More on Wisconsin

Sunday was an R&R day. We got up late, had pancakes for breakfast while we watched the birds, turtles, and fish outside our RV window. The Wood River didn’t look like anything we could paddle, but it was a haven for wildlife activity. I read a paddling book I’d have to get back to the library as soon as we got home, and then went over the maps to lay out our return trip from Wisconsin to Oklahoma.

Phlox at James McNully Campground

 

In the afternoon, Jean wanted me to see the Crex Meadows that she had visited while I was on the St. Croix. Crex Meadows is a 30,000 acre wildlife area outside of Grantsburg. It is part of the 1,500 square mile Northwest Wisconsin Pine Barrens, a sandy plain left when the glaciers receded 13,000 years ago. The glaciers left countless pockets in the soil that now provide small, shallow lakes which are ideal for birds, waterfowl, and game.

In 1912, the Crex Carpet Company purchased 23,000 acres of the existing wildlife area to grow grass for the production of grass rugs until linoleum replaced grass as a floor covering. The decline of this market drove the carpet company into bankruptcy in 1933, but the Crex name remained. Through the depression and 1940’s, many people attempted agriculture in the barrens, but the soil was not adequate to support crops, and the lands were soon tax delinquent. In 1946, Wisconsin purchased the land to create the wildlife area.

Gathering pollen.

 

The DeLorme Atlases are great for finding every landing and access road in an area, so we followed the atlas down to the river’s edge at Norway Point to see the St. Croix north of the wildlife area. The National Park Service publishes a very nice set of maps showing all the camping areas, put-ins, and ramps along both the St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers, as well as all the facilities at each location. The NPS tries to keep segment maps in boxes along the route, but rather than risk some of them being missing from a location when we may need them, as soon as we returned home, I called the NPS and requested the full set of maps covering the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. Their contact information is: St. Croix National Scenic Riverway; 401 N. Hamilton Street; St. Croix Falls, WI 54024.

Phone: 715-483-2274.



 

To have complete information on the area, I also obtained two books, Paddling Northern Wisconsin and Paddling Southern Wisconsin. Both are authored by Mike Svob, and they cover 27 rivers and 32 rivers respectively. While they are intended as reference books, I’ve read both cover to cover, and would strongly recommend them for anyone wishing to take advantage of the great paddling opportunities in Wisconsin. They include camping information, water levels, gradients, access locations, shuttle routes, river class, and maps for each run with mile markers. I only found two shortcomings in the books. Mike is a whitewater paddler, so he enjoys charging through any rapids, so information on portages around rapids is sparse. He considers any water that isn’t noisy and frothy to be dead water, so he ignores any information on connecting lakes along a riverway. These shortages are minor, and I still consider the books a great resource.

Last Christmas Jean also got me the DVD “River Trails of Southern Wisconsin,” done by Morrall River Films. It’s a less academic approach, but still very complete, and with the color video of the areas being paddled, the DVD is both entertaining and theraputic if weather or circumstance have you locked in the house too long. In any event, the final point to stress is that I’m greatly indebted to Rex Klein and the Great River Rumble for introducing me to this stunningly beautiful area. I can’t wait to get back. Let’s face it, with 59 rivers and 15,074 lakes in Wisconsin, each surrounded with natural beauty, interesting history, and wildlife, what more needs to be said. See you there!





 

River Rumble '13 - Day 8

Today we’d end our journey with the longest paddle of the trip---22 miles from Prescott, down the Mississippi to Red Wing, MN, the home of Red Wing shoes and boots. Anyone that has done more than work in an office knows Red Wing boots, from work boots, motorcycle boots, hunting and hiking boots, ski boots, and, yes, shoes, but they are best known for high-quality American-Made boots.

Chief Red Wing

 

Red Wing was established in the 1850’s, and named for the Dakota Sioux Chief Red Wing. His name, Hupahuduta, came from the practice of dyeing a swan’s wing red as a sign of his rank or office. Red Wing is the county seat of Goodhue County, the largest wheat producing county in America in 1873. In its days as a paddlewheel steamboat port, Red Wing could ship a million bushels of wheat a year. 

 

Buddy and I paddling down the Mississippi River.

