St. Croix River Canoe Trip

Weather today wasn't as good as last week's, though it was warmer. We got clouds, rain, sun and lots and lots of wind. And today we had a canoe trip supposedly down St. Croix River. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to upload and share this week cos we didn't want to bring our cameras onto the canoe and get them wet or worse still, drop them to the river bed. So just our brains to keep our memories alive.

Anyway, we were supposed to start canoeing at Minnesota Interstate park or something like that. Canoe downstream about 9 miles, i think, until we reach Ocesola. Roughly, that was the plan. We were also supposed to bring our own packed lunch to eat along the way. Because we didn't manage to pack anything last night, we bought a loaf of bread, some salami and some cheese to share.

The day started out quite gloomy, with dark overcast skies. As we made our way in the by now familiar COA van, it start to rain. Not a good sign. No worries, we haven't reached and there's a chance that weather will clear. When we got to the interstate park, weather was already clearing out. Good news for us. We got everything ready, loaded the canoes and had a crash course on paddling. And we're off!

After about one and a half to two miles of paddling we started to get hungry, so we stopped for lunch. And guess what?? We forgot to bring down our lunch! So, 6 of us poor hungry souls had to share York's packed lunch, 2 sandwiches. Pathetic. After that disappointing lunch, we continued on our way downstream towards our destination. We haven't moved too far when the wind started picking up, until it got so strong that it was impossible for us to continue forward downstream. So, we stopped along the banks and pulled our canoes in.

After some discussion by the guides, they decided that it was best that we turned around and headed back upstream, with the wind instead of against. We launched our canoes and paddled upstream, which ironically was easier than going downstream cos of the freakingly strong winds. Kelly, one of the guides, even commented that we should have started downstream and canoed upstream since the beginning.

At one point, the wind and current was so strong that Meibin and Xavier got stuck in the middle of the river. Kelly got worried and decided to go ashore and run back to them cos we couldn't turn our canoe around and paddle against the current. That was when i stepped on Wisconsin soil. Haha. Cos the river's kinda the boarder between Minnesota and Wisconsin, so when we stopped on the other side of the river, we were actually in Wisconsin.

At the end of the day, we all made it back safely, with nothing more than a few bruises, sore, aching muscles and sunburn. Overall, I'd say it was fun.

Gina