Central Iowa Canoe Club
Central Iowa Paddlers
Volume 5 Issue 2 May 2001
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This newsletter is a publication of the Central Iowa Paddlers, an informal group of paddlesport enthusiasts. The mission of the club is to share information, promote recreation opportunities and paddlesport safety, and encourage care of our aquatic resources. The group includes new and experienced paddlers with canoes and kayaks of all kinds. Pass the word!
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MEANDERINGS
The ice disappeared late this year, but there's water out there and it feels good to be paddling again.
We had to cancel the first river stewardship event due to high water. However, paddlers are finding that high water makes for a fun float trip! Early spring trip reports abound. Hope you have gotten out to see the spring wildflowers blooming along Iowa's waterways.
Be safe out there!
Robin Fortney - Editor
UPCOMING PADDLING TRIPS
SKUNK RIVER - MAY 19
You are invited to participate in the Second Annual Central Iowa Paddlers Skunk River Canoe Trail outing, to be held Saturday May 19th. This event will be held rain or shine (excluding severe weather and low water). We will meet at Sleepy Hollow Canoe Access (on Riverside Drive North of Ames) at 10 AM and shuttle to the put-in, likely E18. This trip may be
cancelled or altered if the USGS gauge reads less than 185 cfs.
Contact Rick (rsdietz&yahoo.com or 515-232-1484) or Mark () for more information.
DES MOINES RIVER - JUNE 16
Gerry Rowland reports that the date for the Runnells Bridge to Boxcars trip has been changed to June 16. Marion County will provide kybos and shuttles, but we still need canoe trailers downstream, so let me know if you can help.
TUESDAYS AT GRAYS LAKE
Meet other paddlers on Grays Lake, on Fleur Driver in Des Moines across from Waterworks Park each Tuesday evening form 6-8 p.m. This weekly event offers a chance to meet other
paddlers, learn some new tricks, and plan a weekend outing.
May 1 was the first night and about five of us showed up. The water and weather were a bit cool, but it was good to get out on the water. The new bridge is nearly done, and Robin suggested that we run the bridge pilings in a slalom race. Four minutes was the best time. See if you can best that!
Afterward, three of us headed downtown to the newly reopened Raccoon River Brew Pub to check out the new menu and beer offerings.
We hope to see you out on Tuesdays at Grays Lake!
Canoeing and kayaking are potentially life-threatening sports. Participants on trips promoted by the club must accept responsibility and liability for their own preparedness and safety.
ARMCHAIR PADDLERS SERIES
We ended the successful first Armchair Paddler Series with a presentation by John Pearson. John shared slides and stories about his recent sea kayak trip to Padre Island on the Texas Gulf Coast.
The Series was a fun and informative way to spend a Sunday afternoon in winter. Some 10 to 15 paddlers joined us each month. We will do it again next winter. Again, thanks to our speakers and to Jeff Holmes and his staff for their hospitality!
Start thinking about possible speakers for next winter. Please share your ideas with Robin at 515-277-1763.
TRIP REPORTS
Please send highlights of your trip to the Newsletter Editor as soon as possible after your event so we can all enjoy hearing about your adventures!
IOWA RIVER - March 31
By John Pearson
"I must be crazy", I muttered as I drove northward through sleet on my way toward the Hardin City Access, the designated starting point of the Iowa River Greenbelt trip in Hardin County on March 31. By admitting this, I was belatedly concurring with my wife's frank assessment of 5:30AM when I climbed out of our warm bed. In response to the dreary forecast of cold, wet, windy weather, I had received a steady stream of email messages the day before from people politely informing me that they would not be coming on my trip after all. Still, I felt duty-bound to make an appearance at the put-in site in case anyone showed up. "Yeah right," I thought to myself as I turned the windshield wipers to a faster clip, "who else would be crazy enough to come out in weather like this?"
