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24th April 2020 CDU Newsletter 648
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I was paddling up around Sandy Beach on Saturday evening (Josh Richards was 100 metres behind) and we came across a wedding. It was probably the worst evening we had that week with cloud cover and a little rain.
Flashes from the camera of the photographer in the boat momentarily lit up the drab evening.
Just as I was passing I heard them giving their vows and the celebrant saying, do you take this man as your husband.
As I drifted on the lady in white gave her vows and the celebrant said, I now pronounce you husband and wife, Mr Mrs Collins.
The grandparents were standing on a jetty 50 metres downstream
There was clapping from the people on the water (keeping social distancing) and cheers as the happy couple posed for more photographs.
PRG member Jane Dooley on a mission to get to Barkers Bridge and back.
At least the Corona virus hasn't stopped us paddling. Photo Steph Beddon.
Several of the ladies in the Progressive Racing Group have been challenging themselves to a 20 kilometre paddle.
PRG member Izzy Combe and her partner Geraint Maddison looking good before they attempt a 20 kilometre time trial.
PRG member David Brown this morning on his way to Barkers Bridge and return, trying to beat his other times.
Tom Canavan and Tim Edwards are dying to paddle up to Bells Rapid. They are stopped by shallow water a few hundred metres from Amiens and 3kms from Upper Swan Bridge.
We need a lot of rain to be able to paddle up to Bells Rapid.
Josh Singleton
The 2008 spring melt in Canada was Josh Singletons first experience of world class water. Canoe Meadows of the Bow River, aka Kananaskis in Canada was the first place he had paddled in Canada (and in the snow/ ice) and home of the first white water festival he ever entered. Kan Fest - in 2008 turned into Mud Fest due to the rain but he had an absolute blast. He had never seen so many white water boaters in the same place before, nor Red Bull for that point.
He managed a 1st in the intermediate freestyle comp and made it into the finals of the boater-cross.
Josh had paddled many high flow, creeks, but since then he has paddled even more and represented Australia at several freestyle championships.
Josh is a Perth boy who went to Leeming Senior High School but like a lot of WAs white water paddlers he now lives over east.
I met Josh in the middle of the Canadian Wilderness in 2008.
(I had met him briefly before in Perth)
At the time I was portaging around a real long set of rapids on the Slave River which is regarded as one of the best white water rivers in Canada.
The day was hot, and my feet began to burn on the stony gravel road as I carried my heavy backpack putting pressure on my tender feet. A few kilometres from my put in point I saw a car with two play-boats on top coming towards me. I was keen for it to stop just to talk to other kayakers, but sped by.
Suddenly it stopped and with the dust flying, it backed up and pulled up beside me. A guy jumped out and amazingly it was a young man from Perth called Josh Singleton.
“I thought it was you” Josh said, “and knowing some of the unusual ventures that you have done in the past it had to be you”. When I noticed the Canoeing Down Under logo on your cap, I was totally convinced.
Josh, who lived only a few kilometres away from my home in Perth, said he was visiting his friend Dave Gemmell, who lived in Fort Smith an isolated town in the Northwest Territories, Canada and he was there for a week. The two met during Dave’s three year stay in Perth.
It was great to meet someone that I knew, if only slightly, and Dave seemed a top guy as well. We talked for several minutes, still hardly believing the chances of meeting up like this in the middle of nowhere. We chatted for several minutes and the boys mentioned about the ‘Spit Roast Pork’ night and said I should come along. Dave also invited me to have a shower at his place once I got into town. (I gladly accepted both offers and later they picked me
up from the river and enjoyed a hot shower and a party.)
They took of in a cloud of dust heading for the big rapids.
Since then Josh has become one of Australia's top freestyle paddlers.
A rapid on the Slave River, Canada. Some of the rapids are bigger than these.
A darter checking out the cliff whilst drying out.
A darter can spread its wings to dry out.
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The Mississippi River Expedition continued
Part 6
Wednesday 8th July
Clinton
The morning was very hazy but it was great being up in my tower looking down the river and seeing the barges slowly appearing through the haze. My accommodation was great and it was a bonus having a clear space with benches and no dirt or sand. My washing, which fluttered in the breeze was a little
damp, but dry enough for me to wear. My intention was to get away early but I decided to do a few odd jobs whilst I had a clean environment, leaving by 8.10am.
