Trials and tribulations

The days follow bemidji have been full of bitter cold and none stop light showers that in addition to the choppy waters of cass lake and the labyrinth of bogs in route to lake Winnibigoshish have equated in some of the more testing times of my patients and preservation in my adult life. I've managed to keep optimistic and it's made all the difference! Aside from the weather we came across a pleasant change in luck, we stop to have lunch on this boat landing at Beckers resort camp ground after a little small talk the owners Doug and Nancy Andresen offered us hot showers and a ride around the lake for a small fee. Upon ariving at the new camp ground we talked to the host Bubby who offered us the tent we are using as our shelter for the night along with anything else we need because his camp ground was full, Chad said it best "this trip has restored my faith in people" thank you everyone, heres photos of us in our cold weather get ups, the Andresens, and good ol' bubby!

Lake bemidji

...Gage...yesterday was our first day of sunshine, and what a beautiful day it was! The view kayaking down the river is amazing. So many hills and the greenest grass you will ever see. Since it was such a nice day we decided to make it all the way to a town called bemidji, a 30 mile trip. After all the turns down the river and battling huge wake in two different lakes we were pretty exhausted when we got to our destination. And come to find out we when we got thier, the place we thought we were going to camp at was still another couple of miles across the lake. Nobody was feelin doing that, so wefound this tiny patch of woods right behind this university and neighborhood. There was also a little trail through the stretch that people went walking through, which we slept about a foot away from. Pretty sketchy. All night I was waiting for a bum to try to jack me for stuff. We tied our kayaks up to some trees and left them in the water. It turned out to be pretty straight. Me and Galen walked into town and grabbed a burger which was amazing! I'm talkin waiters mushrooms,cheese, thick bacon, and onion rings on the burger. Incredible! Ranger danger Chad stayed behind and did his things and watched over camp. We Grabbed a few beers, drank them at camp and went to sleep. Woke up and resupplied in town, then hit a quick 5 miles up to another camp site. Might storm starting tomorrow through the weekend so we might be chillen at this spot for a couple days. Should be interesting. We would all liketo thank Eric at the university's kayak shop for helping us find a place to sleep and watching over our kayaks when we went get some things on town. Got a few pics below of some statues in the town, ole big blue!

Hey everyone sorry between lack of service and decent weather I haven't had a chance to update. Day one was wet with scattered showers and overcast, today was cover cast and freezing! Despite the weather challenges it's been pretty fun between the tunnel and rapids I feel like it's an amusement park ride. In other news Gage was the first to flip that is all for now here's some photos!

Maidan voyage

It's official we are in route! First stop reliance, TN for big mountain run motorcycle festival, tomorrow up to Chicago, and then finally lake itasca. Here's a few pics of us getting all packed up. Before After .

05/09/11 Intro/Dry run

Hello my name is Galen Bowles, me and two friends Chad Smith and Gage Hearn are kayaking down the Mississippi river starting in Lake Itasca, Minnesota and ending in Nachez, Mississippi. This blog will document our adventure down the river.

Me

Chad

Gage

"Dry Run"
Yesterday we took an over night camping trip to shell Island to get a real taste of whats to come and test out some of our equipment. The Trip was a blast and gave us a good opportunity to bounce ideas off each others heads. Heres a few photos from our camp site.