Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Day L2 - Mississippi Trip Planning
Trip planning:
Q. How long will it take?
A. Plan for 100 days. You can do it in 60 days, but you won't enjoy it as much.
Q. Do I really need to be a good canoeist?
A. Not really. You will do fine even without any canoeing skill. Though I would say that any skill will help. My little brother can't canoe for squat and still can't canoe now and he made it thru.
Q. What kind of canoe do I need?
A. Any canoe will work. I've seen kayak making it work too. A P.O.S. $200 canoe work too. With that been said, I myself paddle with a Winonah Escape 17'"6 Escape, kelvar canoe. The weight and the speed of the Winonah was worth every penny, but if you don't have money, any canoe will do. Though I did invest in really nice carbon fiber paddle from Winonah. They are about $190 and they truely worth their weight in gold. Even if you go with a crappy boat, get a light strong carbon fiber paddle.
Q. How much does the trip cost?
A. Hard to estimate, minus the cost of bring the boat to the head water and picking the boat up at the gulf, minus the bar hopping that you will do. I say plan for about $5-$10 per day. The more money the more fun you can afford, but no more than $10 per day. That also include us hitting the diners and buffet every few days.
Q. Can I stay in hotel or motel or camp site?
A. Don't bother, the whole river only has less than 5 motel near the river and the few camp site along the river will charge you $20 for a piece of dirt that you can have for free a couple of hundred yard down river. You will be primitive camp the entire way. There is no problem finding a place to camp. A couple of note, plan to paddle thru the twin city and not have to stop there for the night. The last dam, Coon Rapid, you really can't find a good camping spot, but the park at the coon rapid dam didn't mind me camping there as long as I keep out of sight. Plan to paddle thru Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Primitive camping cost nothing. The upper upper Mississippi, the DNR already has a few place set aside for camping every 10 miles or so, it will be on the map. After that, just camp anywhere without houses or human development, which is pretty much anywhere you want.
Q. Is there other ways to get the boat to the head water?
A. Nope. You need some one to drop you off. I've seen people hire some help from Minneapolis that they found on Craigslist to drive them to the head water. I've talk to Winonah dealer who has no problem picking me up from the airport and drop me at the head water if I buy their boat. But really, have a family member drive you up there, they can send you off, afterward they can enjoy the "Mall of America".
Q. I don't want to do it alone, can I do it in a group?
A. Loneliness is not that bad, you will get a bigger head ache when planning for the group. No one wants to take the responsibility of the leader, but they are all waiting inline to reap it's benefit. Good leader put the group first and his/her wants second. Go by yourself if you can't easily find a compatible partner to go with.
Q. How do I find my way? Bring GPS?
A. You don't need GPS, heck you probably get by without a compass, but do bring a compass. There are 3 section of the river: the upper upper Mississippi, the upper, and the lower M. The upper upper part is un-navigable by barge. You can get a really good set of maps from the Minnesota's DNR for free, online or the Itasca Park office. The upper and the lower Mississippi maps can be purchase from the Corp of Engineer for about $35 each(lower and upper). Though if you google hard enough, you can find the electronic version of their map. The Corp are really cool, I've seen them mail it to the lock for one of the paddler I met on the river.
Q. No GPS? How about other electronic?
A. You will have cell service most of the way. The only 2 day I didn't have service was the first day and the day when I paddle into Memphis. Everywhere else, cell service works. I bring along a solar charger, it charge my phone very well with no problem. I use the "Goal zero" "nomad 7 solar charger" with their "guide 10 plus" battery pack. It keep my iPhone charge. I've seen people use the Solios charger, that work too, but I like my Goal 0.
Q. What about the locks and dam?
A. Well you will run into about 11 dams where you will have to protege your canoe. They are pretty easy to spot and easier to spot if you have the DNR maps to help. The longest protege is about 1/2 miles, most will be shorter than 300 yards. a portage wheel will help, but you then have to haul it around. You then have 27 dams with lock. The first lock entrance will make you very nervous, but afterward, you discover there is nothing scary about it and you don't think twice about going thru one.
Q. Safety. Bear? Gator? Red neck?
A. You are pretty safe out there. Probably more safe than you are at home in the big city. The bear don't really bother you. If they do, they would be bothering your food. This means, hang your food if you are concern. Gator don't bother you unless you are flopping around in the water like a wounded animal. And the red neck (the bad one), I don't really run into them. I'm sure you run into them more if you hang out at the bar. Which leads to the next question...
Q. Do you bring protections, like a gun?
A. No, if I bring one, it would be for hunting or to shot somebody. In either case, I don't really hunt and I prefer to avoid situation where I would have to shot someone. I do carry a decent knife, but that is just my camping knife.