Photo credit: Maryellen Self

 

The downtown area has been revitalized, and Red Wing remains a lively and viable area. When we paddled into town we passed along the riverfront where a festival was in full swing. The St. James Hotel, where the Great River Rumble would hold our farewell banquet, was built in 1874. It was a popular stopping place for steamboat passengers and businessmen. Now on the Registry of Historic Places, it continues to host the city’s visitors in a lavish style to this day. It’s survival is due in no small part to Red Wing Shoes, which purchased the hotel in 1977 and financed its renovation. They also added a shopping court and a new section for business offices. Sixty-one of the 62 rooms bear the name of a steamboat that worked the Mississippi. The last room is called the Red Wing Iron Works Suite, a lavish apartment with granite counter tops, jacuzzi, fireplace, and a view of the Mississippi River. An enjoyable time can be spent just roaming the halls to look at the framed pictures of the town and river during the gilded age.


After the 8-ft. drop in Lock #3 (see the wet area on the walls), the

lower gates opened to allow us to continue down the Mississippi.

Photo credit: Maryellen Self.  The time stamp is off.  The date was

Sat. 3 August. 13

 

Every effort was made to get as early a start as possible on this busy day. Robert Burns certainly knew what he was talking about when he said, “The best laid plans of Mice and Men oft go awry.” His words rang true at breakfast in the middle school. The caterer that accepted the challenge of breakfast for a couple hundred people had certainly over-stepped his skill level, and it was no more obvious than when they walked in with a 20-cup coffee pot. More followed, but neither the flow of food nor coffee was keeping pace with the long line of people that had rushed to get to breakfast as early as possible. As the old Army dictum goes: hurry up and wait. This is not sour grapes. It was just interesting how on the one day when haste was most needed, something came along to shift progress into a slowness competition.

The start down the Mississippi was like a picture out of Huckleberry Finn---quiet and peaceful, a mist rising off the water, and just a couple fishermen allowing their boats to drift with the gentle flow of the current. However, this was a Saturday, and powerboats began rolling into the river from this recreational-boating hub. As the day got warmer, the wakes became larger, but everyone seemed to take them in stride.

The most anticipated event of the day for most of our party would be locking through Lock and Dam #3 near the Prairie Island Indian Reservation. We had to wait for a large flotilla of powerboats to empty out of the lock, but when the signal turned green, we all paddled our way into the lock. The roughly 100 canoeists and kayakers divided and made their way down both sidewalls of the lock until they grabbed lines hanging from the top of the lock. Although the huge lock was made to accommodate large rafts of barges, we managed to cover its full length, rafted at least two-deep. After the gates closed, we slowly dropped eight feet before the lower gates opened to flush us back into the river.

Just for fun, see if you can detect a theme here. Prairie Island was chosen as a reservation for the Dakota Sioux in 1889. Then, “much of the reservation land was lost following the construction of Lock and Dam #3 along the river by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.” Then it was decided that some the remaining reservation lands would be a great place to build the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant. Then it was decided that reservation lands would be a great place to store radioactive nuclear waste in above-ground steel casks.

We paddled past the festival on the Red Wing waterfront, where hundreds of folks watched and waved. Then we passing under the Hwy. 63 bridge, which connects Red Wing with Wisconsin and a direct route to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Another mile further down the river brought us to Colvill Park, where we would take out and load our craft onto our vehicles. Then it was a race to find a place to take a shower and get ready for the farewell banquet to be held at the St. James Hotel.

Lobby of the St. James Hotel

Credit: historichotels.org

 



While I was paddling down the river, Jean had been staying in our RV and enjoyed the hospitality of Grantsburg, WI. She drove down to meet me, and was waving from the bank when I pulled in. The staff at the park pool building were gracious enough to allow a few of us to shower and change there, and then it was off to the hotel. Since we had a two-hour drive back to our RV in Grantsburg, we left at 8:45, shortly after dinner concluded. As soon as we got back to the RV, we dropped into bed exhausted. In fact, we would remain there at the James McNully campground an extra day for rest and relaxation before making the 900-mile run back home.





 

River Rumble '13 - Day 7

Buddy takes a breather on the shore of the St. Croix.

 

This morning we had breakfast catered at the park in Hudson. The tents came down, packs were loaded in the trucks, and after the usual skippers’ meeting, we were off on a 17-mile paddle from Hudson to Prescott, WI. The paddling pace was even faster. We’d make a wild dash of 5 or 6 miles, and then take an hour break. It seemed a steadier pace would make more sense, with a more relaxed cadence and shorter breaks, but that’s just me. The good news was that we were in the wider sections of the river, and fate or luck had given us a reaching wind out of the northwest.

