A Hot Day on the Mississippi River

Details: Created: Monday, 18 July 2022 17:46

A Hot Day on the Mississippi River

On Sunday, July 10^th 2022, two club members enjoyed a hot, sunny day by paddling the Mississippi River from Pakenham beach to Blakeney Rapids return. When we departed from the beach it was empty. The water level was low compared to other times we had been there. We saw a young deer along the side of the river. We watched a large frog or toad, saw a beaver lodge and several great blue herons. We noticed that a small island we had seen on previous trips was now connected to land! Blakeney Rapids is a beautiful spot. We ate our lunches. Some people were swimming in the calm water. We saw large rapids, but not as large as they had been in the spring. We explored the trails and found little bridges, picnic tables, a campfire area and scenic views over rapids.

There were a few motor boats and pontoon boats along this section of the Mississippi River as well as other canoes and kayaks. On our return trip we took a side channel and went through a culvert under County Road 29. We didn’t get very far before we ran out of water and had to turn around. When we returned to the Pakenham beach it was crowded with people enjoying picnics. The parking area had a lot of vehicles. We had paddled about 18 km. A stop for ice cream at a very busy Scoops in the town of Pakenham completed our day.

Submitted by Karen H

14 InReach Map Pakenham July 2022 Edit