Yesterday we left the town of Melrose and paddled 22 miles to Spring Hill campsite. This was our first day with all of our gear in the canoe; previously we had “car camped”, using Todd’s family’s mini-van to hold all of our gear. Each day we drove to the put-in, loaded a bike into the canoe, paddled, and then I rode the bike to retrieve the van. At night we stayed in Sinclair Lewis campground in Sauk Centre. We did this because we didn’t want to have a fully loaded canoe to navigate around deadfalls, and because Sauk Centre is the only place to camp. Between Sauk Centre and Melrose we ran a shuttle using the van and the WJON news car, courtesy of intrepid reporter Abby Faulkner who rode with us the day before yesterday. Her awesome video is up and you can view it now at: http://wjon.com/wjons-abby-faulkner-paddles-the-sauk-river-with-veteran-canoeists-todd-foster-and-scott-miller-video/
So yesterday we woke up in the town park in Melrose and loaded our canoe with all the gear for the first time. We had a great paddle, with only a few deadfalls to pull around. We saw lots of muskrats, great blue herons, a huge Eagle’s nest, deer, cows, pelicans, etc. We had a great lunch stop under some Oaks. Spring Hill campsite was really wonderful—remote yet well-maintained. It is a canoe-only campsite and we had it to ourselves. We didn’t see anyone all day. We had a fire with wet wood last night and it took a long time to get started and didn’t burn very well, but it was still nice. Todd brought his solar shower and we filled it up with the old-fashioned pump in the campsite and hung it from a tree and took showers.
Today was a longer paddle and there were more deadfalls and rain. But we are now camped in Rich River park near Richmond, having gotten special permission to camp here. A family is fishing here and just caught a big catfish. We met a photographer from the St. Cloud times near the town of St. Martin’s and he took some pictures from the bridge. Today’s paddle would be difficult for most people because we had to get out and pull the canoe over lots of downed trees. But the river remains beautiful and again we saw no one all day. Also today the canopy often stretched over the entire river and shaded us nicely.
Check out our pictures too!
So yesterday we woke up in the town park in Melrose and loaded our canoe with all the gear for the first time. We had a great paddle, with only a few deadfalls to pull around. We saw lots of muskrats, great blue herons, a huge Eagle’s nest, deer, cows, pelicans, etc. We had a great lunch stop under some Oaks. Spring Hill campsite was really wonderful—remote yet well-maintained. It is a canoe-only campsite and we had it to ourselves. We didn’t see anyone all day. We had a fire with wet wood last night and it took a long time to get started and didn’t burn very well, but it was still nice. Todd brought his solar shower and we filled it up with the old-fashioned pump in the campsite and hung it from a tree and took showers.
Today was a longer paddle and there were more deadfalls and rain. But we are now camped in Rich River park near Richmond, having gotten special permission to camp here. A family is fishing here and just caught a big catfish. We met a photographer from the St. Cloud times near the town of St. Martin’s and he took some pictures from the bridge. Today’s paddle would be difficult for most people because we had to get out and pull the canoe over lots of downed trees. But the river remains beautiful and again we saw no one all day. Also today the canopy often stretched over the entire river and shaded us nicely.
Check out our pictures too!