Jerry Kemperman was waiting for me at Sylvan Hill when I arrived and stepped out into the mud. As planned, we walked briefly into the Hardin City Woodland State Preserve, shoulders hunched against the cold, blustery wind. We dutifully waited until nearly 9:30 for other paddlers (unsurprisingly, none came) and then decided to do the trip with just the two of us. We dropped my car off at Pine Lake State Park and then returned to the Hardin City Access. This is an odd, but handy little access that branches off of a driveway leading to a farmstead. Due to the muddy condition of the access, we carried our kayaks from the high shoulder of the main road about 100 feet to the riverbank and made a few additional trips back and forth for loads of gear. At the last minute, I opted to leave my second set of breakdown paddles in the car. (Mistake, more on this later).
Between Iowa Falls and Eldora, the Iowa River runs through an entrenched, meandering valley covered mostly with forest, punctuated occasionally by open farm ground - very scenic. The river was high and swift as we pushed away from shore at 10:30 under leaden skies. At least the rain had stopped. Although we could hear the wind roaring through the treetops on the bluffs above, it didn't bother us at river level. In fact, the weather steadily improved as the morning progressed. By noon, the sun had broken through, blue skies ensued, and the air temperature was approaching 50 degrees.
In addition to improving weather, our decision to proceed with the trip was rewarded with wildlife sightings. Within the first mile, we spied deer, a pair of redtail hawks (one of whom flew from a nest of sticks high in a riverside cottonwood), and a bald eagle. We also saw the first of what turned out to be numerous pairs of indignantly honking Canada Geese, seemingly at every river reach. Deer, too, were seen throughout the trip, sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs, and once in a group of six. One nervously plunged into the river as Jerry and I paddled around the opposite sides of a small island. Others: bluebirds, turkey vultures, and ducks (including mallards, wood ducks, bluewing teal, buffleheads, and goldeneyes).
Grey concrete pillars rising above the bottomland forest served as a somber reminder of impending human intrusion through the Iowa River Greenbelt when we floated past the construction zone for new Highway 20. Although our Saturday trip was blessedly quiet except for the welcome roar of wind through the trees, we speculated that this was probably one of the last times this trip will be enjoyed without the unwelcome roar of four lanes of 65 MPH traffic across the finished bridge. In fairness, it should be acknowledged that this crossing of the river valley is far less destructive of natural scenery than the original plan that would have sent it on a straight-line course through a wider segment of the Greenbelt, the one favored by many local farmers because it spared more farmland and used more of the "wasteland" of bluffs and trees. DOT also designed the present crossing as a "high" bridge that will not require trucks to noisily accelerate or decelerate as they cross the valley, thus minimizing at least some of the most offensive highway sounds.
At noon, we arrived at the lowhead dam by the small town of Steamboat Rock. Pine Ridge Recreation Area is located on the right descending bank just above the millpond. On March 31, high water flowing over the dam formed an 8-foot waterfall with a malevolent "whirlpool" at its base. Jerry and I put ashore on the right-hand bank to check out the route for a portage. Jerry, the more adept boatman, climbed ashore without difficulty. I, however, chose an awkward landing spot in deep water with the bank slightly higher than the deck of my kayak. Although bracing with my paddle, I overcom-pensated to a slip as I wriggled out of the cockpit. As if on command, the kayak rolled riverward and served me with an involuntary wet exit. I suddenly found myself standing waist-deep in cold water that was flowing toward the waterfall and whirlpool.
I promptly scrambled up the bank and pulled my kayak ashore. My wool, polyester, and nylon clothing kept me from chilling, but I was glad for the complete change of clothes in my drybag. After changing clothes and draining my vessel, I realized that my paddle was missing. After a few frantic moments, I spotted it...IN THE RIVER...snagged on an overhanging tree... only a few yards from the lip of the dam! I managed to retrieve it without difficulty, but the thought of having come so close to being "up the creek without a paddle" was unnerving. I now regretted having left my spare paddle in the car at the trailhead. (Lesson: Don't let this happen to you. It's not sufficient to merely own a spare paddle. You must carry it on the boat for it to be useful when needed!)
