Beers Lake, Maplewood State Park, Otter Tail County, Minnesota

This day we were a bit more lazy, Laurie was pretty tired and wanted to talk. We drove up to Perham for dinner at the Station House and then down to Maplewood State Park. We didn’t get out onto the water until eight or so. We tried a dock launch as there were boats about using the ramp. I don’t like launching from a dock though, I found I’d rather bushwack a bit of shoreline.

We were able to paddle a bit of Beers Lake, two of the southern inlets, we saw a blue heron that flew by really close, in fact just over our heads. We quietly paddled over to his perch a few times, it was awesome watching him drop down and take off when we got close.

We fought some pretty strong winds getting into the more eastern inlet, it was pretty cool, but I’d not like to do it for hours on end. It got pretty dark while we were in that inlet, almost completely dark as we came out and back to the launch ramp. The mosquitos were able to follow us out on the water because we were going with the wind. I didn’t have my thwart bag installed so I wasn’t able to get any bug juice on. I should have put it on when I got to shore as I was really attacked then. By the time I got the boat on top I was heading toward the crazy zone, it took a while for all of the itching to calm down. We stopped in Pelican Rapids for a Dairy Queen treat afterward.

I try to go without bug juice to avoid the smell, but that always proves to be a mistake. I can get innundated within three minutes, I need to always be prepared. We need also to avoid dock launches, at least until I’m a lot more limber. There is much more to explore on Beers Lake, I look forward to going back sometime soon.

Hoot Lake/Wright Lake, Fergus Falls Township, Otter Tail County, Minnesota

We went to dinner at a new place (for us) in Elbow Lake that we found out was non-smoking. Laurie said that her food was good, mine was not very. We’ll probably try it again and I’ll choose something different. We then drove to downtown Fergus Falls and put the canoe in on Hoot Lake. There was more boat activity, and we almost hit a pretty bad submerged rock, but otherwise no incidents. We must have paddled around 6-7 miles, we went all of the way around Hoot, connected to Wright Lake and went all of the way around Wright. We had some trouble finding the connecting waterway between the two, it wasn’t where we thought it was and it wasn’t until we got pretty close to it that we found it.

On the south side of Wright Lake we saw two spotted fawns, very cute and a beaver swimming. He saw us and slapped his tail on the water in alarm, it was pretty cool. We got out on the south side of Wright to go to the bathroom. There is a narrow opening on the west end of Wright that leads to an Otter Tail Power Company dam, and it seems as though there’s a small park there as well. There is quite a bit of current in this part of the lake, we stayed away from the dam.

Paddling back we found some wind and got blown around a bit. Again, I need to remember to keep more weight in the front, it helps us track better into the wind. I need to remember to set my footbrace back one notch and get a seat/back coming for Laurie. Our Aqua Sox worked well, I didn’t get sand all over my feet like in the sandals. Much more comfortable. We used our Mountainsmith bags as thwart bags.

Annie Battle Lake, Glendalough State Park, Otter Tail County, Minnesota

After dinner at Elmer’s Texas Barbecue we drove to Glendalough State Park and put our canoe in Annie Battle Lake. I was concerned about overdoing Laurie so at about 1/3 of the way around I asked her if she’d like to head back. She said that she had expected that we would go all of the way around and that that was fine with her. So we kept on. There were a couple of young guys fishing at the campground across the lake, so we didn’t stop there. We did paddle through a lot of bullrushes, and learned that it was a bit buggier, and that there were spiders there too. There was a boat ramp and a couple of foundations on the other side of the lake too.

The best part was when we got to the stream that comes over from Molly Stark Lake. We decided to try to paddle up it. Laurie was more game for it than I was, I was a bit conservative. It was pretty narrow and meandered quite a bit, I wasn’t sure I could get the canoe turned around and didn’t relish the idea of backing all of the way out. But despite my trepidation we were fine. There were of course more bullrushes, and we passed a campsite with some people in it. There was a footbridge over the stream and underneath it had a bird’s nest, we could see the three little bird’s head peeping out at us. There were Red-Winged Blackbirds flying back and forth above us and occasional branches of trees that we had to duck under. Laurie was delighted, I was a bit more nervous. We didn’t make it to Molly Stark lake, that would have required a portage through some areas overgrown with vegetation. We were able to get the canoe turned around after a couple of trys by backpaddling into a quiet area and letting the current pull the bow around.

The trip out was almost too fast, not because it was scary fast, but because we couldn’t sightsee as much. But it sure was fun to go downstream, I look forward to some trips down local rivers. We got better with our paddling technique, but draws and prys will sure be nice when doing small rivers like the one we just did, sharp turns are not our forte quite yet. We paddled about three miles and were on the water from about 7:00 until about 9:15 or so. We came back in with all of the state park rowboats that were out on the lake, but I was the only guy there who was able to pick his boat up and carry it.