I load my kayak after spending the night under a raised rotunda.
It can be difficult to load the kayak in deep water.
Apart from the barges I passed a casino boat. It seemed early in the morning to be gambling. I left Clinton and passed the small towns of Albany and Camanche and stopped to buy a coke from a machine at a closed marina. The high water levels had played havoc in the low lying areas and many houses on the river’s edge had been
flooded, the ones high on stilts were saved, but people needed a boat to get to them.
Just before lock 14, below the community of Le Claire I was about to stop, but then I saw a barge coming up behind me, so I decided to quicken my pace and try to beat it to the lock. It wasn’t gaining, but as I passed under a bridge 2.8kms before the lock I could see 2 barges already heading in. Bugger
my chances of not portaging was shattered. However on closer inspection there was a lake and canal that went around the main lock which looked a shorter easier portage, so I followed the canal and portaged 200 metres around the smaller lock which saved hours of waiting for the barges to go through the main lock.
The locks slowed my progress, but it made my journey more interesting.
The 4000km Mississippi River.
The red names are where I am in these notes.
Back in the water it was only 17kms to the Davenport lock which had barges waiting to go in so I landed and went into the information centre until they had gone and then jumped back in when the lock was free. There were two locks here, one big and one smaller so when the green light came on I paddled
into the smaller lock. When the gates opened I ferried glided across the swift current to the city foreshore not far from a Casino barge. There were some shady characters in the park so I refilled my water bottles and moved off as a paddle steamer came by. As I was passing a section of factories a guy stopped in his boat and asked if I wanted a beer. I happily accepted.
A little later I stopped at a caravan park and bought a cool drink. Larry the owner said I could stay free if I wanted. He said he had all the tools if I needed to do any repairs. I decided it was too early to stop so I moved on and arrived at Muscatine Lock and portaged the 600 metres which thankfully
was flat ground. I spoke to two ladies and then some workmen on a barge who were working, 6 hours on and 6 hours off.
The last rays of the sun lighting up a towboat.
It doesn't matter what time of day or night the barges just keep motoring.
Below the lock the river was wide and calm with no fast swirly currents for once. The lock was in Indiana but the town of Muscatine 2kms downstream was in Illinois. It was near dark when I passed under the town bridge and where the current started to speed up. The town at night looked picturesque with
all its lights. Further along part of the river peeled off to the left and at that point the current quickened and in the low light I could see a shimmer of whitewater and hear running water along the bank’s edge. I tried to avoid being dragged down along the bank by keeping closer to the main channel but it was hard to see where I was headed. Then in the shadows ahead I saw a navigation buoy bobbing up and down like a yo-yo and being pushed sideways by the swift current, which I needed to
stay away from. I attempted to turn my kayak and fought to get to the right side of the buoy to prevent me from hitting it and from being dragged to the left and into the fast water.
I was relieved to have got into smoother waters, then I realised, although I paddled to the right side of the buoy I was still being sucked to the left and away from the main boating route. An island appeared and I realised I needed to be to the right of the island instead of being to the left of it.
Being dark I could only see shadows and my eyes strained to see anything ahead. As I didn’t know what was down the channel further along I decided to turn a complete 360 and paddle against the current to get back to the main channel, which I felt would be safer.
It’s funny how I felt safer on the river knowing people were close, but in reality I wasn’t any safer than being in the wilderness as I was just a dark blob in the river that couldn’t be seen. So my safety was still in my own hands.
The city looked warm, the lights were glowing and looked a spectacle giving me an invitation to stop, but although I would have loved to get out and explore it’s not easy to do that when paddling a kayak and no place to land. And if I did land then there’s the issue of leaving my gear and worrying if
it would be there when I return, so I knew I had to move on to find that piece of wilderness where I would feel safe.
I eventually joined the main boating route, turned a corner and within 1.6kms I was confronted by a mass of lights, chimney stacks and noise. A huge industrial complex lit up the night sky and it looked like something out of a James Bond movie. Multi-coloured lights, smoke stacks and piercing noises
from alarms, machines and the general running of the plant shattered the peace of the night. The lights lit up the river like floodlights at a huge stadium. The scene was such a spectacle, but so environmentally unfriendly, however it will stick in my mind as being another highlight of my journey. As I moved by, my imagination started working overtime; I could see James Bond swinging from one of the chimney stacks with the baddies close behind!