 

An hour's relaxation and a dive into the food sack.

 

It was Friday, 2 Aug., and both the wider, deeper river and the approaching weekend brought out the powerboats. By the afternoon, the boat traffic was both fairly heavy and constant. No one seemed to be seriously bothered by the wakes, however, and we marched on.

 

A slough along the St. Croix with its peaceful setting.

 

After passing under both the Point Douglas Dr. bridge and the railroad lift bridge, we were at Prescott, and had passed into the confluence with the Mississippi River. Prescott was founded in 1839 by Philander Prescott, who established a trading post at the junction of the two rivers. With its strategic position along two rivers, it’s a bit surprising that there is no commercial shipping there, but it is a haven for recreational boating.

A Google Earth image shows Prescott, where the crystal-clear

waters of the St. Croix try to mix with the muddy Mississippi.

 

After paddling past the condos, we went ashore at the public boat ramp next to the yacht harbor, stowed our canoes and kayaks in a grass and gravel plot between Second Street and the railroad tracks, and walked back toward town. The climb up Kinnickinnic Street (pronounced kinney-kenick) seemed like a mountain ascent by this time in the day, but the wide expanse of closely mowed grass around the middle school’s tennis courts made for a very relaxing and comfortable night. Dinner was again on our own. I and a couple other paddlers found a small, unassuming Chinese restaurant where the food was both good and plentiful. After another climb up Kinnickinnic Street, I relaxed awhile in my camp chair, but soon found my way to the tent for an early night.



 







River Rumble '13 - Day 6 (Hudson)

Hudson seemed to have a little trouble with its own identity. It was first called Massey’s Landing, but then named Willow River after being established in 1840. It was then renamed again as Buena Vista, and finally the first mayor petitioned to change the town’s name again to Hudson in 1852 since the bluffs along the St. Croix reminded him of the Hudson River Valley in New York, from which he had migrated. With a population of 12,719 (2010), Hudson is the St. Croix’s second largest city.

 

After crossing under the Stillwater lift-bridge, we paddled into the harbor at Hudson. We had protected water, a nice sandy beach to land on, and a small park for camping. We had six porta-potties, which was a great luxury after the first night with two. We were on our own for dinner in town, and we scattered out to patronize most of the establishments in town. It was a very relaxing and friendly environment with children playing in the playground, sailboats sailing gently about the harbor on the light breeze, which was also being enjoyed by a number of hot-air balloons.



I just liked this picture.  The long focal length was able to combine

the nearby trees, a flag on a piling in the marina down the harbor, and

the balloon crossing the river from Bayport.  The elements span a

couple miles, but the flag is superimposed on the balloon and framed

by the trees.

 

One of the fun parts of large paddling groups is the opportunity to meet the wide range of people, from all walks of life, that are attracted to paddling. You have both the chance to share their life and paddling experiences, and pick up paddling tips that will enhance your abilities and your enjoyment of the sport (or philosophy for life, depending in which category you count paddling). For example, I decided to purchase Buddy, my 14-ft. Kevlar Hornbeck, because of meeting Ralph Schroeder, of Quincy, CA, on last year’s River Rumble. Ralph had a Placid Boatworks 15-ft.RapidFire solo canoe, an adaptation of the famous Adirondack pack canoe. Placid Boatworks advertises a finished boat weight of 25-30 pounds. Ralph said his was 25-pounds, and I marveled at every stop how he could just throw his canoe on his shoulder and start up the hill. We all chipped in to help each other get our boats up from the river to a secure area for the night. Ralph would just say, “Thanks, but I’ve got it,“ and off he’d go. We had been back from the Missouri River trip only a few days before I started a search for a lighter pack canoe, a search that led me to the Hornbeck 14. Placid Boatworks has since found new facilities, but at that time had lost their production plant to a fire.
 

 

Ralph Schroeder and Maryellen Self at the Hudson park.

 

I doubt there’s anyone on the Great River Rumble that doesn’t know Maryellen Self. If she doesn’t know you, you’ll see her heading right at you with her arm outstretched as she says, “Hi there. I’m Maryellen. That’s Mary and Ellen, but together as one name. Who are you and where are you from?” Every day she’s a floating Welcome Wagon as she paddles from one end of the fleet to the other so she can talk with as many people as possible.



