Author: James Knoll

June 11th, 2019 

We woke up before 4:00 AM to the sound of an annoying bird.  We would like to know the type of bird it is, but it stops making noises once we exit the tent.  

Paul made us oatmeal and we got on the water around 6:30 AM.  We did a 12-mile stretch to the beginning of the Sturgeon-Weir.  It was an awesome sight. It began with almost the first 5K being nothing but rapids.  It was an awesome time and it felt like I was a camper again.  

We stopped for lunch at a nice campsite and had salami and cheese.  Then we pulled up a rapid set and paddled some flat water but not as quickly as I hoped.  We pulled up another set and realized our bridles are slowing us down a lot. We undid the bridles and moved much faster.  

We did a quick nut break and set off to the next set of rapids where we saw a deal of pelican in the rapids.  We pulled and paddled up a few more sets and eventually found a campsite that was able to fit 3 tents. We had Thai ramen for dinner and it was great.  This river is very cool and challenging because the rapid sets are endless. This river should definitely be looked at by Kooch to send trips down.

#backinmyelement

-Jimmy

P.S. At the beginning of the Sturgeon-Weir a boat full of fishermen looked at us and said, “That’s badass.”

May 18th, 2019

Woke up at 4:00 a.m. and got on the water at 5:00 a.m. We did a short stretch to the beginning of Lake Winnipeg. The winds were not bad during our stretch across Traverse Bay but once we left, the wind/waves got significantly larger. We hugged the shore since the winds were from the northeast. Stopped for lunch around 1:00 p.m. and had PB&J’s. I was exhausted so it was delightful. At lunch we talked about how we were going to handle Winnipeg and decided that we need to get up at 2:00 a.m. since our progress was slow. We left after lunch and the waves/winds got even bigger. So, we did a small stretch and called it quits since it got steep. We stopped around 3:30 p.m. and camped just short of Poplar Point. We ate chicken and dumplings and went to bed early to get ready for the early mornings ahead.

#Ilovemyteam

–Jimmy