Mississippi River Day 34 (Island, 546.5 miles)

It seemed windy this morning, so I stayed a bit longer in my hammock before getting out. I heard voices a few times on the water in the early morning, I'm assuming that it was just some fishermen, but I might be going crazy.

As soon as I finally started the wind actually died down, which was nice. I also got into a more sheltered portion of the river, so that helped as well. Then I hit Stump Lake, which is a large flooded section, and the wind picked up again. At the end of the lake there was another lock, so I decided to cut across a portion of the lake. The wind was actually at my back, but the waves kept turning me sideways, so it was still a battle.

When I got to the lock there was a barge and crane idling around it, so I kept my distance a bit. It was pretty hard with the tailwind, and the waves kicked up to 2 feet high. Eventually the lock tendered waved me around, and I cut in front of the barge. Apparently they were doing some construction, so it was just waiting there.

I stopped in to Hastings to use the library, and unfortunately it was 2 miles away from the waterfront. It gave me a nice break from the canoe though, but really ate into the hours of the day. I also forgot to bring food, so it was a long start to the afternoon.

Once I got back to the canoe it was really windy, so I took a lunch break in the park hoping it would die down. Unfortunately it didn't, so I just went for it. Fortunately, as soon as I got going I got back into a sheltered area, so it wasn't too bad. A rainy evening cut my miles a bit short, but I ended up camping on an island again. This one didn't have a name, but it was obvious that a lot of people used it for camping. There was a bunch of trashed tents and other garbage, but the island was pretty clear of undergrowth, so it was actually pretty nice.

Also, I posted some more pics to my flickr account, so take a look:
pictures