Kayaking Au Train

I forgot to tell about our river trip! A bunch of us went down the Au Train River from the 2nd bridge to Lk. Superior. Nice leisurely paddle most of the way, except for the last hour when we had to paddle pretty constantly against the wind. It’s a very pretty river! Two of our group were together in an inflatable kayak which provided lots of laughs, you’d think that one would be the least likely to get stuck in the shallow spots, but it wasn’t! The sand around there is very loose and deep, so when one of them stepped out of the kayak to get it off the sandbar, they’d sink up to their knees and flounder around in the water, and of course the rest of us found that hilarious!

Some got out before the river opened up into Lake Superior, but 4 of us went the whole way to where we’d parked the cars. Then WE found out about that loose shifting sand! We all got out of our kayaks and promptly fell on our butts….I’m sure we looked like a bunch of drunks! I made it out and dragged my kayak up onto the beach, which was also really deep loose sand. I thought I’d go back and just get my feet wet to rinse them off but it sucked me in deeper and deeper…..me saying “oh no, oh no, oh no” with each involuntary step, until finally I fell right on my face in the water! Yep, that old lady’s drunk for sure. Well now I can say I swam in Lake Superior. Thank goodness it’s not horribly cold at this time of year, probably a balmy 60-65 degrees or so.

It was a real strain to get the kayaks up to the parking lot in that deep sand, and Jeanne hurt her back doing it. She’s feeling better today but had a rough couple of days, with everyone offering all the drugs they had. Hydrocodone and 800 mg. Motrin did the trick!

Anyway, pretty nice 4 hr. paddle on a very pretty slow-moving river.