Mississippi River Day 67 (Maple Island, 1153.5 miles)

It rained a bit again last night, but I woke up early due to the ferry traffic starting right near my camp.

There was a slight tailwind today, and extremely nice fall colors all along the banks.

I stopped in to Alton Il, late in the day, and had to walk a mile to the grocery store. It was already getting dark by the time I got back to my boat, but I wanted to get through the lock that was just downstream of town.

The lock, lock #26, was a big one. It was designed to fit an entire large barge through at once, with high walls also. It seemed to take forever to paddle through it, and it got completely dark by the time I was on the downstream side.

Just downstream of it there was a dredging crew, so I had to paddle around them right away, in the choppy waters flowing out of the dam.

I headed towards the nearest island and set up camp, but it was pretty noisy with the dredging going on, and I didn't want to make a fire that close to town.