Watery Treadmill

This weekend I took my new kayak out.  Why?  For exercise, building up my muscles and tough hands for the Mississippi Challenge at the end of this month, and to enjoy being on the water.  On Saturday night I tried navigating the Rum River.  I have only been on lakes so far this year. I put in at a riverside  park in Andover that is just a little bit north of where I live.  I thought they had a boat access there.  They have a paved path down to the river but you can't drive down it.  A post blocks the way.  Why have a paved path down to the river if you can't drive on it?  Is someone supposed to bike across?  I pulled my kayak through the grass down to the river.  Because the water was high, there is no sandy shore there anymore, only a high grassy bank.  I set the kayak down in the water and stepped down from the high grassy bank.  Getting in on a sandy shore is much easier.  As I sat down in the kayak I realized that it would be much more difficult getting out than getting in.  Seconds after that thought I realized I had forgotten my life preserver in the car.  Rats. I paddled away anyway.  I headed upriver first  I want the hard work of padding against the current over with because I would be up a crick if the water was flowing faster than I could paddle.  I didn't put get out on the river until 8 so I knew I should start heading back by 9 or sooner.  As I paddled upstream, I saw lots of cedar waxwings. A belted kingfisher played hide and seek with me.  I paddled as far as the confluence of Trott Brook and then coasted back to the park.  What a beautiful night.  I feel truly relaxed when I am on the water watching the scenery.  I found a shallow part of river just a few feet from where I put in.  I stopped on the shallow part and got out of the kayak.  My foot sank in river mud halfway up my calf.  Ewwww.  I pulled my foot out of the sucking muck and as I walked, I could see frogs and other critters burrowing out of the river mud trying to escape me.  That was too gross.  I couldn't watch.  I didn't want to know what I was stepping on.  On Sunday I got even braver.  This time I put it at the Rum River in Anoka and I remember the life preserver.  I paddled the short distance downstream and by Park Point, where the Mississippi meets the Rum, I paddled up the Mississippi.  This was not the quiet, relaxing trip like Saturday night.  This trip had jet skis, jet boats, and pontoons.  I passed a family who was fishing and having a picnic at Park Point.  As I paddled upstream, I noticed right away that the water flow was fast.  One section of the river was full of waves.  Maybe the waves were bouncing off the Highway 169 bridge and ricocheting here. I didn't know why the water was so rough there but I struggled past it.  The sun was behind the clouds but I was really hot.  I noticed I still wasn't past the park yet.  The dock that the park usually has out was not set up.  High water levels had made it almost impossible for river docks this year.  I kept paddling.  By looking ahead to the bridge, I thought I was making progress.  Then I glanced to the side and saw I was still by the park - I hadn't moved at all.  So I paddled harder.  I pushed vigorously on each side while stepping off my foot rests to give added umph to each stroke.  I did this for another five minutes, certain I was closer to the bridge.  I looked to the side and I was still at nearly the same place!  I couldn't believe I hadn't moved farther upstream. What is this?  Some kind of watery treadmill?  I set off again. Within minutes my face was drenched with sweat from the effort.  I am still at the same place.  And if I stopped to wipe the sweat off my face with my shirt, I would surely loose quite a bit of ground.  Extreme effort+no progress=no fun.  Using my paddle as a rudder I quickly turned around and in about one minute I was back into the Rum.  I passed the fishing family again.  They had been watching me struggle against the current.  I told them I would try again when the water level went down.  They suggested I try a lake.  Since I couldn't progress on the Mississippi and I wasn't ready to get out yet, I kayaked up the Rum. I saw one set of goose parents with 20 goslings.  Was this a goosey day care or can one couple lay that many eggs? I went under the pedestrian bridge where I remember spending a full morning watching turtles with Offspring #1 in the spring of 1989.  I had to go to the nearby clinic that day for a pregnancy glucose test.  Every hour, for about 4 hours, I had to drink some nasty sweet stuff and have blood drawn.  Since we didn't have time to go home, Offspring #1 and I spent the hours inbetween blood draws on the bridge watching turtles.  I continued paddling until I went under the Main Street bridge.  I saw the swallow's mud nests attached to the bridge deck.  I paddled near the dam before turning the kayak around and floating back to the boat access.  I was determined to make this trip last and not hurry.  I have gotten more than my money's worth of enjoyment out of that kayak purchase already.