Michael Anderson passing one of the many bluffs along the St. Croix.

 

Being back in close quarters for camping, I again appreciated the necessity of earplugs for a good night’s sleep when camping. This night it was a half-dozen women sitting right outside my tent swapping stories and laughing, but as in the past, it could just as easily have been trains, tugboats switching barges, industrial noise, late-night guitarist/singer wannabes, card games, or any number of other distractions. Trust me. Don’t leave home without a good pair, or several good pair, of earplugs. The next morning will look a whole lot rosier after a good night’s rest.



The Hudson park that was our camp for the night.  Our canoes and kayaks

spent the night on a nice sandy beach mere yards from the water's edge.

 

River Rumble '13 - Day 6 (Stillwater)

On Thurs., 1 Aug., we had a 17 miles paddle from Marine on St. Croix to Hudson. The paddling pace was accelerated significantly for the remainder of the trip as we headed toward Stillwater and Hudson, the two largest cities along the St. Croix. On reaching Stillwater, the river widens quite a bit, and they indeed call it Lake St. Croix.

In an ongoing effort to protect the pristine waters of the St. Croix,

rest stops are anchored at several locations along the lower river.

You simply pull your boat alongside the anchored barge and tie-off,

climb up to the deck of the barge, and visit one of several porta-potties

secured there, including one that's wheelchair-accessible.

 

Stillwater was another of the logging towns, but its local importance is seen by the sudden jump in population from the 700 of Marine to the 18,000 of Stillwater. It is often called Minnesota’s birthplace, as the convention held to commence the move toward Minnesota’s statehood was held in Stillwater. Three cities were selected as locations for the upcoming state’s important business: St. Paul as the state’s capital, Minneapolis for the University of Minnesota, and Stillwater as the location of the area’s first territorial prison, opened in 1853. With the sudden widening of the river a couple miles north of town, Stillwater became the site for a major log boom during the lumbering period. Steam-driven paddlewheelers were a common sight on the river, and a few still operate on the St. Croix in the tourist trade. It would be hard to get my day started without my morning coffee and toast with peanut butter, so I’m indebted to Charles Strite, of Stillwater, for his 1921 invention of the toaster.



Approaching the Soo Line Railroad bridge.

 

From the very beginning, Stillwater had all the ingredients for a rapidly developing community. It was on the stagecoach line, the large area of “still water” made it the natural site for log booming, and it became the supplying outlet for all the other sawmills along the river valley. Associated wood manufacturing followed to include roofing shingles, flooring, furniture, and windows and doors. Bayport, a suburb of Stillwater, is still the home of Anderson Windows and Doors.



Three of the five arches elevating the rails above the river valley.

 

The Minnesota Territorial Prison in Stillwater was built on the site of the last great battle between the Ojibwa and Dakota tribes, but is best remembered as the home of the Younger Brothers (Cole, Bob, and Jim), part of the Jesse James gang. They were captured by a posse of more than 150 men following a botched robbery attempt of the Northfield, MN, bank in 1876. Bob died in prison of tuberculosis in 1889, and Cole and Jim Younger were paroled in 1901. When Jim committed suicide in October, 1902, his body was found to still contain 14 bullets from his days as an outlaw.

 

The Stillwater lift bridge.

 

The Soo Line was a railroad created out of the combined assets of the Wisconsin Central Railroad and the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. The name came from the phonetic spelling of Sault. Until this was done, Chicago and Milwaukee, with their direct railroad connections with Eastern markets, had control of the movement of the grain and flour coming out of the Great Plains. The Soo Line, with investments from the Pillsbury and Kellogg families, gave area farmers better prices and greater control over the marketing of the area’s grain crops. The orginal bridge across the St. Croix, built in 1884, was much lower and had substantial grades into and out of the valley, and required the use of helper-engines to conrol the speed of trains descending into the river valley, and to enable them to climb back out again, The high bridge was built in 1909 to eliminate this problem, and is a significant landmark along the river. It is 184 feet above the river, and 2,682 feet long, and rests on five steel arches that rise above the valley. 

 

Steamboats docked at Stillwater below the lift bridge.