We need to figure out something to hold water bottles, and a dry place to keep maps and light jackets. Laurie needs to wear sunglasses and I need to make sure I’ve got my clear glasses along. It got kind of dark right there at the end. I think we’re going to figure out how to hang our Mountainsmith fanny packs off of the thwarts. I’ve got things figured out with the ropes and the straps and the location of the canoe on the rack, I’ve moved it forward quite a bit so that it doesn’t hang over the back, now I don’t have to back it into the garage. I also made the straps that peek out from under the fenders for the forward ropes to tie to. I don’t think the aft rope is very necessary, but it is, as Charlie said, “security”.

I was also able to finish my overhead hanging system in the garage today. I think I’ve got about $40 in the whole thing, you buy them for about $120. It works well, but I’m going to put up some security straps, or actually I think I’ll put up some static straps and use the winch and pulley system as the security backup.
It was a wonderful date nite, we stopped in Battle Lake for ice cream at Granny’s Pantry in Battle Lake MN.

Mountain Lake, Glacial Lakes State Park, Pope County Minnesota

We changed our weekend plans so that we could pick up our new canoe on Sunday, Charlie Anderson was picking it up in the Twin Cities on Saturday. On Saturday we drove to Fargo for the air show and spent the day in the sun, Sunday we slept in and left for Alexandria at about 12:15. It was the first time we drove with the canoe carrier on top of the truck and it was kind of noisy. There were many, many dragonflies hovering over the road as we drove east on Hwy 22, it was a warm, windy and very humid day.

We pulled into Charlie’s driveway about ½ hour late, he was taking the ropes off of that beautiful blue canoe we ordered. Charlie had wanted to take it for a paddle in the lake, but it was way too windy, so we settled for laying it on the grass and looking it over. It was pretty, and just as ordered; Dark Blue, Bow and Stern Sliding Seats, Foot Brace. We got busy putting it on the top of the truck and tying it down, it went pretty well and we played around a bit with adjusting the height of the rear “crutch”. Charlie showed us the nylon straps that he had mounted to the front fender bolts on his Jeep to hold the bow ropes, I planned to emulate them.

We sort of wrote off taking a paddle that day, so after lunch at Quizno’s we went to Walmart : { as usual, Laurie looked at flowers and I wandered about looking for something that the Alexandria Walmart might have that the rest didn’t (fat chance). We finally got out of there, gave Karen a call as we had some plants for her and decided to drive through Villard on the way to Glenwood – I wanted to take some pictures of that church that was so interesting to me. Laurie got irritated with me for not paying enough attention to her, I was irritated with her for wanting to talk and look in the windows of the church while I just wanted to think. We talked that through while we drove to Glenwood to drop off the plants at Karen’s.

Laurie remembered that I mentioned Glacier Lakes State Park south of Starbuck at one time, so we decided to drive down there. We drove around a bit and when we got to the lake we realized that it was pretty well protected, and as it was getting onto eveningtime the wind had died down. We decided to test out the canoe in “Mountain Lake”. We got it taken off alright, I showed Laurie how to arm her PFD and we climbed aboard. We accidently launched it the right way, I had not yet read that the best way is to bring the canoe parallel to the shoreline in just enough water to float it and brace it with the paddles while getting in. It worked well, I got my feet wet, but the only injury was to my socks – I should have taken them off in the first place.

It went well. The wind blew us about a bit, it was often hard to go straight, especially into the wind. I think that we still need to ballast the front of the boat until I lose some weight, even with both sliders. It was really a good time, we paddled about for around 45 minutes, there were people on the docks around the lake that we waved at, and other than the navigational issues I already mentioned it was uneventful. Laurie saw a water lily flower in the water on the way back, we had to paddle through some lily pads, and she picked one to examine, which led to an interesting bit of growth for me.
I was putting things away and looked over to see Laurie standing on the dock swishing the flower in the water. I got kind of irritated because I felt that she should be helping me get things loaded back up. Then I realized that I was doing what I enjoy; figuring things out, how best to put the canoe on the truck, how to best stow things; and she was doing what she enjoys most, exploring creation. So I went over to where she was, sat down on the dock next to her and confessed my thoughts and feelings to her. She got teary-eyed and emotional and cuddled into my side while sitting next to me. Then she told me about what she discovered about the water lily.

I learned a little bit about my wife today. I also learned that when it’s hot and sticky, simply sitting on a dock with your feet dangling in cool water is pretty nice; Minnesota A/C. We also learned that the best launch is a parallel launch. I learned that I may have to move the truck to have enough space to “swing” the canoe around to put it back up on the truck. We learned that Glacial Lakes is a great State Park and that we need to camp there sometime this fall. We drove home, snacking on salami and cheese for dinner. There was a couple with their two children stuck on the freeway exit with a leaky hose, we let them use our cellphone to call for help.