Hardesty Week 4

Editor's Note: Dave Hardesty of Cape Girardeau began his six-week solo kayak trip down the Mississippi River July 30. Hardesty will share the adventure with Southeast Missourian readers through letters he writes along the way.

DAY 8: Took it easy today, just 23 miles, so I could spend the afternoon in Palisade, Minn., a town about the size of Delta.

Of course I had to visit both cafes, one for a huge plate of beef stroganoff and the other for a banana creme pie later.

While checking out at the general store, I asked the clerk if they might have a mesh bag for laundry. She didn't, but said "hang on," went into the back of the store and came out with a mesh produce bag she had just emptied of sweet corn.

Perfect and free!

My kayak had been left unattended in the park most of the afternoon with kids and adults coming and going, but it hadn't been touched. My brother asked me who was going to watch it when I walked into towns for supplies. I told him I'd just have to trust in most people's honest nature. So far that has worked out OK.

Now, with a mesh bag of my sweaty, dirty clothes lashed to the stern, I'll have a pretty strong theft deterrent.

My goal for tomorrow is Aitkin, 30 miles away. It's going to be another day in the 90s. I thought I'd left that kind of weather in Missouri.

DAY 9: Left Palisade at 6:30 a.m. Still need to get faster at breaking camp so I can start in the cool of morning.

Made Aitkin at 2:40 p.m. and had plenty of time to set up camp, clean up and find a cafe.

These cooks along the way are going to feel better about their cooking or just think I'm really hungry.

I saw a bushy-tailed red fox just across the river from me as I put in this morning. Not long after I saw a mink, and just before I got to Aitkin Park I came across a fawn. It didn't move until I unzipped my deck bag to get my camera.

I had to wash the mud off the kayak this evening as well as in the cockpit. The river is so low in this section it makes landing and take off a muddy experience. Also cleaned it to get rid of an ant problem. I eat about four trail mix bars during the day and throw the wrappers under my seat until I reach camp. You wouldn't think a few black ants in a 17-foot kayak would be a problem, and it wouldn't if the occasional scrap was all they would take bites of!

Trying to reach unhandy places on your person to discourage a biting ant while going down the river in a 22-inch-wide kayak could quickly upset the order of things.

My map notes say this section of river flows through soft glacial sedimentary soil. Being soft soil means it zig-zags continuously.

Tomorrow will be a 39-mile day, not by my choice. The next 62 miles only has two campsites.

DAY 10: I left Aitkin at 5:45 a.m. and made it to where Half Moon Campsite was supposed to be at 4:45 p.m. I spent an hour paddling up and down the left bank looking for the camp sign. I finally gave up and was going to camp at a boat ramp nearby.

Then two fishermen who were unloading their boat told me about a place on top of a nearby bluff, and we checked it out. Obviously it was a popular place for tailgate parties. I was too tired to paddle any farther, so that's where I set up camp. A fellow came by later on an ATV and we talked about the site. It was where the local CCC camp was during the Depression. He was a retired millwright and lives just three miles away. He said he likes to ride out here and enjoy the peace and quiet. We have that in common.

Minnesota does a good job keeping the river clean. I have seen almost no trash since I started. I've found that singing songs that can follow my paddling cadence helps me keep pushing when the wind tries to blow me backwards. "500 Miles" and "I want to go home" are two that work well.

Tonight's camp is 326 miles from the start and a quarter of the way home.

DAY 11: Rain came into my dreams just before 4 a.m. I only have 25 miles to go today, so I pulled the blanket up and drifted off again. Then came the lightning and thunder like cannons booming. By 4:45 a.m., I was wide awake and packing everything in plastic bags in case the tent leaked.

Then came the wind. Did I remember to stake the tent down? Yes. And for the first time, I had even driven the pegs all the way down. The winds roar and flatten the tent down on me, but the pegs hold. Thunder crashes, lightning flashes. This is great! I wish I could find the 1812 Overture on my radio right now.

Riding out a major storm with nothing between you and it but a thin layer of micromesh nylon is a rush. Experiencing the power of nature -- whether it's a thunderstorm or a big river -- is also humbling.

We become so comfortable in our day-to-day routines that we're lulled into thinking technology has everything under control. Not so. That control is just an illusion, and it's good to be reminded of that from time to time. To him who is in control, thanks for the reminder.

I paddled in the rain for the first three hours this morning. Made it to Crow Wing State Park at 5:30 p.m. This park has a lot of trees down from the morning's storm. I was lucky.

Day 12: It's 30 miles today from Crow Wing State Park to Charles Lindbergh State Park, just below Little Falls. It was 325 yards to carry the kayak after unloading it, then try to put it back in the river at a park stairs instead of a boat ramp.

The river is so low the stairs didn't come close to reaching water. I still had to carry all the gear in about four or five trips, all after paddling 28 miles. I decided it was just too far, so I asked a guy who was watching people fish if he I would haul my stuff to the other side of the dam for $10. He agreed and walked home to get the truck.