River Rumble '13 - Day 5A

With a much larger area, we were able to spread out across a park of

lush grass beside the Millstream Pond in Burris Park.

 

When the Ojibwa and Dakota tribes signed away their claims to their native lands in 1837, it opened the way for those waiting to claim the area’s vast natural resources. Chief among those were the huge stands of mature white pines and hardwoods, many said to be tall trees when Christ was still in swaddling clothes. The settlers rushing west ran into a problem once they reached the Great Plains. There were few trees from which to build homes, so many settlers lived in dug outs below ground or sod houses. From the vast forests north of the plains, lumber could be easily milled and shipped to an anxious market that was much closer than from the Eastern States.



Created first as the mill's company store, the general store has operated

continuously since 1849.

 

In the fall of 1838, two lumbermen arrived in the St. Croix Valley from Marine, Illinois, representing a 13-member consortium. They made a claim on a six-acre plot overlooking the St. Croix River. Returning later with most of the rest of the group and all they would need to make a start, they built a lumber mill, which they named after their hometown. The main part of the mill was erected in a mere three months to become the first commercial sawmill in Minnesota. The first logs were milled on August 24, 1839. By 1855, there would be 17 sawmills along the shores of the lower St. Croix. The single mill in Marine produced 197million board feet of lumber. The forests were clear-cut, and the lands were striped bare so far inland, that logs could no longer be moved to the mill. In 1895, after only 56 years, the resources had been exhausted and the mill shut down. The buildings were torn down, and the equipment was sold to other sawmills. As other mills along the river exhausted the forests, they too would close, and by 1914, logging was over, and the last log raft would be seen floating down the river.

The Marine brass band assembled before the general store and town hall

on the 4th of July, 1905. Credit: Washington Co. Historial Society

 

 

From below our put-in the next morning, we could see the millstream

running gently into the St. Croix.  The mill would later convert to steam

power, but the massive power of water can be appreciated when you look

at this brook and remember it powered the cutting of millions of board

feet of lumber.

 

Founded in 1839 as Marine Mills, this oldest town in Minnesota, with a population of 700, today has a population of 689. From a rough milling town has evolved a quaint, picturesque village. The country store built by Orange Walker in 1849 as a company general store, still serves the town, and is a great place to find steaming coffee and a pastry before launching into the river of a morning. Next door is the village town hall that has also served as the town’s center since the town’s founding. The site of the sawmill is just behind the town hall, but little remains except the foundations and the still-flowing mill stream.



River Rumble '13 - Day 5

The folks in Osceola wanted to make sure we didn’t forget their hospitality, and if hot showers and the Bending Branches tour weren’t enough, they sealed themselves in our memories with breakfast. This would be the breakfast of the entire trip: three pancakes and scrambled eggs, Danish, coffee, cranberry juice, orange juice, sausage, and a huge bowl of mixed fruit on each table, and more coffee. If we didn’t get our fill from one heaping plate, they walked among the tables throughout breakfast with trays of extra eggs, pancakes, and everything else. I mean those folks in Osceola knew what they were about!

Our put-in on the Minnesota side opposite Osceola, and

below the Osceola Road bridge.

 

Today was another short paddle, just 11 miles from Osceola to Marine on St. Croix, MN. This was the day I saw the seven bald eagles and the one golden eagle, and some of the huge second-generation white pines that made this area famous.



Looking at Buddy on the river bank and the view of the river

downstream of our put-in.

 

We had a mid-day break on a sandbar where we were met by the St. Croix River Association. They are a volunteer group that fosters appreciation of the beautiful St. Croix River, do river clean-up projects, monitor activities in the watershed that may impact the river, promote public awareness, support and work with the National Park Service and natural resources departments of both states, and more. They had brought a pontoon boat loaded with snacks of pastries and fruit, and beverages, hot and cold, all of which they served to us on the up-turned hull of a canoe. One of their events is the annual St. Croix photo competition. To see some great river pictures, you can go to the following link and view the 96 pictures entered in the 2013 competition.

http://www.scraphotos.org/Contest2013



Our sandbar meeting with the St. Croix River Association.

