Mississippi River Day 35 (Lighthouse Island 569 miles)

This morning it sounded like rain, so I slept in a bit. Once I got going I realized that it was only 'tree rain' or the water falling off the trees in the wind. Then, about half an hour after I actually got going it really did start raining. Talk about bad timing.

I went through Lock #3 early in the day, and talked a bit with the lock tender about my trip. He had been thinking about something like this for awhile, but never really gave it serious thought. Also, he had looked on google maps for the headwaters, but could never find it, since he had been looking north of Bemidji. The headwaters is actually south, and travels north for the first 60 miles or so, making a big question mark.

I stopped in Red Wing for library and food, and got back on the river pretty quickly. Its interesting seeing the different libraries along the way. Some are pretty big and new, while others are very small town-y.

The past few days have been pretty nice. I'm in a very forested area, more-so than the headwaters region, or any other region since then. Once I finished with the weekend and got out of the city areas there hasn't been much boat traffic, and I have the river mostly to myself the entire day. Even when there are other boats on the river they don't bother me much, and the river is large enough that their wakes don't even cause any problems.

I finished today just before the rain set in, so I had my tarp set up and was able to stay dry. I did a few extra miles today to line up for Lake Pepin tomorrow. It is a 21 mile long lake, and if the wind is blowing right that can make for some big waves. Happily, the weather isn't supposed to be that windy tomorrow, but is the day after, so I want to be off the lake by tomorrow night.