imagine waking up at midnight and seeing a six story apartment building all lit up going by your bedroom window. We're happy for your good trip and safe return. I hope it inspires more C-Brats to come to the river. Later G&G

[Butch]

Thanks so much for sharing the fruits of your adventure. My hat goes off to you. You did a wonderful job in capturing the tranquility of the trip... Thanks again for sharing. Butch

[Fairbro]

I was thinking about your trip last night while drifting off and happened to think about you locking through alone. I've never done that and have contemplated how I would if need be. There's a lot to do at the helm while coasting toward that big concrete wall in a boat you dearly love. I've done it many times with Gerrie sitting in the hatch and it still gets edgy until we're safely stopped. I suppose you had to reverse while staying parallel to the wall and then take both lines reaching from the cabin window??? Sometimes on the port side. Did Gordy take a line in the cockpit? I agree about floating the middle going upstream. The turbulence seems to want to push you against the wall. It's always a constant scramble. Let me know your tecnique.

[lloyds]

Great pictures. A must for sometime in the near future. Thank you for sharing them.

[drjohn71a]

Thanks,Mark, for the slide show! Great photos and description.... Some day, I might just get up that way too.... John

[MOOSE]

Great pics, Mark, and I'm glad you had a good trip.

Yesterday, we drove down to Grand Rapids, MN to hear a concert by guitar legend Doc Watson and, in so doing, crossed the "real" upper Mississippi several times in places you could've thrown a rock from bank to bank! It's kind of nifty when you think about it. Now, I've known or heard about a few folks who have paddled the entire length of the river, but yesterday I got to wondering how much of the upper Mississippi is C-Dory-able from it's source down to, say, St. Paul. I'm sure there's some major interruptions here and there, but it might make an interesting research project sometime to find out how much is boatable.

Al

[Not For Hire]

Al,
I think a good bit of the river form Itasca south would be doable in a C-Dory. In 93 or 94 one fellow wrote a book about doing the entire river in his homemade john boat. When I get around to writing some more about this trip I will try to remember to include some references. I never saw a canoe until the last day on the river. Then two people went through a lock southbound and later near Hastings one fellow in a large canoe, and loaded for long range travel was paddling southbound. He was a bit younger than we are but looked at peace, and eager, at the same time.

Gary,
My lock system was this (some of this is for persons not familiar with locks)-
Announce presence on radio when I was close to the lock and politely ask for estimated time of entry. (Lockmaster this is the downbound pleasure craft 1/2 mile from your location, etc.). Sometimes well before I was near the lock I heard other radio traffic of a tow boat approaching or locking or I passed a tow close to the lock then I would speed up if it meant locking through without waiting. I think I surprised some folks when they saw the C-Dory had a turn of speed in her.

Either just before lock or after entering and slowing (depends on if I was hurrying to get into lock or not) I would put out a 12 inch round fender toward stern (I hang it on a downrigger swivel but the stern cleat would be fine) and I pass an 8 inch diameter cylindrical fender out sliding window and hang it on forward cleat. Big fenders are a real plus. I carry four for rafting, docking, and towing - never needed more than two on the river for any reason.

Wait for green light, enter lock, look for where the lockmaster might be, usually he/she showed up close to the building but not always. Sometimes they asked if I wanted to tie up or float. On downbound I always asked to float if I was alone in lock, usually out window or hailing from cockpit but sometimes on the radio. The lockmasters never asked if I wanted to float if there were two or more boats in lock and so I assume it is not allowed. One lockmaster asked over the radio if I wanted to float, I think he was trying to avoid walking down to the lock wall.

I approach the spot on the wall where the lines are dangling. The lockmaster would usually wiggle a line or two. The lines were all either 3/8 or 1/2 inch damp muddy ropes with some form of weight on the end. The weight so they would hang straight to the side of the lock when discarded. I would slow as I approached the lines at a slight angle but almost parallel to lock wall. A quick burst of reverse with engine angled toward wall would slow me more and move me close to wall. Engines left running in neutral and I would go to the cockpit and grab two lines. I was usually still coasting verty slowly forward at this point.

The lockmaster would sometimes hold two lines together or sometimes the two lines would be separted by several feet. In the latter case I would keep enough forward momentum to grab both lines. It was always easy to reach the lines so I think you will find this concern really isn't a deal. I would pass one line through the vertical handhold rail and the forward line through my radar arch. The lines sort of make a vee down to the boat from where they are tied to the lock rail above. Downbound one line at this location was enough but two worked better. Upbound I tried to float one time and then tied up the rest of the time.

I spurned my idea of using my tow strap line as a single point to work the lines. The hand hold rail and the radar arch worked better than passing the lines through the loop of a line attached to stern and spring cleats.

It did work better to have the two lines one on the short hand rail and one on the radar arch so the lines didn't pinch each other. If you use only one line and keep it taut and perpendicular it should hold your boat straight next to wall. It can take some real pulling to keep it tight, though, (for us more experienced guys, younger guys or women should have plenty of strength) so using two lines was better for me.

Thanks everyone for your kind words on the photos. I will get some better quality ones up on this site, etc. This trip was great fun and eleven nights on the boat was a treat not an ordeal. The boat ran great, (no leaks for those that recall my redoing the stemguard). I encountered an hour of waves on Lake Pepin to keep me feeling at home, but mainly got to boat every day, see new stuff every day, never got shut in port by September weather, met some new friends. Never saw a boat on the river I would swap with from houseboat to tupperware yacht, well maybe that steam dredge at the museum.

Regards, Mark

[JamesTXSD]

Nice photo essay, Mark! Looks like you had a wonderful trip; thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

[C-batical]

Mark:\

I agree with all before me - great adventure and super job of documentation.

You mentioned seeing a couple of canoes along the way. Since we both hail from Michigan and are a few years beyond our 20's, for me a few more than you, I thought I would share what an old guy from our state did when he was in his 60's. His name is Verlen Kruger and he paddled his canoe down the Mississippi, 2,043 miles from Lake Itasca to Mile Zero, Gulf of Mexico in 23 days, 10 hours, 20 minutes - - April 27 to May 20, 1984 -- A Guinness World Record. My old age, interest in building kayaks, and paddling drew me to following the exploits Verlen over the years. Verlen passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 82. He lived in the Lansing, MI area which is close to me. His family still builds canoes of his design. For those interested in
reading more of this remarkable man, see the following website:http://www.krugercanoes.com
His accomplishments and philosophy of life are an inspiration to all of us old codgers.

Best regards,
Rollie/C-Batical

[MOOSE]

Rollie, I recall reading about Verlen and his son-in-law's adventures in Canoe Magazine back in the early 80s. The magazine chronicled their epic trip, each in their own C-1 kayak-type canoes. If I remember correctly, and without digging out an atlas, I believe they left New York, paddled down the eastern seaboard, across the Gulf, up the Mississippi, then across Canada and into the MacKenzie, up the Porcupine, down the Yukon, down the west coast, around Baja, up the Colorado (!), into the Green, down the Missouri, across the Great Lakes and back to New York. I think it took them three years to make the 20+ thousand mile trip. These guys make William Least-Heat Moon seem like a dilatante.
Al