Q. Food?
A. I ate mostly grocery bought food. There are usually towns or city every 2-5 days. Small towns or supply stop almost every other day. I don't eat the commercial made camping food, too expensive. My favorite camp food (purely for convenient and cost) are a the single packet of 4 oz. dehydrated mash potato. You can get them at Walmart for $1 a piece. Each is individual pack, which prevent them from going bad should my dry bag get wet which is pretty much all the time, weights 4 oz and only need 2 cup of water to rehydrate. I mix it with a packet of spam (or a can of spam if there is 2 of you), or a packet of chicken, or a packet of spicy tuna. They comes in tons of different flavor. I also like diners and buffet. I try to visit every buffet on the river.
Q. Water?
A. You will find water every other day on before St. Louis. After St. Louis, the longest I go without a resupply is 3 days. We carried a filter, but didn't use it at all. Also, before St. Louis, every 2-3 day we cross a marina. Great place to resupply ice for the cold drinks on the river.
View Wind down the Mississippi in a larger map
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Day L(Lazy) - Reason for doing.. rambling
It has now been six months since my trip and i'm finally getting around to do a write up on my trip. You can skip reading the daily blog of the trip and read this F.A.Q./summary instead.
q. first off, Lam, you a terrible writer!
a. Yupe, can't hide it. I have to alot of better things to do than edit this. Like having a nice conversation with friends offline.. etc. But in my defense, most of my blogging are written on an iPhone, after a 8-10 hours day of paddling, setting up camp, getting weather report for the next 2 days, checking in with the boss, putting up with a 16 years old... only then do I have a few moment to jot down the blog. so there.
q. but this FAQ is badly written too.
a. Yupe, did this on my iPad while having the flu.
Q. OK, so you paddle the Mississippi, the question is why?
A. Easy, why not! but seriously, I've lived next to the M for 4 years now and i can say that I don't like living in the south anymore. It's the weather, some times it's good, mostly bad. So knowing myself better, I know i will not lived here in my olden days, I hate to have to tell myself someday that I lived next to that river and not know anything about or do anything with it. that's all, I don't want to regret the things that I did not do. seems pretty chicken huh.
Q. So are you satisfied with the time on the river?
A. Yupe, I have enough of river for now. Not sick of the water yet, just the river. I like to do stuff on land for a little while.. like bicycling across America, maybe down to Mexico to visit a friend. Maybe get my scooter and do the same trip (like bicycling without the sweat). Don't know yet..
Q. How can you afford to do this? are you rich?
A. Sometimes, but mostly no. I've discovered a long time ago that i don't need alot of money to live, seriously, how big of a house do i need? when i lay me body down to sleep, I only need a 3x6 feet of space (and that's on the generous side). I can only wear one set of clothes, I can only wear one set of shoes (by the way, i only own 1 sandal, 1 sneaker, 1 dress shoes, and 1 flip-flop), what more do i need? so to answer your question, I have more money than I need and obviously alot less money than I'd like to have. So when I do these adventure, I spent more time taking care of business at home than taking care of the business of the trip. To cut it short, I try my very best to simplify my life so I can have room to love, to enjoy adventure, to admire beauty, to appreciate people... and myself.
Q. OK, so you don't want to be a productive citizen and just want to be a poor bum?
A. Hardly, I believe i have to develop myself first before I can help people, I believe I have to live my life to it's fullest, before I can bring that joy to people. Have you ever hang out with some one who hates their life? they bring you down with them. For me, I hope I can be a little inspiration to anyone. That is my cheap gift to the world for now. I wish I could give more, but for now, all you get is inspiration, a prayer, and gratitude. And please , this may sound all high and mighty, in reality, I have to work at it everyday and have failed on many days to live up to this idea.
Q. Let's talk about the trip, tell me boring fact about it?
A. well the River is 2350 miles or maybe 2550 miles or maybe 2400 miles... it doesn't really matter each person you met will tell you something different, each official brochure will says something else. let's just say it's long. The river is broken into 2 sections, the upper M. and the lower M. the upper river is fed by mostly water from Minesota, while the lower river is fed by the Missouri River.
Q. when is the best time to paddle it?
A. start in June thru August
Q. how do you provision for something like this?
A. well you can haul everything with you.. Just kidding. you will pass thru a reasonable size city every 1-2 weeks. you will pass thru a town with a general store every 2-4 days. You can plan a mail drop at towns along the river. Just send your stuff to the post office in that town (prefferably near the water) with "General Delivery for (your name), Post office address. they typically hold it for you for 30 days. show up with an ID and they will give you your stuff. I only have done that once and I don't like it. Using the USPS forced you to plan your stop in town durring the week days and during business hour, it put to much stress on timeline. I just shop for my food when i'm near town and plan my stop each day as I go. if you bring enough for about 5 to 7 days, you'll be alright.