 

We had some passing sprinkles in the morning, but it cleared off as soon as we landed at the take-out. We went ashore at a landing at the foot of Maple Street in Marine. Our canoes and kayaks were set along the path that led up the hill to town. Right at the top of the footpath was an ice cream shop that many of us returned to after dinner. We turned south on Judd Street and walked to a large, beautiful park set around Lower Mill Pond, from which the stream provided water-power to the first commercial sawmill in Minnesota. The park seems to be called alternately either Millstream Park, or Burris Park. In either event, it was shaded by stately old trees and covered with a lush, loamy sod that nearly made an airmattress redundant.



The Anderson cabin of 1852.

 

Located in the park is the original home of settlers Sven and Stava Anderson. Built in 1852, the logs still show the marks of Sven’s axe as he trimmed and squared the logs. Between then and 1869, the couple raised three children in the cabin. Charles, their eldest, was born the day after Minnesota achieved statehood. Sven was one of the first wheat farmers in the area, and is also credited with bringing the first cattle to the area. In 1938, the cabin was moved from its original site on the Rosengren Prairie two miles northwest of town. With local contributions and volunteer support, the cabin has been maintained in its original condition.

The care and detail that went into the cabin's construction explains why it

has lasted 161 years, and could be moved without falling to pieces.  Instead

of half-lapping the corner joints, as was common with American cabins,

the logs are dovetailed at the corners, locking them in place.  Then the logs

that comprise the interior walls are cut into long tenons which extend into a

mortise that extends clear through the exterior wall.  You can see the line of

tenons coming through the wall just to the left of the window.  This is

stronger construction than is found in most homes built today.

 

Wood Ducks

These were just too beautiful to pass by without sharing.  They are two Wood Duck 12's built by Larry Miller, of Madison, WI, from Chesapeake Lightcraft Kits.  He can take great pride in these for many years to come.  Borrowed from the Chesapeake Lightcraft site. 

Bending Branches - 2

The Series "A" paddle is sanded and ready for finishing.

Paddles hanging in preparation for a varnish dip.  In the middle

are wood blades for kayak paddles.

Another selection of wood paddles ready for finishing.

Greg holds a completed Sunburst paddle, one of four versions

of this design.

The beautifully finished Series "A" limited edition.  The only thing left

is to slide it into the embroidered sueded-cloth paddle bag it comes with.

Another line includes the laminated fiberglass kayak paddles.  This

is the start of the Angler Pro, which is done either in a sea green, shown

here, or a camo design.  The colors are created by including colored

silk into the laminate.  Once the laminate is hand-laid on half of a

polished metal mold, the two halfs of the mold, each part weighing 60 lbs.,

are pressed together until the laminate cures.

 

 

Linda is both inspector and shipper.  While she gets occasional help

from others, she is likely the last person at Bending Branches to handle your

paddle before it goes out the door.  She checks for quality of production

and finish, assembly, for balance, and since she handles between 500,000

and 600,000 paddles a year, she can pick a paddle up and tell within one

ounce if it meets its designed finish weight. 

 

Then, next to an overhead

door rests a selection of kayaks and canoes.  The staff not only design and

make paddles, but whenever they can, they run down to the St. Croix and

spend the day on the water using them.  Tough, no?  I guess that comes under

the heading of "on the job training."  The bottom line is that they are great

folks making great paddles that will add immensely to your pleasure on

the water.  At their site, you can view all the paddles, get information on paddle

maintenance and care, size and selection guide, a video library, and more.

http://bendingbranches.com/

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=10150161877646435#!/BendingBranchesPaddles

 

Bending Branches

The account of the Bending Branches tour begins on the last post for River Rumble '13 - Day 4.  If you haven't seen that, you may wish to start there.

The palm-shaped grips are added to the shaft stocks about to become

the numbered Series "A" special edition paddles.

Some of the laminated paddle blades will have as many as eleven

pieces.  Here you can see the angled stub being inserted for a

bent-shaft paddle.

Once the laminates are clamped, a micro-wave oven sets the glue

in about four minutes rather than the several hours it would normally take.

The glue will continue to cure for several hours, so once they come from

the oven, the paddles are stacked overnight before being worked on further.

The paddle blades are cut out by a computer-driven router following

a digital template that insures every blade of a particular design is

accurately reproduced.  They adapted a sanding machine designed for

making hockey sticks to sand both sides of the blades at once.  Additional

bevels and tapers are added by hands trained by having done the same

skilled task hundreds of thousands of times.  Some of the blades are

then fiberglass wrapped.

