As if it wasn't enough to spend 4 hours on the water with a bunch of great people! This river is absolutely stunningly beautiful! The banks are dotted with a variety of wild flowers. So many different plant species are at home here. The leaves were just starting to turn. Who cares that it was a little nippier than we are used to in the middle of September! Pictures don't do it justice, so color them out with your fantasie!
Ben at the put in (River Falls, WI).
Jim fine tuning the outfitting. As I said to one of my colleagues at work. A whitewater kayak should fit snugger than a pair of speedos! (For some reason he blushed :-)
What is it with adults taking pictures of kids with worms?
Bea and Ben.
And we're off. Jay, Grit and Ben leading the way.
Kayakers and fishers in perfect harmony.
We were shoo-ing a great big gray heron just a few yards ahead of us along the river and we saw a king fisher, my first!
Kathi, the Hawkinsons and Bea.
Strechies at the half way point. Aparently a good spot for grillin' brats on colder days :-)
Kathi & Jim.
Jay & Grit.
Bea and Jim manuevering some tight spots.The Kinnie is not very pushy and not scary at all, but it sure has a great amount of technical stuff to have fun with!!! Tight corners, sharp eddy lines strainers to make a wide berth around. I repeat wide berths around strainers!
I had an educational encounter with a strainer. It all went well, but it could have gone differently. Luckily there was nothing to hold me up under water, so I popped right back up again after the tree trunk, but again that could have gone the other way. Why did I think I needed to be so close to it in the first place? Well, earlier on there was a tree we limbo-ed our way under, BUT that was a completely DIFFERENT situation: no current! No current: limbo away as you please as long as you have backup for safety. Current: Stay the H#LL away from the strainer!
Anyway, you could easily make a whole long day of paddling of it on the Kinnie without ever being scared, but with honing those skills like nobody's business!
Oh, and other thing that makes me happy: getting into dry warm clothes and snuggling up in comfy fleece after being wet and cold. Its those basic little things that are just unbeatable!
I sure hope to get down the Kinnie at least one more time this fall, more often would be even better! Maybe a canoe supported trip with the grillin' of sausages on the beach! Wouldn't that be fun!
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