15th May 2020                                            CDU Newsletter 651
 

Terry 0417 977 330

terry@canoeingdownunder.com.au (email)

https://canoeingdownunder.wordpress.com/  (website)

https://www.facebook.com/canoeingdownunder/ (facebook)

https://terrybolland.wordpress.com/ (trips & achievements)

Sunset near Sandy Beach looking towards Ascot Kayak Club on Wednesday evening.
 

Doug Hodson paddles off into the sunset.
 

Ramon and Marie Andersson.

Ramon an Olympic medalist in Sprint, a World Champion in Marathon and the

WA state coach.

Marie - a valuable member of the AKC Progressive Racing Group

who gets lots of secret training tips.
 

The King Family.

Such a great family who are part of the Progressive Racing Group.

Jane, Chris, Phil, Ben and Maria.

They run the Barchetta Restaurant 149 Marine Parade, in North Cottesloe.

Right on the beach. http://barchetta.com.au/ 

Give them a call 0451 324 139

Take a trip out to the Barchetta Restaurant.

Steve, Chris Hollier and Joy Douse back from a hard session.
 

Barbara Cammell and Veronica Haarmann enjoying the beautiful morning.

Members of the Progressive Racing Group.
 

Sharon Cobley washing down her Bettong at the Ascot Kayak Club after a hard session.
Member of the Progressive Racing Group.
 

Sharon and Chloe Thursday evening taking advantage of the beautiful evening.

Chloe is a natural paddler.
 

This morning Josh Richards and Ben Adams being passed by the Over 45 Paddling Group who are heading to Woodbridge Riverside Park for a coffee and cake.

Swans on the river near home on Wednesday evening.
 

Remembering Adrian Quick.

The Mississippi River Expedition continued

Part 9

St Louis

Tuesday 14^th July

Despite being next to swampy ground, a bank riddled with rat holes and barges as neighbours I slept well. A tug boat came along and a man started to take off lights that were attached to the parked barges. I expect the barges would be moved today.

I had planned to meet Gary, a friend I met on the Appalachian Trail, at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at Cairo. That meant after leaving St Louis I had to paddle 275 kilometres in two days to reach him so off I went.

Once under the last city bridge I soon left behind the city houses and moved quite quickly back into the countryside where posh houses stood on high bluffs overlooking the river. There were no houses on the river’s edge to get water so when a small river joined the Mississippi and I could see a few houses 500 metres upstream I decided to see if there was anyone at home. I saw a man behind a house so I went over and startled him as he was digging his garden. Roy who had been selling top soil for the last 9 months kindly allowed me to fill up my water containers.

I was travelling at 13kms an hour, it was slightly hazy, the water getting a little rough, but there weren’t many barges and the industry along the river was well spaced. I stopped at Chester just after passing the Menard Corrections Centre 100kms from St Louis and walked to find a bar as I needed to call Gary to make sure we were planned to meet. The bar like all bars was dark and dingy inside. You could hide away in a corner and no one would know you were there. One guy was a real jerk. He was acting as if he was Tom Cruise. What a dickhead. The barmaid helped me sort out the telephone and Gary wasn’t in so I left another message. I had made many calls to people along the way and rarely did I manage to talk to them so I never knew if they were getting the message. Would Gary going to be waiting for me at our rendezvous point. As I was leaving a man offered to buy me a drink but I wasn’t really dressed for the occasion, I was in my paddling gear, my hands were black from the dye in the gloves and I just wanted to get on.

Back on the water it was rough and it was drizzling with rain. There were five barge pods on the river and two barges that were headed upstream were waiting for three barges heading downstream. This was happening because the river was narrow and I think passing was a problem. A long train went by as the barges were motoring by so I had quite a show going on. I kept moving until dark when I found a nice beach with a nasty number of unfriendly mosquitoes. I paddled about 115kms for the day.

All of a sudden several barges passed.
 

Two more barges motor by ruffling the river.

Wednesday 15^th July

Yippee my tent was dry this morning, the birds were singing and I managed to leave by 7.00am. What a good start for the day, but I needed to paddle 150 kilometres today to meet Gary and that was a long way.

It was very hazy and everything except my red dirty kayak deck looked grey and drab. There was no river traffic and a deer on the bank stood as still as a statue as I floated by. It was as if the world had stopped.

For the next 76 kms the river was only 600 – 700 metres wide, there were no bridges, no towns, only one small community called Grand Tower, but the current was helping me to paddle around 15kms an hour to reach Cape Girardeau. The current was extremely fast near the town so I was really happy that I had white water experience especially when I had to do a big ferry glide to stop being washed downstream of Cape Girardeau.