The dark Rockgard epoxy edge can be seen here on the Series "A" going

all the way around the blade.  On my BB Special, the Rockgard

encompasses the tip and a couple inches up either side.  It is ruggedly

strong and protects the blade from abrasion or splitting after repeated

encounters with rocks, gravel, coral, or sand on the bottom or shore.  In

spite of some labor-saving devices incorporated in the process, there is

serious craftsmanship that goes into these paddles.

River Rumble '13 - Day 4

Having to load and unload Buddy from the trailer forced me to check out his bottom. I was pleasantly surprised to see that two things made me feel much relieved. The obvious one is that while there were indeed scrapes, the light yellow Kevlar color, plus the absence of a pigmented gelcoat, made the scrapes much less obvious than we had seen on the larger Wenonah. The second was that the number of scrapes were far fewer. Part of that may be that the lighter boat with a single paddler, even though smaller and with less displacement, perhaps drew less water than the heavier tandem with two paddlers, or it may be from laying back in the pack and having a chance to see those in front of me seek out the better runs. In any event, my anxiety over the damage to Buddy’s hull was to some extent unwarranted, and I was yet again a happy camper.

The put-in at Interstate Park (MN) was very nice, with a gradual,

sandy, sloping beach.

 

We had a short paddle today, (Tues., the 30^th), and only had to go 10 miles to Osceola, WI. It rained a bit during the night, and again in the morning as we had breakfast and prepared to launch. It was just showers, however, and had no effect on our movements or spirits. We put in just below Folsom Island, on the south side of Taylor Falls. Our take-out was at a park on the Minnesota side, just south of the Osceola Rd. (Rt. 243) bridge.  With a two-carry portage, it was 1.2 miles to get Buddy and my gear to the trucks and boat staging area. The 25-pound Hornbeck 14 was certainly putting a smile on my face. I made another trip to help another paddler carry his heavier kayak up the hill, but the super-light Hornbeck certainly proved, and continues to prove, its value when portaging comes into play.



The entrance to the shop that creates Bending Branches and

Aqua-Bound paddles.  They put so much hands-on personal work

into their paddles, I hate the idea of calling it a manufacturing plant.

 

The bus carried us across the bridge to Osceola, WI. It was such a picturesque town that I think I would have enjoyed greatly with more time. We were taken to a park off Education Avenue. That was just a couple hundred yards from one of Osceola’s schools, I believe the middle school, where hot showers were arranged for us. This was the dining stop of the trip. Between dinner this night, and breakfast the next morning, the town went all out to stuff us with some great eats.



 

Racks of quality woods waiting to become quality paddles.

 

One of the activities here was a tour of the Bending Branches plant. Only a small group was able to make the tour, and I was fortunate enough to get included. I considered myself fortunate, because I’m a loyal Bending Branches devotee, and it was a great chance to see where my paddles came from. They run two companion lines of paddles, Bending Branches and Aqua-Bound. As they say, “No matter what floats your boat, we’ve got it covered.” They include paddle designs for premium and special edition paddles, touring, expedition, performance, solo, kids, kayak, stand-up, recreational, and fishing paddles. We actually did two tours of the plant. The first covered all the wood paddles, and the second tour covered the polypropylene and laminated fiberglass paddles. I have both a 54” bent shaft BB Special with the RockGuard edge, and a 280cm. Slice Glass Solo Touring Canoe Paddle. I love them both. I even loved the aroma while walking in among the racks of butternut, red alder, black willow, cherry, basswood, and maple woods that go into their wood paddles. All the paddles are beautiful, but the Sunburst and the “A” Series Special Edition steal the show. The “A” Series is the most hands-on labor-intensive wood paddle made, and is a limited 750 paddle run with each paddle numbered.

An interesting pattern is created by the laminated stock about

to become the double-bent shafts of the special edition

Series "A" paddles.

 

I had drooled over the graphite Black Pearl for several years while wishing that my wallet was thicker than reality showed. I was now committed to bite the bullet and come away with a Black Pearl in my hands, only to sadly learn that the line had been discontinued. The graphite sheets are only available now from China, and are of inferior quality. Bending Branches had to weigh giving up a corner of the market by discontinuing the line versus staying in the market with a less-than-optimum paddle. They decided their standards demanded they take the high road, which seems to hold true in all of their marketing and customer relations.