Day 13 - Brainerd and the missing campsite

We got up pretty late today. Last night I had a strong moment of doubt. I felt really down. I guess after 10 hours of hard paddling, I was hoping for a relieve and comfort of a warm bed. But instead, the condition became harsher with the rain and the bugs. I really felt crappy. But when the morning came after a long rest, everything was cool again. We didn't get on the river until 9:30am, made 15+ miles to Brainerd and it's dam. Made the usual dam portage and went to town to pick up our mail drop of food and boat parts. Had a large pizza and Dairy Queen's blizzard. We were very happy. We then paddled a mile down to another bridge and walked 2.5 miles, each way, into Baxter and shop at Walmart for more food. After returning from that walk, we both were exhausted from the heat. We followed the map down the river and could not find the Baxter canoe campsite. So we pulled over into a wilderness area nearby to camp for the night. We noticed a few signs that says it is property of Baxter city. Since it was 8pm and there were but 2 hours of light left, we figured might as well make camp here. If anyone kicked us out, we'll just play stupid (which by the way is true since we could not seem to find our way anyway). After we finished setting up tents, we each chucked down a liter of water, and it seems all better. The site doesn't have too many mosquito, but it does have it's share of ticks. We will have to make a quick clean up tomorrow and be out of here. I think we'll take it easy for the next few days and do just ~20 miles instead. Also the reason is that we will have a few more portages to do (each taking about 45 minutes and wear us out afterward). Jeffrey is progressing fine and seems to grow up quite a bit. If he can maintain his current state of mind and appreciation of all things when he comes home, he will be so much more successful in life.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=46.310100,-94.283396+(MyPosition)
longitude: -94.283396
latitude: 46.310100

Brainerd's dam



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