Tag: travel

St. Nicholas Landmark – Dinking with Legends

Currently sitting inside of St. Nicholas Landmark, which is my favorite place in Chester, IL. Why? 12 of their own beers on tap, solid food, and most importantly, they are about 100ft from the boat ramp (just watch for the trains walking across the tracks). I can’t quite see my boat from my window seat, but hopefully it will be fine for the time it takes to drink a few beverages. 

Sidebar – I once tried to walk here from my house in STL city. 24 Hours from Home Challenge #1 in 2021. #6 starts in 6 days – 24hfhchallenge.com! Alas, my 24 hours expired 3 miles short, after 74 miles I could barely stand, let alone stay awake so didn’t make it on that occasion. 

Spent last night on a massive sandbar – Magnolia Hollow Conservation Area. Although it’s an island, apparently there is a road connection as there was a farmer plowing his field over the trees as the sun went down. Plenty of driftwood for a blazing fire, and found bones and pieces of petrified wood scattered around. I was set up on kind of a promontory in the middle of the curve of the river, so all night I had massive tugboats rolling by, the low hum of their engines revving to get up or downstream. I woke up around 11:30pm to a growling beast, looked out and saw a monstrosity of a barge with pilons and construction equipment. This tug was pushing as hard as it could, maybe getting 1mph upstream. I momentarily questioned if I pulled my boat high enough out of the water to not be swept up in its huge wake, and even ran down to the shore in my skivees just to check. It was fine. 

Woke up with the first light on the eastern horizon and what do I see, some fresh paw prints next to the door of my tent. As my friend Bill told me a bit later in the morning, probably a coyote sniffing around late at night, all stealth like. So the reason I had the chance to meet Bill again, well. Arriving at Magnolia and unpacking, I realized I was a bag short – my cookware. I shot a few texts to my wife Sara to check at home, and Bill who shuttled me back home from the arch on Thursday. Luckily it was in Bill’s truck, under some other gear. 

As luck would have it and River Angels being the saviors they are, Bill drove it down this morning to Modoc Ferry in St. Genevieve where he even brought me breakfast and coffee. Bill, I love you. 

Last night, with my limited cel service – it worked standing up, but not sitting down, go figure – I saw the the opening time of St. Nick Landmark was 11am so that’s where I planned to be. A beautiful morning coming down about 20 miles brought me into Chester and delightful refreshments. Afternoon plan is do bank a few more miles and find another sandbar, coyotes or not. 

mf

Two Days on the MO

Resting in some sweet air conditioned at home. An advantage of starting upstream of your home is to use your own place as a River Angel domecile on a big trip. Two days of paddling was enough to let me know what gear I might be missing, or what I don’t need at all. I was fairly spot on, only thing I need to procure is a bit more battery power.

Left Paddle Stop Brewery in New Haven yesterday around 8:15am after a previous evening of boat cleaning and touch ups. I know, it’s a sin to let that work of art collect dust, but that’s the life of owning 8 or 9 boats, all of which have their purpose. And the Mostar, Shane’s hand-crafted masterpiece, is 100% perfect for expeditions. She performed well in the MR340, fully unloaded and sitting much higher in the water, but she really shines fully loaded, doing long days out on the big rivers. I forgot how amazing this boat was, but two solid days in it was enough to refresh my memory.

Five miles in, I got a call from Shane that I’d left my sleeping pad back in New Haven. Not to worry, Shane drove ten minutes to Dundee Bottoms, where he was able to meet me to hand it off. From there it was some pretty solid paddling, a quick stop on a sandbar across from St. Albans, then the slog into St. Charles. I passed under all the St. Chuck bridges around 5, feeling pretty gassed. I knew there was one more sandbar to consider before Pelican Island, which was my goal for the day. I decided to blow by the sandbar with an hour and a half left of sunlight and pulled onto the gravelly sand at Pelican around 6:45ish.

I set up camp in the waning light, and what a spectacular sunset it was – pics on IG – @paddlestlouis. A quick dinner over a blazing fire to keep the mosquitos at bay and I was snoozing by 9pm. Nice.

65 miles the first day was way ambitious, and not a distance I expect to keep up on the Mississippi, but that left a relatively easy 32 mile day today to get to the Arch and a ride back home. I got on the river at 7:18am under an absolutely insanse sunrise and liesurely paddled the last 17 miles of the Big Muddy MO. I completed the MO mid-morning then entered the Mississippi. I made my way under the very active Chain of Rocks bridge construction site and had to adjust my route for crossing work tows. I portaged the 200 yards river left of the Chain, churning and boiling and sure to chew up any wood craft to sawdust.

Made my way into the Port of St. Louis, and barge traffic was heavy. I have a short wave radio with which I can communicate with barges and had a chance to use it today.

Barge Captain to other Barge Captains: “We got a kayaker coming down out of the Old Chain of Rock Lock” (incorrect, I was not)

Me: “Kayaker here, I’m going to hug the right bank.”

Barge Captain: “Ok, thank you for having a radio.”

