Starting just below St. Anthony's dam at Bohemian Flats
I started blogging and re-organizing at 5am, eagerly anticipating Nick’s (my boyfriend) arrival. I had planned on picking Nick up with Brad in the morning and heading straight to the river, but all my reorganizing took so long we didn’t get going until 5pm. Nick joked that he wanted as much adversity and adventure packed into the weekend as possible—storms? Bring it! Nick rented a kayak for the weekend and I was able to get a few camping items (mesh ditty bags to replace plastic grocery bags I’d been using, which were falling apart; a Nalgene bottle—a mouth large enough to pour protein shake mix into; and some Nik-wax to re-waterproof my tent fly).
Truly, the first In-City paddling experience I've had. The river here is banked by sandy beaches and sheer rock cliffs. By the time we got to Lock and Dam #1, it was closed for the evening. A couple drunk river paddlers were also expecting to lock through, and were vociferously upset when they realized they wouldn’t be able to make it through. Nick and I paddled upstream to a campsite I had scouted as we paddled down. Someone had put a long rock on its end, bolstered it with two heavy large rocks at its base, and balanced 2 large flat rocks on top, so it was like a small countertop. A perfect place to use my new stove for the first time! I cut up the onion that I’d had in my bag this past month, and in so doing, sliced my thumb. Doh. Nick finished cutting the onion, and we enjoyed a hot meal of black bean pasta with spaghetti sauce, parmesan, onions and fresh green beans from Brad’s garden. A veritable feast! As we were cooking the drunkards showed up, cursing and angry at one another, but luckily, they were able to find a pathway through our camp, and dragged their boats up the hillside, and out of our vicinity. So, there was no storm, but I did my best to provide Nick with adventure by having to paddle upstream to camp, deal with drunks, and bandage my thumb on the first evening.
Truly, the first In-City paddling experience I've had. The river here is banked by sandy beaches and sheer rock cliffs. By the time we got to Lock and Dam #1, it was closed for the evening. A couple drunk river paddlers were also expecting to lock through, and were vociferously upset when they realized they wouldn’t be able to make it through. Nick and I paddled upstream to a campsite I had scouted as we paddled down. Someone had put a long rock on its end, bolstered it with two heavy large rocks at its base, and balanced 2 large flat rocks on top, so it was like a small countertop. A perfect place to use my new stove for the first time! I cut up the onion that I’d had in my bag this past month, and in so doing, sliced my thumb. Doh. Nick finished cutting the onion, and we enjoyed a hot meal of black bean pasta with spaghetti sauce, parmesan, onions and fresh green beans from Brad’s garden. A veritable feast! As we were cooking the drunkards showed up, cursing and angry at one another, but luckily, they were able to find a pathway through our camp, and dragged their boats up the hillside, and out of our vicinity. So, there was no storm, but I did my best to provide Nick with adventure by having to paddle upstream to camp, deal with drunks, and bandage my thumb on the first evening.
We decided one of these stormwater caves needed to be flanked with Elvish runes instead of boring graffitti.
Small spot, but it's got a bench for sitting next to a fire and a special rock pedestal for cooking!
Cooking pedestal in action. Lovely bridge view.
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