Red River

 Red River

90 degrees (a day to kayak in the shade), 4 hours, 11.5 miles)

Scotty had been planning to kayak the Boundary Waters in a week with 3 other guys. Last night, it was determined that boaters wouldn’t be allowed in the area due to fires in Minnesota and Canada. So today was a consolation paddle and possible regrouping. Nothing was determined because it’s so hard to get an agreed date with 4 adults and different schedules. In any case, I went on this paddle because it’s NOT flat water paddling, there aren’t tons of bugs, I didn’t have to portage my boat and food. (Some of the reasons that the Boundary Waters is not for me.)

Today was hot, and there were a few shallow spots, but all was manageable. (BTW, just 3 days earlier, there was massive flooding in Waverly, about 80 minutes south of us. These events are definitely happening more frequently and to me, a definite sign of global warming.)  We stopped at our favorite little creek for lunch. After one gravel stop, we saw cows ahead in the water. And shortly after that, we saw a small group of cows go running from one side of the river to the other side. Wish I had a video of that! And the best thing of all is that we spotted an eagle flying in front of us a few times. Wish I could get a better photo when this happens. More than anything, I enjoy being out on the river, seeing all that nature has to show us!