Little Chippewa River, Terrace, Pope County, Minnesota

We put the canoe in at the mill pond, paddled around the east bank and then went upstream. The water became fairly thin, we grounded out a few times and eventually turned back. We saw deer, and big fish in the river.

Hidden Lake, Lake Carlos State Park, Douglas County, Minnesota

This was a very small lake, almost a swamp on the west side of Lake Carlos in Douglas County north of Alexandria. We needed to put in on a small canal through the floating bogs at the shoreline in order to get out into the lake. It really wasn’t wide enough for the canoe and we had to push ourselves out with our paddles through the bogs. Once into the lake proper there was a lot of wildlife, especially turtles. We got close enough to one that was on a rock that Laurie was able to touch it with her paddle.

Red River Lake, Friberg Township, Minnesota

We were kind of wandering about, exploring the Friberg Dam area when we decided to put in at the portage access on the West side of the end of the Lake. It was a pretty windy day, but the area was actually rather well protected as the sides are fairly steep.

We paddled up the west/north side about halfway to the bridge for Hwy 3. We paddled up the inlet that went up from the north side of the lake. We then crossed the lake and had to fight the wind a bit more before heading back down to the takeout point. Laurie got out at one time and picked up a couple of freshwater clams.

It was a pretty nice, unplanned trip. Essentially it is on the Otter Tail River, and we explored the river for a bit below the dam. It was kind of rapidy for about ¼ mile, then seemed to settle right down. Like I said before the sides are pretty steep and it’s a pretty nice lake with some pines along the side along with the hardwood.

Otter Tail River, County Highway 1 at Oakwood Drive to State Highway 210 at Wall Lake, Otter Tail County, Minnesota

We went from the OTC Hwy 1 access down to the MN Hwy 210 access near Wall lake. Mike and Myra had gone that way before and guided us down. It was pretty cool, I was a bit nervous, and had some tough times backpaddling, but it was pretty cool. Mike and Myra had left a car at the takeout and we drove back up to the put in to get the cars and pick up Laurie, she guarded the canoes.

Mostly it was flat, there were a few obstacles to miss, trees and logs and rocks. We bumped a couple of things, some pilings on an old railroad bridge and a tree or two. We have a lot to learn about precise manoevering, especially in the area of communication. I get irritated and don’t communicate so well, Laurie gets sidetracked and doesn’t listen to my satisfaction. We’ve got a few more scratches on the canoe, but that’s no big deal.

It was pretty buggy at the takeout again, but the weather was pretty good overall. It was a bit windy. I’m marking down on my Otter Tail River map just what parts of the river we paddle, basically just highlighting what we’ve done. Apparently there are a few rapids down near Broken Down Dam, I actually need to take a ride down to look at that sometime as you can get to it via the park north of 210.

Paul Lake, Otter Tail County, Minnesota

We had breakfast for my birthday at The Station House in Perham and then went to Paul lake. We put in at the public access on the north side of the lake and started paddling into the wind to the east shoreline, figuring we’d get the upwind stuff out of the way and would also be protected from the wind by the trees on the shoreline.

We paddled nearly half way around the lake and found a nice beach to use to go potty and also try a change of seats. It still doesn’t work with me in the front, we just weathercock and go nowhere. We paddled around in circles for a bit and then got ourselves close to shore and switched back. We then started paddling to the west as we were on the south side of the lake going clockwise. But the wind had shifted to the north and we were fighting a pretty strong crosswind, we couldn’t hardly go anywhere without being pushed into the shore. We decided to head straight into it and across the lake south to north. The waves were picking up pretty good by this time too and we were pounding and splashing a bit.

We had to wear about a couple of times to keep headed into the wind, but eventually we made it across the lake, south to north. The further we got the less built up the waves were. We made it back to the public access and pulled out the boat. I got a bad horse fly bite as I changed my shoes by the lake, Laurie swatted at it, but it had latched itself onto my ankle and didn’t want to let go.

Otter Tail River/Red River/ Bois de Sioux River, Wilken County, Minesota

We ate dinner at the Wilken in Breckenridge and then put in at the confluence of the Otter Tail and Red, when we pushed off we zoomed across the river and were pushed down by the current, kind of a wild ride. Then we went upstream on the Otter Tail for about a mile or so, passing through downtown Breckenridge and crossing under Hwy 75. It was pretty cool to see the birds taking off in front of us as we went up river. We saw one place where the river went down a bit of a fall, 1-1-1/2 feet tall and didn’t understand that the bank between the Otter Tail and the Red had broken through at that one point on a big ox bow until we went for a ways down the Red. We floated back down the Otter Tail and then headed north down the Red.

It was kind of cool being on a river that is the boundary between two states, so basically we went from one state to another for the first time in our canoe, and also went from one river to another. We paddled down to the place where the Otter Tail had broken it’s bank to flow into the Red and decided that if we were able to get up the small rapids we would enjoy a trip down the Otter Tail instead of back up the Red. We tried it once and it almost seemed that we had made it and then suddenly we were zooming backwards and sideways back into the Red no matter how hard we paddled. We tried it again with almost the same result, but it was quite the adventure. We actually washed sideways into a rock the second time and I felt the canoe flex under my feet as we turned around back into the Red. It was exciting, but we realized that we had more to learn about rivers as we were doing something wrong.

So we paddled back up the Red and then up the Bois de Sioux, which seems more like a lake then a river. In fact there was a pontoon boat coming down the Bois de Sioux as we went up, they were really nice and offered us a beer. The mosquitos were really terrible as we put the canoe on the truck, we stopped at Dairy Queen for a Blizzard on the way one.