I arrived at Cape Girardeau about 12.10pm after a few tense moments doing the ferry glide and got out at some steps next to a huge wall which was built in the late 1950s after a big flood. The wall now helps the water from flooding the town. I entered the town by walking through a gate in the wall and found a telephone to ring Gary but he wasn’t in again so I left another message letting him know what time I was expecting to arrive at the junction of the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers.     

As I was about to leave a man came over and said, ‘you have some guts going out there’. I must admit the current was a little wild and the water rough when the boats passed so paddling away from the shoreline in a heavy, fairly unstable long kayak was testing. This is when its best to be paddling a sea kayak with more stability.

I flew down the river watching out for the huge barge pods which were over 500 metres long but it was a group of turkeys on the bank that took my interest. I unpacked my camera from out of my dry bag and took a photo and in doing so I got caught sideways on a hidden underwater branch near the shore but luckily I managed to get off and avoid a disaster.

Barges were stirring up the water and one barge took virtually all my side of the river, thankfully I was in an eddy at the time and could let it pass, however I met another one and I virtually had to stay within metres of the bank to avoid it. The turbulence given out from these huge towboats create huge rollers and standing waves and being so close I had my work cut out to stay afloat. The force of water that is projected from their engines creates a swift current within the river. It’s like a rapid being created in a flat river.

Usually if the tow boat is far enough away their wash is no problem but when I am close or when the towboat turns and the rapid water is projected in my direction, well that is not fun.

I move into an eddy to get away from a big barge.
 

A small barge passing and creating a good wash.

Six kilometres before the junction of where the two great rivers met, there was an island. The main flow went to the right of the island but as I was getting close to where I was going to meet Gary I needed to go to the left of the island so I could follow the left shore. That seemed easy but as I approached the island there were rock wing-dams diverting most of the water to the right of the island. Some of the water was going through a narrow gap created by the wing-dam in the middle of the river and a wing-dam that extended from the bank. This small gap created a drop and a fast but easy rapid. A little further there was another set of wing-dams much of them in the centre were underwater which created another rapid that was easy negotiated.

The banks were still lined with thick trees that were impossible to see beyond. The two channels joined and within 800 metres I moved under a bridge. I attempted to get out but the bank was thick mud so I moved on between some stationary barges and the shore. I really had no idea where Gary was going to be standing so I just kept looking slowly making my way to the Ohio River. There was no-one on the point of the two rivers so I wasn’t confident that Gary was going to be there. I paddled around the point and into a current and the very windy Ohio River keeping close to shore so if he was there I wouldn’t miss him.

There were people on the lookout which I imagined were tourists and because they didn’t wave I continued creeping against the current along the shoreline. I was now thinking he wasn’t there. Then Gary’s wife Jan saw me and came running over with her two friends and their dog. Gary was wandering around somewhere searching for me.

I got out trying to avoid all the driftwood along the shore and by this time Gary had arrived. It was a happy moment to see Gary and his wife and being able to rest after paddling over 150kms for the day. My gear was thrown in the back of Gary’s car, my kayak on top of Jean’s car and we started motoring to Paducah 60kms away.

Getting close to the Ohio River junction where I was going to meet Gary.

I had paddled 150kms on this day.
 

Gary at the finish of the Appalachian Trail after walking 3500kms. 

Paducah was situated on the Ohio River. Here we visited the Hooper’s outdoor store where Gary worked part time and met the lads working there. It was then to the Aussie Outback Steakhouse for a good feed. It had dishes like Alice Springs Chicken, Victoria’s Fillet Mignon and some weird food combinations and of course fosters beer. The meal that I had the chips were laced with cheese and supposed to have been an Australian meal which I must admit hadn’t seen such a meal in Australia. No matter it was a great meal and I was enjoying being with a good bunch of people.

Gary lived in Mayfield which was 45kms away so by the time we arrived at his home it was getting late. It was great to have a good clean-up. I managed to get to bed at 1.30am.

Thursday 16^th July

I was up at 6.30am to find Jan was making pancakes and how delicious they were. We left about 8.50am but before leaving town I went to the super market to buy a little food and to get some cash from a ATM. We arrived at Cairo at the point of the two rivers at 10.00am and Jean was there waiting with my kayak.

A woman who was tidying the park came over and said I would kill myself paddling down the Mississippi River and I needed a permit. She said several people had drowned. I told her I had already paddled half the river and within minutes she drove off. Fifteen minutes later a plain clothed policeman came to see me. Luckily he was a much nicer person than the women and had no issues of me paddling the Mississippi.