Q. What about the bears, the wolfs, the alligator, the red neck, the dark shadow in the woods?
A. Someone once says. "Someone told him that a fear of a bear is not a bear". humm...
Q. Seriously....?
A. we saw bear, it didn't want to have anything do to with us. we did hang our food as recommended. These bear are not as agrresive as the bear on the A.T. We saw wild large gator, and signs of many gators. But as long as we are not flopping in the water or harrassing them, they pretty much left us along. we hear wolf howl, but didn't see any. We did run into a wild dog, he was more afraid of us, but he was also the most annoying, always trying steal our gear and digging thru our stuff when we are not looking. We did meet one red neck that we didn't like, we just ignore him.
Q. Really?
A. yupe, we saw alot of animals; deer, loons, birds of all kind, flamingos, eagles, bear, gators, snakes, a few million catapillers, and people of every kind.
Q. What about the barge?
A. the trick in not running into them is to show some respect. They are about 1000 feet long 150 feet wide, weights close to 1000 container truck... we are 17 feet long and weights about 450 lbs. Just give them distance and everything will be fine.
Q. What about the whirl pool?
A. We see them, they popped up in front of us, some are 30 feet across with a hole that is at least a feet wide. we move away from it and didn't want to test the theory whether it can suck is in or not.
Q. You only did it in 65 days, is that something we should plan too?
A. We have to do it in that time frame because Jeffrey has to come back into school. Our iteninary is base on his summer break, we have to rush alot of fun spot and great people in order to make our 50 miles a day average. If I have to do it again, I would plan for 100 days. our trip would have been way better.
Q. Why did you took Jeffrey long, isn't he too young?
A. Yupe, he's young, he's smart, he's strong, he's all that.. but mainly, he's a pain in the butt. He thinks he's smarter than every one there fore, he always try to figure out shortcuts, when the shortest path is just do it. stop trying to get around the system. He's strong, but he's lazy.... he's good for 3 minutes. There are advantage to having him along.. I just can't thing of any.
Q. Then why take him?
A. He need to experience life a little, maybe a chance to grow. I needed to do things that is beyond just for me, maybe than I could be something more than myself. Don't think too hard about, just bring someone in your life that is less fortunate than you on a trip like this. they will be your bagage. But carrying allo the baggage will help you develop that muscle....
Q. Did you lose any weight? any health concern?
A. Well I did lose 5 lbs from the trip, but I also loss 5 inches from my waist. drank city tap water the whole way, never had diarrhea.
Q. Where do you shit? Where do you shower?
A. Well, I shit in the woods, anywhere really. It's quite wonderful, no shit where no man has shit before... maybe.. the woods don't smell like the dam bathroom.. the bathroom smells like the bathroom. We shower by jumping into the river. though we avoid the river the last 700 miles... too poluted.
Q. Where you in any danger?
A. No, i feel completely safe most of the time, can't remember too many momments of fear. We did flip our canoe in the middle of the river at the Sauk Rapid north of St. Clouds. had to swim for about a mile, but we live thru it and don't want to to it again. Almost flip another time because of terrible weather while trying to cross a lake. beside that, it's all good.
Q. Did you ever get lost?
A. Not really, the river flows down stream, just follows the current. the first week, we had bogs. I just look at the direction the grass in the water and follows the current. We made a couple of loops, but eventually, it work itself out. We also got the Minesota DNR river maps for the upper upper part. when that maps ends, the Corp of Engineer river maps was work. though the Corp's maps give too much detail, it's just a pint to haul that giants maps.
Q. What about weather?
A. The first week, it rain every day. it became quite pleasant the following 2 week, then follow by 2 week of heat wave. afterward it's just plain hot. You will find that you are more expose to nature out there and the weather are alot more extreme. Once we are no long having to endure the winter up north, we have either too much heat or too much wind.
Q. Does the weather affect you that much?
A. Oh yeah, when it was cold and raining, we just want to go home to a dry place. I question my motivation every night (god I hate those days). When it gets too much wind, the water become dagerous. We have to paddle against ~25 mph while dealing with 2-3 feet swells (god I hate those days). When we were getting the heat wave, temper flare at the slight comment. The little thing will set us off and we'll be piss off (god I hate those days).
Q. You seems to hate alot of those days, why continue a trip like this?
A. When you were going to school, did you enjoy it at the momment? for most of us, we hate it. But we all know on the long run, it does us good. I don't know why I stuck through it, but I glad I didn't give up.