To my left a tow boat was transporting barges across the river from the refinery and joining them together as a pod. I drifted trying to figure out where it was going and as soon as it was safe I paddled on. Then just as I was enjoying the vibrant, mystical and environmentally unfriendly scene around
me the smoke and the lights of the refinery were suddenly lost when I floated beyond the refinery and out of the city limits and back into the darkness of a beautiful night.
Within minutes the noise had dimmed to silence and with the dramatic scene behind me I felt a sense of melancholy. I was alone again, although I was alone before, but the activity of the town and the industrial plant helped me to feel connected to some sort of normal life.
Heading into the dark wilderness my mood changed from being excited with the activity to a more subdued excitement of a wilderness. My surrounds now couldn’t be more different from the spectacle of the bright lights. The moon’s light reflected on the ripples that scurried across the river forming a
multiple array of patterns. Clusters of stars started to shine through as the clouds started to disperse. It was one of those perfect nights to be out paddling, the moon, minimal of cloud, silence, reflections and virtual wilderness.
I zig-zagged steadily down river being guided by the blinking of the navigational lights thinking how lucky I was to be out here experiencing the Mississippi at its best. I was driven on by the extra miles I was making and the fact I was heading to a campsite on my map. I checked the mileage by reading
the numbers on the navigation posts, but when I arrived at the so called camp spot there was a boat ramp, but no campsite. I climbed the levy bank and saw nothing only lights in the distance. I moved on thinking I might have the wrong mileage but after a few kilometres there was still no trace. Eventually I saw some pipes so I got out and climbed the rock levy and still nothing apart from two seats. I had to stop as it was 12.30am but it was a lousy camp. I started dragging my heavy kayak up the
steep slope, but I tripped over some rocks, so I took all my gear out to make it lighter. It was 1.15am by the time I got to bed. I paddled 121kms for the day and negotiated 3 locks.
Thursday 9th July.
It was really hot when I got up at 6.00am and to make things worse it was difficult trying to load the kayak on rocks. There was no sign of the park downstream only a few flooded shacks which were further along. I passed New Boston but it didn’t look much from the water. I was born and lived in the
country not far from Boston in England for 19 years before hitching across to Australia.
Nine kilometres further I came to Keithsburg and found a flooded campground with a toilet block that was a few centimetres above the water level. When I went to collect some water I found a shower that worked and it was hot. I even washed my clothes and I felt great afterwards. It was my first shower
for 11 days.
I decided to ring Bill, who I met on the Appalachian Trail and who lived in Burlington 37 kilometres away. I was in two minds if I should ring him or not as we only met for a few minutes on the track, but long enough for him to give me his number. I’m glad I did ring as he said it would be great to
catch up.
It was very windy so my progress was slow. At Oquawka boat marina I stopped to buy a coke but the machine didn’t work so the young guy sold me one from out back. I raced away and just caught the next lock as it was closing its doors and as good luck should have it, it only took me minutes to get
through.
Just outside of Burlington I moved under Burlington’s Great River Bridge which had a concrete single tower with lots of cables stretching from the top of the tower on both sides down to the road. It looked pretty spectacular.
I landed at the flooded boat ramp and went in search of a phone and rang Bill. Inside the tourist office I talked to some old ladies before Bill and his wife arrived. They greeted me with open arms. I had to do some shopping, so it was to the hardware store first to get a piece of pipe and they
insisted it was free, then to the camera shop and to finish off I did some grocery shopping. Bill’s wife was chasing around trying to find a place close to the river where I could leave my kayak, which she did, but first I had to paddle it further downstream and put it in a shed at the next boat ramp.
They then drove me to their home where I had a good shower and later Bill’s daughter and family came over for dinner. I only paddled 62kms and went through 1 lock.
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Virtual Marathon Season
The Marathon WA Technical Committee have created a virtual marathon season so you can still compete in races cancelled from COVID-19! All you have to do is paddle the respective race course as fast as possible, and record your time on Webscorer to see how you compare with others. Races include:
John Sims Race (AKC)
Upper Canning (CRCC)
SunSmart Paddle Challenge (Paddle WA)
Upper Swan Race (Marathon WA)
Click the link below for deatils on each course, submission links and dates.
Go Here for more information.
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