When he came back, he helped me load everything and get the kayak down to the water. He wouldn't take the $10, said it was too much, so he took $5 instead. His name is Bob Frank and he is a Lutheran minister in Little Falls. He knows one of the Lutheran ministers in Cape Girardeau. I thanked him for his kindness.

Tomorrow, I'll hit Blanchard Dam, about seven miles below this one. The next day, there's a section of river with possible Class III rapids plus two dams.

I decided two dams and Class III rapids with a 17-foot kayak was more fun than I deserved. Tomorrow, I'll call an outfitter and arrange portage from above the first dam to below the second.

The river current is swifter now, which helps me. I had to watch for rocks to dodge most of the day. Should be the same or faster tomorrow.

DAY 13: A short mileage day, only 22.5 miles. I lost time portaging Blanchard Dam, wasting a half-hour trying to find someone to haul me and all my stuff the half-mile from one side of the dam to the other.

The portage route was just laid out last week, according to the men who work at the dam.

It is at least a half-mile long with three gravel roads to cross, a creek with a narrow foot bridge, a long winding trail through woods and another creek with no bridge, across a new parking lot and finally, because the river is so low, across a wide boulder field at the river's edge.

The course looked like something from a reality show, like "Survivor." I haven't tackled anything like that since basic training.

I dragged the kayak and all my gear up to the top of the dam road and sat down to eat lunch before starting. I had to really work on my attitude to get through the next two hours.

I told myself I had chosen to do this trip, and this was part of it. I called Marla trying to get over feeling sorry for myself. I got no sympathy from the home front. Oh well, I got through it and finally made it to tonight's campsite, Stearns County Park.

It helps talking to Marla every day, even if she has no sympathy for me. Tonight I've come 405 miles and have 809 to go.

DAY 14: I camped at Boy Scout Point 10 miles south of St. Cloud. It was a short day because the next campsite is too far to make before dark.

Looking ahead, campsites are fewer and farther a part. I may have to start using islands or taking a chance of not being chased out of county parks.

My portage assist guys were right on time this morning. After securing the kayak, they gave me a lift to a Laundromat. We'd agreed on $20 for all this, but when I started to pay them, they wouldn't take anything! Thanks, Grant and Eric.

I have a full wardrobe again and a good charge on my cell phone. I enjoyed a foot-long sub and an orange drink.

The river below St. Cloud really rocks and rolls for the first four miles. The wind blew my hat off and I had to let it go, hoping to catch it later down the river, which I did.

In two days, I should be passing through the twin cities. Today marks the end of the second week of this adventure. I had the luxury of my first shower two days ago. I knew I must have been getting pretty funky because I noticed the mosquitoes started holding their noses before they would bite me!

I looked at myself in the restroom mirror at the Laundromat and had to laugh. I haven't shaved since I left home and I'm getting pretty scraggly. I told Marla I won't shave until I see her again. She may not know me.

DAY 15: A strong current and 70-degree day enabled me to go 38 miles today. There was no campsite available when 5 p.m. came, so I'm camped on the south end of Goodin Island. I hope this is legal. Some islands are protected.

After paddling for four hours I stopped off at Monticello, Minn., for a plate of spaghetti and to mail some postcards and Marla's birthday card (very important).

As I was loading up this morning a large red horse sucker fish was in the shallow by me and never moved until I started pushing the kayak into the water. I spoke to it, but he didn't answer. You get hungry for conversation on a trip like this. By now I talk to all the critters I come across and mock all the birds. I tried talking to myself, but that didn't work. I just kept asking myself if we were there yet!

DAY 16: Today was a long day, 36 miles and 13 hours.

I was nervous about dealing with the barge traffic as I approached the twin cities today, but I didn't encounter a single barge. It was the Sunday boaters I should have been concerned about. Most of them don't slow down for kayaks. I had planned to stop at a campsite the map showed just below lower St. Anthony lock. It wasn't there. So I went to the next one a mile down, not on there either.

I camped on a part of the bank that I think is between parks. I don't like being in or around big cities. I'm going to put as much distance as I can between me and the twin cities as I can tomorrow.

DAY 17: I'm in Hastings, Minn., tonight. I have been treated so nicely since I got here. I asked two local guys down by the river how far the nearest cafe was, and they said bout a mile and offered to take me. The owner of a local marina said I could camp any place I wanted on his property and told me there showers were open all night. That to me is like saying Christmas to a kid.

About 20 miles from Hastings is Prescott, Wis., home of one of my mentors for this trip, Byron Curtis.

He is the author of "Bluffs to Bayous," an account of his kayak rip from Prescott to the Gulf of Mexico in 1991. I called Byron this evening, and he and his wife came over to Hastings to visit. We swapped info and jokes. He is going to let me use one of his lightweight paddles to replace my broken one for the rest of the trip.

Prescott is just two river miles away, so we'll meet at the Slip In riverfront cafe and trade paddle there tomorrow.

Byron asked how I was doing physically, and I said my biggest problem is the seat in the kayak grows more uncomfortable each day.

We decided the problem is that I'm losing my seat padding -- not the kayak's seat, mine!

I'm in the fourth hole on my belt and I started in the second one. Maybe I should market the rice and paddle diet.

About 530 miles down, 764 to go.