Q. Would you recommend a trip like this to anyone?
A. I recommend a trip like this to every one. It will be something you will never forget, even if you want to. The thought of a trip like this will scare most people, but just go out and do it. It is alot easier that you think. The only question you have to ask yourself is "How much discomfort am I will to endure to get this?" and remember, "this" is great than just a braggin right that you did it, it's the journey, the lesson about people, the lesson about yourself, the lesson about nature, the anger you feel, the love you miss, the love you have, the comfort you will miss and learn to apriciate, and much much more..
Well that's all for now
q. first off, Lam, you a terrible writer!
a. Yupe, can't hide it. I have to alot of better things to do than edit this. Like having a nice conversation with friends offline.. etc. But in my defense, most of my blogging are written on an iPhone, after a 8-10 hours day of paddling, setting up camp, getting weather report for the next 2 days, checking in with the boss, putting up with a 16 years old... only then do I have a few moment to jot down the blog. so there.
q. but this FAQ is badly written too.
a. Yupe, did this on my iPad while having the flu.
Q. OK, so you paddle the Mississippi, the question is why?
A. Easy, why not! but seriously, I've lived next to the M for 4 years now and i can say that I don't like living in the south anymore. It's the weather, some times it's good, mostly bad. So knowing myself better, I know i will not lived here in my olden days, I hate to have to tell myself someday that I lived next to that river and not know anything about or do anything with it. that's all, I don't want to regret the things that I did not do. seems pretty chicken huh.
Q. So are you satisfied with the time on the river?
A. Yupe, I have enough of river for now. Not sick of the water yet, just the river. I like to do stuff on land for a little while.. like bicycling across America, maybe down to Mexico to visit a friend. Maybe get my scooter and do the same trip (like bicycling without the sweat). Don't know yet..
Q. How can you afford to do this? are you rich?
A. Sometimes, but mostly no. I've discovered a long time ago that i don't need alot of money to live, seriously, how big of a house do i need? when i lay me body down to sleep, I only need a 3x6 feet of space (and that's on the generous side). I can only wear one set of clothes, I can only wear one set of shoes (by the way, i only own 1 sandal, 1 sneaker, 1 dress shoes, and 1 flip-flop), what more do i need? so to answer your question, I have more money than I need and obviously alot less money than I'd like to have. So when I do these adventure, I spent more time taking care of business at home than taking care of the business of the trip. To cut it short, I try my very best to simplify my life so I can have room to love, to enjoy adventure, to admire beauty, to appreciate people... and myself.
Q. OK, so you don't want to be a productive citizen and just want to be a poor bum?
A. Hardly, I believe i have to develop myself first before I can help people, I believe I have to live my life to it's fullest, before I can bring that joy to people. Have you ever hang out with some one who hates their life? they bring you down with them. For me, I hope I can be a little inspiration to anyone. That is my cheap gift to the world for now. I wish I could give more, but for now, all you get is inspiration, a prayer, and gratitude. And please , this may sound all high and mighty, in reality, I have to work at it everyday and have failed on many days to live up to this idea.
Q. Let's talk about the trip, tell me boring fact about it?
A. well the River is 2350 miles or maybe 2550 miles or maybe 2400 miles... it doesn't really matter each person you met will tell you something different, each official brochure will says something else. let's just say it's long. The river is broken into 2 sections, the upper M. and the lower M. the upper river is fed by mostly water from Minesota, while the lower river is fed by the Missouri River.
Q. when is the best time to paddle it?
A. start in June thru August
Q. how do you provision for something like this?
A. well you can haul everything with you.. Just kidding. you will pass thru a reasonable size city every 1-2 weeks. you will pass thru a town with a general store every 2-4 days. You can plan a mail drop at towns along the river. Just send your stuff to the post office in that town (prefferably near the water) with "General Delivery for (your name), Post office address. they typically hold it for you for 30 days. show up with an ID and they will give you your stuff. I only have done that once and I don't like it. Using the USPS forced you to plan your stop in town durring the week days and during business hour, it put to much stress on timeline. I just shop for my food when i'm near town and plan my stop each day as I go. if you bring enough for about 5 to 7 days, you'll be alright.
Q. What about the bears, the wolfs, the alligator, the red neck, the dark shadow in the woods?
A. Someone once says. "Someone told him that a fear of a bear is not a bear". humm...
Q. Seriously....?
A. we saw bear, it didn't want to have anything do to with us. we did hang our food as recommended. These bear are not as agrresive as the bear on the A.T. We saw wild large gator, and signs of many gators. But as long as we are not flopping in the water or harrassing them, they pretty much left us along. we hear wolf howl, but didn't see any. We did run into a wild dog, he was more afraid of us, but he was also the most annoying, always trying steal our gear and digging thru our stuff when we are not looking. We did meet one red neck that we didn't like, we just ignore him.
