Day 23 on the Mississippi

September 13, 2021

Monday

Verdon Campground

RM 1121.3

221 miles completed

Jacobson Campground has an artesian well that puts out a steady stream of clear water. We sterilized all our water jugs with purification tablets and then filled them at the well before we left camp.

Today was a perfect day of paddling on the river. I am sure the last few days are as good as it gets. This must be what everybody thinks of when they think about paddling the headwaters. The sun was warm, the wind was mild, the current pushed us along. A bald eagle led us down the river by watching us approach, then when we got to him he flew ahead and landed in a tree and watched us approach again. He repeated this several times.

We paddled 20 miles today. We encountered two short rapids. The first one slipped up on us. They were not on the map. I took some pretty got shots from the big rocks in the first one. Terry did too. His canoe can handle it, but my fiberglass kayak is not intended for white water. Then I got through the second one without hitting any rocks.

We stopped at Verdon in spite of the extremely inconvenient landing, because rain and thunderstorms are coming and it is going to rain all night.

While I write this I am listening to the rain on my tent.