Turn on any news channel this weekend in the state of Minnesota, and you’re sure to hear: ‘Roads under water,’ ‘Millions of dollars worth of flood damage,’ ‘Thousands of volunteers flocked to the area to sandbag.’ So naturally, I had to check it out, in a less conventional way I suppose. I say less conventional only because we didn’t see anybody the entire time we were out. Originally I was going to play the role of gawker, driving around taking pictures out the window. This was my Dad’s idea, he wanted to return to one of his favorite outdoor destinations from his childhood. He brought up the kayaks and met me at the parking lot. The lack of any body else out there may be because of the 100 rod or so portage we had to do to get to the water, or possibly because it wasn’t legal (hush hush, we didn’t even figure that out until we were finished). As much work, or as rebellious as it was, it was all well worth it.

We were in the Louisville Swamp district of the Minnesota River Valley National Wildlife Refuge, also part of Minnesota River Valley State Park Trail System. We did have to carry the kayaks, weighed down with a cooler full of refreshments and a variety of day trip gear, about 1/3 of a mile to the area that would, in the drier season, be a swamp. Today though, it was a huge lake, or even a river as there was quite a current throughout. Poor Forest had to stay in the van, I haven’t taught him how to kayak yet, and this probably wasn’t the place to attempt it, though I may try go get him on the kayak in the future. We paddled upstream along sand creek, no signs of the actual creek were visible as there was a mass of flowing water pretty much everywhere that we could see.

We maneuvered the kayaks through the trees, over debris, and got to see this area as very few probably ever will. The countless number of people flying overhead get a good view I’m sure, but they don’t get the close up personal experience of being in the flood. We paddled along the hiking trail, past signs directing us towards “Floods road” simply ironic. And yes, we did ‘cross’ the area directed by the sign not to cross during high water. I’m sure the person who placed the sign wasn’t anticipating that we would have kayaks.

The wildlife was out in force, the chatter of snow geese was constantly in the air. Eagles and hawks made their rounds through the treetops, I did notice a significant lack of small mammals such as squirrels, though the beavers were out and about. Dad paddled right up next to one without noticing until the “Splash!” of the tail nearly startled him out of his kayak. We took a significant break on what was now a large island, taking a short hike on the trails, and spending plenty of time soaking in our vitamin D that the sun provides, what another beautiful day.


As we sat, with our back against the tree, avoiding the light breeze, and the sun was cooking, my dad shared stories of this area from his childhood. I discussed my crazy ideas of living in the back of a van, living on the road, and performing on the street, I am lucky to have parents that allow me to do all of the crazy things in my life and just live. So he nodded, smiled, and asked when I’m leaving. As we discussed life, we heard the “Crack, snap, crash” I looked across the way to the top of a ridge just in time to see a large oak tree crashing to the ground. It’s amazing, with so little wind, the sun shining, that a tree that size (probably the largest in that area) would choose that moment to fall right in front of us. Which i’m sure begs some sort of question about trees falling in the woods with two guys not paying attention how much noise it might make.

Eventually we continued on our way, past a dead pelican hanging in a tree, another victim of stray fishing line. Since the first half of our journey was upstream, once we turned the corner around the island it was a smooth downstream travel, down the middle of a trail winding through the trees, it made for an exciting paddle. We made our way back to where we put in, then we were only faced with the portage back to the parking lot, this time, uphill. Only needing a few breaks, we made it back, loaded the kayaks and then my dad was on his way back home.

Then I met up with a friend and guess what we did, played a round of disc golf (if you can’t tell, I’m kind of addicted to the game). We returned to a course that we had played when I was first getting into the sport, about 6 months ago, it was actually the only course I had played in MN until recently. It was busy with kids enjoying their Sunday evening. It was a nice course through the woods, quite muddy, but rather enjoyable. We didn’t exactly keep score, but we were rather evenly matched, and we only nearly lost a couple discs in the stream that flowed through the middle of the course.

After a trip to Chipotle for dinner, we went our separate ways and Forest and I returned to the house. What a long enjoyable Sunday, I’ll sleep well tonight.