Q. Really?
A. yupe, we saw alot of animals; deer, loons, birds of all kind, flamingos, eagles, bear, gators, snakes, a few million catapillers, and people of every kind.
Q. What about the barge?
A. the trick in not running into them is to show some respect. They are about 1000 feet long 150 feet wide, weights close to 1000 container truck... we are 17 feet long and weights about 450 lbs. Just give them distance and everything will be fine.
Q. What about the whirl pool?
A. We see them, they popped up in front of us, some are 30 feet across with a hole that is at least a feet wide. we move away from it and didn't want to test the theory whether it can suck is in or not.
Q. You only did it in 65 days, is that something we should plan too?
A. We have to do it in that time frame because Jeffrey has to come back into school. Our iteninary is base on his summer break, we have to rush alot of fun spot and great people in order to make our 50 miles a day average. If I have to do it again, I would plan for 100 days. our trip would have been way better.
Q. Why did you took Jeffrey long, isn't he too young?
A. Yupe, he's young, he's smart, he's strong, he's all that.. but mainly, he's a pain in the butt. He thinks he's smarter than every one there fore, he always try to figure out shortcuts, when the shortest path is just do it. stop trying to get around the system. He's strong, but he's lazy.... he's good for 3 minutes. There are advantage to having him along.. I just can't thing of any.
Q. Then why take him?
A. He need to experience life a little, maybe a chance to grow. I needed to do things that is beyond just for me, maybe than I could be something more than myself. Don't think too hard about, just bring someone in your life that is less fortunate than you on a trip like this. they will be your bagage. But carrying allo the baggage will help you develop that muscle....
Q. Did you lose any weight? any health concern?
A. Well I did lose 5 lbs from the trip, but I also loss 5 inches from my waist. drank city tap water the whole way, never had diarrhea.
Q. Where do you shit? Where do you shower?
A. Well, I shit in the woods, anywhere really. It's quite wonderful, no shit where no man has shit before... maybe.. the woods don't smell like the dam bathroom.. the bathroom smells like the bathroom. We shower by jumping into the river. though we avoid the river the last 700 miles... too poluted.
Q. Where you in any danger?
A. No, i feel completely safe most of the time, can't remember too many momments of fear. We did flip our canoe in the middle of the river at the Sauk Rapid north of St. Clouds. had to swim for about a mile, but we live thru it and don't want to to it again. Almost flip another time because of terrible weather while trying to cross a lake. beside that, it's all good.
Q. Did you ever get lost?
A. Not really, the river flows down stream, just follows the current. the first week, we had bogs. I just look at the direction the grass in the water and follows the current. We made a couple of loops, but eventually, it work itself out. We also got the Minesota DNR river maps for the upper upper part. when that maps ends, the Corp of Engineer river maps was work. though the Corp's maps give too much detail, it's just a pint to haul that giants maps.
Q. What about weather?
A. The first week, it rain every day. it became quite pleasant the following 2 week, then follow by 2 week of heat wave. afterward it's just plain hot. You will find that you are more expose to nature out there and the weather are alot more extreme. Once we are no long having to endure the winter up north, we have either too much heat or too much wind.
Q. Does the weather affect you that much?
A. Oh yeah, when it was cold and raining, we just want to go home to a dry place. I question my motivation every night (god I hate those days). When it gets too much wind, the water become dagerous. We have to paddle against ~25 mph while dealing with 2-3 feet swells (god I hate those days). When we were getting the heat wave, temper flare at the slight comment. The little thing will set us off and we'll be piss off (god I hate those days).
Q. You seems to hate alot of those days, why continue a trip like this?
A. When you were going to school, did you enjoy it at the momment? for most of us, we hate it. But we all know on the long run, it does us good. I don't know why I stuck through it, but I glad I didn't give up.
Q. Would you recommend a trip like this to anyone?
A. I recommend a trip like this to every one. It will be something you will never forget, even if you want to. The thought of a trip like this will scare most people, but just go out and do it. It is alot easier that you think. The only question you have to ask yourself is "How much discomfort am I will to endure to get this?" and remember, "this" is great than just a braggin right that you did it, it's the journey, the lesson about people, the lesson about yourself, the lesson about nature, the anger you feel, the love you miss, the love you have, the comfort you will miss and learn to apriciate, and much much more..
Well that's all for now
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