Root River 5-16-04

It was a day for the birds: geese, goslings, ducks, eagles, great blue heron, redwing black birds, swallows, orioles, sandpipers, crows, and more.  In fact, I saw only two types of mammals - one beaver and a few cows.  That was Sunday, May 16th on the Root River in Minnesota.

My original plan was to camp overnight on the river, but household chores kept me busy until late on Saturday.  I was worried I wouldn't be able to get to the campsite before dark, so changed my overnight into a day trip.  As it turned out, the river was running fast enough that I would have made camp in time.

I put in at Rushford and took out at Houston.  I covered 15 river miles in exactly 4 hours.  That was without much paddling, though I had to do a lot of maneuvering around deadfalls the first 2/3rds.  The last 1/3rd was extremely clear of obstacles.  It was a beautiful day, though a little windy. 

In addition to the paddle time, I took an hour and 15-minute break at the Houston Campsite just to check it out and to make some soup for lunch.  It doesn't look like that campsite has been used yet this year.  The couple places big enough to pitch a tent were filled with forest plants.

The brown canoe-campsite sign showed where the muddy landing was.   The site itself was up above normal high water, and had a fire grate and an old, slightly decayed picnic table.  The trail leading uphill away from camp lead to a side trail to the “Thunder Box”.  The main trail continued on to a small, log shelter with picnic table, and further on to the Root River Bike Trail.

I saw only three people from put-in to take-out.  Two people were riding bikes on the trail. The other was fishing from the bank of the river (and this the second day of fishing season!).  No one else was on the river.

Though there were a few times I heard and even saw cars from close by Hwy 16, though I did see cows once, and though the campsite was not much to speak of, the Root River is very close to my home making many weekends a potential overnight canoe camping trip.