The portage around the Steamboat Rock dam is less than ideal. We dragged our boats several hundred feet along the entrance road for the recreation area on the right (west) bank, carried them across a paved road (Highway D35), and slid them down a steep embankment next to the bridge. You can't officially use the left (east) bank because the land between the dam and the bridge on that side is private property. Our only other alternative could have been to carry the boats from the west bank across the bridge to the east bank and launched at a ramp in a small county park. (We didn't see this until we pushed off from shore to continue our float. Portage wheels would come in handy here if you had them.)
In contrast to the upstream countryside, the landscape below Steamboat Rock includes picturesque sandstone cliffs. The story goes that the town of Steamboat Rock originally got its name from a sandstone pinnacle on the riverbank that resembled a steamboat in shape, but which has since eroded away. On our trip, the stream's ability to erode the soft sandstone was clearly demonstrated by carved graffiti at the high water mark that included the date "1996", the lower half of which had been scoured away. Over an inch of rock had obviously been removed from the face of the cliff by the river in the last 5 years.
Freed from the millpond, the river once again became swift and bore us quickly downstream past a succession of public areas: Tower Rock County Park, Fallen Rock State Preserve, the Sandstone Palisades, Wildcat Cave, and Pine Lake State Park. Scattered white pines joined the oak forests on rocky points along the bluffs. Moss-covered talus slopes were an eye-catching green in contrast to the dark trees, white snow banks, gray cliffs, and brown forest floor. A set of small rapids enlivened the passage about a mile downstream of Steamboat Rock.
We came to our takeout point at Pine Lake State Park shortly after 2:30 PM, making for a 14-mile run in about 4 hours. Subtracting an hour for our portage (with clothes-changing delay) and lunch stop meant that our rate of travel on the river was nearly 5 MPH without hard paddling. Jerry and I concurred that this had been a great trip. I would like to return again and do the section above Hardin City Access, maybe a longer run (19 miles) from Eagle City Access to Pine Lake State Park.
But next time I will bring my spare paddle with me.
DES MOINES RIVER - Mid-March
By Karl DeLong
There is an abundance of waterfowl and eagles at "Boxcar" or the Red Rock Refuge where the Des Moines River meets the lake. On Monday there were over 100,000 ducks and geese, I would guess, and well over 100 eagles in the dead trees, and on the ground or ice, eating fish. The ice was just east of the delta. Tuesday was about the same, with the addition of a few dozen pelicans. Thursday I took my solo canoe and paddled for three hours. The ice had moved a mile or more east so that the birds were very dispersed, but I would estimate over 10,000 pintails, many canvasback, gadwall, a few green-wing teal and shovelors, goldeneye, bufflehead and ruddy ducks. The current in the channels was close to top paddling speed and ice was scattered in the current. I felt like I was in the Yukon. It was good to get on the water.
LAKE RED ROCK - April 28
By Robin Fortney
John Pearson led an armada of five kayakers along the south shore of Red Rock Reservoir from the South Overlook (by the south end of the dam, south of Pella) to a takeout just west of the mile long bridge (Highway 14 south of Monroe). Just as John promised, the highlights of the trip were the scenic sandstone cliffs and a wildflower hike along the bluffs at Elk Rock State Park.
The distance between the two points is about 8 miles. It was a fine, but breezy day, and we had a tail wind most of the way (John had considered a return trip, but thought better of it). Wind is not so much a problem when you have a rudder, but my Dagger Vesper doesn't have one, so I fought the constant pushing of the wind. John limited the trip to kayaks and covered canoes, which was wise. Bob J had his new sea kayak, and Brian was paddling a beautiful fiberglass kayak that he is seeking to sell as he upgrades. The journey was tiring for me as this much paddling was work this early in the season, but it felt good to be out on the water.
Most of the time we traversed along the vertical cliffs, protected from the buffeting breeze. I decided that if I were a flower, I'd want to be a wild columbine growing on a cliff edge. We lunched on the red rock bluffs and were entertained with Brian's stories about his pet black bear.