Tradition - St. Croix Valley Canoe Trip

Almost every year for the past 15 years or so, we've canoed down the St. Croix River in the summer. We start at the state park in Taylor's Falls and stop either in Osceola (2-3 hour trip) or at William O'Brien state park (6-8 hour trip). This year we had 4 people: myself, offspring #2, sister and nephew. Some years we've had as many as 10 or 12. Tradition (a big thing with the younger crowd) dictates we MUST stop at a certain rocky spot to have lunch. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to stop at a sandy beach? Ooooh, nooooo, it must be the same spot. The older I get the more difficult it is to get in and out of a canoe, especially when it is balanced on a rock! But I did fine. All my facial grimacing and nervous humming helps balance the canoe. This year the water was low. A sand bar, some years covered totally over with water, appeared to rise 3 feet from the water level. Some spots we could push our paddles against the sand to propel ourselves. One year, many years ago (early 1990's?), when the water was high, we decided to let Offspring #1 and his cousin ride behind us in a rubber raft tied to a canoe. Even though the water was high and the current was fast, that rubber raft acted like an anchor. It took us FOREVER to get down river and our arms were aching with the effort. We finally got the boys into the canoe and pulled the raft empty and we could not believe how much easier it was to move forward. I thought it would be a good idea to try floating behind the canoe, clinging to the rope. I had a life vest on and it was remarkably relaxing to swim along behind the canoe. But the water was fast and suddenly the canoe got pulled into a backwater spot off the main river. The canoe turned sharp and I, swimming along like a kite on a string, went long and straight into and over a half submerged tree. That tree and I became intimate, let me tell you. I got goosed like I've never been goosed before (or since). After that I was back in the canoe for the rest of the trip. Another year, (early 2000's?), when the water level was high, we saw a side channel and decided to take our 3 canoes down that. This side channel branched off toward the Wisconsin side after our lunch spot. Before we got around the first bend of the side channel, we had to lie flat in our canoes to get under a fallen tree. We ended up on a 1 1/2 hour side trip where we had to portage and pull our canoes over the sand about 10 times. We were so glad to see the main river again. But it was an adventure we still speak of fondly. This trip was a good one too. I heard about a deal on canoe rentals through KLBB radio in Stillwater. We ended going to the radio station on Main Street to pay for our discount tickets. We found the little office upstairs in an old office building. They were on the air and we could see the radio personality broadcasting from the office. We got $13 off each canoe saving ourselves $26 plus we got 4 free tickets to the Renaissance Festival. All told we saved about $100 plus we got to see a radio station and visit with a very pleasant and generous radio station employee. On our canoe adventure we saw the usual hawks and bald eagles, herons and egrets. This time we saw a group of 5 turkey vultures sitting on the shore eating some kind of carcass. I thought they were immature eagles at first because they are so large but they weren't as wary as eagles. I was very impressed with them. I've been so lucky this year to see as many new species as birds as I have. 2008 has definitely been the year of birds for me. It was soon after the turkey vultures that my nephew, spotting a "V" shaped limb protruding a few inches out of the water, decided it would be a good idea to ram it with his canoe. I, grateful to be in the other canoe, watched as they sped ahead. Nephew was paddling full speed ahead and Offspring #2 was paddling like she wondered if this as a good idea. They hit that notch at a pretty good speed and Offspring #2 lifted up off her seat in the front of the canoe and nearly went over the end. Then they both looked at us with wide eyes. I said, "That was fun from my point of view. How was it for you?" Nephew said next year he'll go around it instead of trying to go over it.