Day 46 on the Mississippi River

October 6, 2021

Wednesday

Tent camping on the river

RM 771

571 miles completed

We had some delays paddling Lake Pepin.

The wind wasn’t really very strong, maybe 7 mph, but the lake is so long that the waves can build pretty big. The wind was from the East. The forecast is for southeast wind until Sunday.

We followed the southern shore and when the shoreline turned south we had the waves hitting us broadside. Terry’s canoe took on water. Twice we waited for calm periods to proceed. Late in the day I put the skirt on my kayak and I struck out alone into the wind across a large body of open water to a point on the south shore where we could camp. Terry waited until around dusk when the wind calmed. Then he followed along the shoreline.

We camped on the southern shore, having to set up camp in the dark.

This should put us in a good position to paddle into the southeast wind the rest of the way across Lake Pepin.