I did not carry a radio on the Missouri, as barge traffic is quite minimal. But it’s pretty much required gear on the much busier Mississippi. I’m sure this is the first of many interactions with my fellow captains on this trip.

Soon I was under the familar sight of the Eads Bridge then the Arch, and my good friend Bill welcoming me into the fishing ramp with a couple cold ones on a hot day. Super duper thanks to Shane for your craftmanship and running my sleeping pad down to Dundee, my sleep under the stars was spectacular. And to Bill your ever-present willingness to River Angel.

Plan is to get back in at the Arch tomorrow morning and get heading Southwards!

mf

A New Adventure: Trak Piloting

Back in the fall of 2024, I saw an email from Trak Kayaks. As a certified kayak instructor through the American Canoe Association (ACA), I was on their mailing list. I was familiar with the company, maker of high-end collapsible, packable sea kayaks. I had looked at their kayaks a few years ago, but didn’t really look too much deeper, with generally plenty of room to store my sometimes excessive boat collection. Space wasn’t a big issue, so I wasn’t too interested in adding a foldable boat to my fleet, especially at a premium price.

Anyway, Trak was looking to add Trak Pilots in select cities/regions. Trak Pilots are basically like product ambassadors, paddling veterans who become experts on Trak Kayaks, and offer test paddle opportunites and act as a quasi-sales rep for their boats. I opened the email, then clicked the link to see the list of locations. Scanning the list, it was almost all coastal cities around the globe, with a couple Great Lakes locations sprinkled in. But nothing near me, in St. Louis. In fact, no locations that were around big rivers. In the email was also a link to apply to become a Trak Pilot. I went ahead and filled out the form, maybe with a little midwest flyover attitude, explaining what a vibrant paddle community we have here at the confluence of the two longest rivers in the USA. I told them about our wonderful rivers, the big ones, the pristine Ozark streams and everything in between. I also told them about our paddling community, the racing, the expeditioners, whitewater and everything in between. I didn’t really expect to hear much after that, but was satisfied I stood up for midwest paddling!

A couple days later, Nolin Veillard, the Founder and Managing Director of Trak reached out, and we had a nice 45 minute phone call, him at the office in Vancouver, Canada and me walking the streets of my neighborhood. He asked about my experience, the paddling community and culture here in Missouri and what my future paddling plans and goals were. It went well, and he told me they’d be happy to include me in their consideration for future Trak Pilots. A few more emails and conversations with some Trak staff and I was invited to join as a Trak Pilot. What this entails is pretty wide open.

First, I had the opportunity to buy a brand new Trak 2.0 kayak at a steeply discounted rate. I’d be included as a Trak Pilot/point of contact on their web site. I’d be listed as the go to guy for people interested in Trak kayaks in the midwest/St. Louis/Missouri area. Then it’s pretty much up to me to make of it what I want. A few weeks ago, after a short hangup in customs, my Track kayak arrived on my doorstep.

The wife and I then left on a planned vacation to Vietnam and Thailand for a couple weeks. You don’t know me that well if you think I didn’t consider bringing my new boat along to paddle the incredible waterways of Southeast Asia. But alas, it would have added a certain level of logistics, not to mention some serious eye rolling from my wife that frankly I wasn’t prepared for. Ah well. Fast forward a couple weeks and a 65 degree Sunday offered my first opportunity to hit the water in the new boat.

I loaded my kayak in a bag into the back of my car and headed out to Chouteau Claim access, at the confluence of the Meramec and Bourbeuse Rivers. I got there a little earlier than my buddy Shane, so I had some time to unpack it for the first time and read the instructions on how to put together the boat.

It took about 30 minutes, and that included some studying of the instructions and images, a few quick corrections, and a whole lot of learning of this technological wonder. It’s a skin-on-frame kayak, with an anodized aluminum frame, carbon fiber ribs and a polyurethane skin with three hydraulic jacks that add the needed rigidity. I managed to get it assembled just as Shane was arrving and unloading his SUP. It wasn’t too difficult at all, I have confidence I’ll be able to do it in the promised 10 minutes in the future.

Shane and I headed a few miles upstream on the Meramec, having to really power up some swift riffles, swing into some eddies for a breather, and navigate some shallow spots and submerged trees. We stopped on a sandbar to chat, then turned around and headed back downstream. At the Bourbeuse, we hooked a left a went upstream for a mile or two in the hardly noticeable current.

My first impression: this is a sweet boat. It’s only around 40 pounds, so is super light and glides across the water. It’s fast and responsive. There’s no rudder or skeg, but steering with paddle strokes and some leaning/bracing is super easy. Its draft is quite shallow and I glided across a few shallow spots and surprisingly didn’t drag. A couple spots I did drag, I felt fully confident the skin would hold up fine without any dings from rocks, logs or gravel. It did. The freeboard is minimal, so if I paddle this boat on choppier waters, I’ll certainly use a skirt.

I can’t wait to paddle this in varying conditions, and get it out on the Missouri and Mississippi. As the weather and water warms up, you’ll certainly see me out there cruising in this Trak 2.0. And if you want to take a look at the boat or take it for a test paddle, you know how to find me, just head to the river!

mf