By 11.00am I was ready to leave, putting in on the Ohio River. The Ohio River is 1579km long with its headwaters south of Lake Erie. The Allegheny and Monongahela rivers run into the Ohio where it starts at Pittsburgh, and then the Ohio flows northwest out of Pennslyvania, then in a general south westerly direction to join the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois.

The foam outriggers were used when the river was rough.

I paddled across the last part of the upper Mississippi River for the last time and headed downstream on the lower Mississippi. Although the lower Mississippi runs free and has no locks or dams to make me portage it is still full of twists and turns and I continually kept cutting the corners to save a kilometres. The river was from 800 to 1300 metres wide. That day I only passed one town that I could see from a distance and it was down a channel and despite it being 11.00am when I left I still made 100kms.

The day finished off with a beautiful orange sunset and for me to find a sand beach camp just before New Madrid at 8.25pm. It was a warm night.

A lovely campsite.

Friday 17^th July

Not only was it a beautiful sunset it was also a great sunrise. I thought about getting some water at New Madrid but by the time I crossed the river and back I would have paddled an extra 1.3kms so I didn’t bother. I later met two fishermen in a dingy, one was African American and they really had a southern accent.

The river meandered like a big anaconda snake, with bend after bend, long sweeping ones at that, so I spent a lot of time crossing the river and trying not to be half the way across when a barge was coming. It felt a long way to the town of Caruthersville and when I saw the town and needed to cross the river a barge was coming behind so I had to wait. By the time the barge had passed I was quite close to town and with the current being pretty strong and with a kilometre wide river to cross I was losing ground pretty quick but I managed to pull in at a boat ramp just downstream of some wheat silos and an anchored Casino boat.

I pulled the kayak ashore, quickly changed and walked towards town. Within 150 metres I walked through a gate that was part of a 2 metre high wall that protected the town along the riverside. A group of silos close to the river wasn’t protected by the wall so I imagine when it flooded they were vulnerable.

The town was far from busy, in fact it was quite dead. I ordered a burger and an ice cream and then asked if I could fill my water container. The girl serving me said I had to pay for water even out of the tap, so I cancelled my order and walked to the justice building and filled up from the basin in the toilet. Toilets have been very handy to gather water along the way. It was quite hot and by the time I arrived back at the kayak. I was angry at myself for cancelling my food order as I could have done with a nice burger and an ice cream.

A man was backing his boat into the water at the ramp when I got back. He had his sand shoes on so he wasn’t keen to get out and get his feet wet. I decided to help him but it nearly turned out being a disaster as the trailer nearly hit me when the guy lost control.

I left without that mouth-watering burger but I felt good as I chased a barge down the river. Some of the barges weren’t moving much faster than I was so I could sometimes keep up with them. Wing-dams sticking way out into the river up to a kilometre were becoming more common. When the river is high the water flows over them which means I don’t have to follow the channel and I can cut the corners but they do create turbulence and sometimes a rapid on the downstream side so I had to be careful which ones I paddle over.

A wing dam, (groyne or dike) is a man-made barrier made up of rock piles extending out into the river from the shoreline. Unlike a conventional dam they only extend partway into the river. They force water into the faster-moving centre channel which reduces the rate of sediment build up, whilst slowing water flow near the river banks. They were originally constructed to reduce the amount of dredging required. Although wing-dams assist in assuring that rivers are navigable, they can pose a threat to boaters as many of the wing-dams are underwater and difficult to see. The Mississippi River has thousands of wing dams.

I tried cutting between an island sandbar and the shore which turned out being shallow and a rapid developed soon after. It was getting close to sunset when I reached a corner at the same time as a barge and then 4 others came along. Their motors created a lot of turbulence, standing waves, swirls, eddies and what a mess I was trying to paddle in. I was very pleased when they all had gone by.

I had paddle 145 kilometers and I was going to paddle into the late evening but there were less camping places along the way so I decided to stop on a beach surrounded by trees with the company of a huge amount of frogs chattering. Bed at 11.30pm.

Wing dams extend out into the river and can be a hazard when I paddled at night.

There are no gaps in this wing dam so I would have to paddle around it if the rocks are exposed. If the rocks are not exposed I could paddle across them.

Crossing these in the dark can be very worrying.

Wednesday morning as I was heading home.
 

Cormorants flying around Ron Courtney Island.

 

Cormorants having a rest.
 

A speed camera at Point Reserve, Bassendean.