Mississippi River Day 33 (Baldwin Island Camp, 531 miles)

I woke up early again today, and it was a nice calm day to start with. The first few miles were more wooded areas, and then I hit another industrial area. This area had concrete and steel walls, which made the boat wakes bounce off and hit me again from the other side. I also saw more boat traffic, and several barges. The boats are getting bigger as well, so the wakes can be pretty annoying. While passing through this area I hit a pretty low spot morale-wise, but I knew I had to keep going to get past it.

A few more miles and I came to another forested area, which was nice, even though it had barges docked all along the way. While in this area I got passed by a coast guard boat, so I was glad I got my boat properly registered before.

I decided to take a back route, cutting through Baldwin lake instead of the main channel of the Mississippi. That way I could avoid some of the boat traffic, and get a different view. This also took me by the island where I was to camp for the night. This campsite was lacking the typical amenities, like the privy and picnic table, but it did have several nice lawn chairs that I took advantage of.

As I was sitting there trying to decide if I wanted to keep going or not, the fire restarted itself. Apparently someone hadn't put it out well enough, and the wind kicked it back up. That decided it. I had a free fire, so I was staying. I ended up paying for the fire though, when my pot got too hot and burnt through my potholder, burning my thumb. It didn't hurt for a while, then it started throbbing, so I don't think that's good.

I also took advantage of the beach to start craft night. I had been thinking about turning the tarp I bought in Bemidji into some sort of spray skirt. That way it would keep out drips from the paddle, and a light rain. However, after cutting the tarp into shape it started raining, so I canceled the rest of the craft night, to be continued later.