Cold Springs

Hope for the Future

Day 6 (7/19/14)
We didn’t get up as early as we had planned but we were still on the water by 7:00. There were some rather threatening clouds moving in behind us but there was no rain in the forecast and they seemed to be moving to the north of us so we went for it. What’s the worst that could happen? Again we aimed for the river. We had heard Cranes earlier and were hoping to get some pictures of them. Now all was quiet but we hoped if nothing else we would see the Blue Heron from Thursday night. Soon the clouds looked less threatening and a beautiful morning ensued. We saw lots of little birds and even a beaver or two but none of the big shore birds we had seen here before. On the way up river we saw an inlet that looked almost passable in the high water so we were determined to check it out on the way back down. In the past it hadn’t been much more than a break in the shoreline. We continued on enjoying the peaceful morning. The only sounds we could hear were nature and the roar of distant motorcycles. I wonder if you can go anywhere were you won’t hear manmade sounds?  We finally turned around and headed back downriver. When we got to the inlet Eileen started in. I held back expecting that at any time she would start backing out. Instead of getting narrower however, it actually got wider so we continued to follow it. It had been awhile since we had found a new area to explore. The further back we got the clearer the water got. It finally ended in a pool. You could see were animals had made their way down to the edge to drink. As I was looking at the bottom of the pool which was a couple feet deep I could see the silt on the bottom boiling. At first I thought it might be the result of some burrowing organism but as I looked around I noticed that they were all over the bottom of the pool and ranged in size from an inch wide to probably six inches. In most cases they were surrounded by a darker sand area and looked somewhat like a putting green although some had more than one hole. We spent a great deal of time videotaping them and came to the conclusion we had happened on a cold spring pool. The water was so cold you could hardly keep your hand underwater to videotape it. It is discoveries like this that keep us kayaking. It was really hard to leave but we are certain we will come back again and have another look at it. After that we headed back to camp. As we got closer to the lake we were glad we had gotten up early because as we drifted along we met three canoes beating there way upstream. It was time for some more coffee and one last camp breakfast before packing up and making our way home.   


Heading Out

Ethereal

Red Wing Black Bird

Eileen heading up stream



Beautiful Morning

Eileen videoing at Cold Springs

Springs

More Springs

 

Camping with Lil Wade

Wade, Grandma and Grandpa

Day 5 (7/18/14)
As I mentioned in the last blog, we had to be up to the registration office at 10:00 to make sure we got a campsite for tonight. We didn’t bother getting up early since it would have been hard to squeeze in a camp breakfast and kayak in before 10:00. After making some coffee and getting the fire going again we made some ham, egg and cheese sandwiches in our sandwich irons. Everything always taste better made over a fire. Again we marveled at the peacefulness of our camp spot. We had only had a couple people wander past on their way to who knows where as we sat there and enjoyed our morning. After finishing breakfast we still had some time to kill so we took a short bike ride and headed up to registration. We had been warned by the girl in the office that last year fights had broke out over campsites so we were not surprised to see a line forming already and a ranger present when we got there at 9:45. For the most part people seemed in good humor however, so we passed the time chatting until the office opened up. They were taking groups one at a time and we were third in line. When we had our turn there were three spots left to choose from. One was on top the hill and would make biking with our kayaking gear a challenge so we selected the one that looked easiest to transport gear down to the water’s edge. As it turned out the site was ok but nothing like we had the night before. By now the campground was filling up and we had campers all around us. We were determined to make the best of it and set up camp and prepared for our son and his wife and baby who were coming over to spend the afternoon with us. After they arrived we packed Wade (our grandson) and his gear into a stroller and took off to show them the sights. What a difference a day can make. When we got to the beach it was teeming. The parking lots were full and there were even a couple of buses onsite. Because of high water the boat landing was closed. In fact you couldn’t even get to it without wading through standing water, so that is where we headed. As expected we had the area all to ourselves and Wade loved playing in the water that was only inches deep on the roadway. We chased little minnows and frogs around and marveled at all the tiny snails. We hiked for a while up the Tamarack trail but were warned by some hikers coming back that after the bridge the trails were under water. By then the mosquitoes had found us anyway so we headed back to the beach. I had promised to buy everybody slushies, our favorite Mauthe treat. After playing with Wade on the playground equipment our guest had to head back home. We walked back to camp, made another camp supper and retired early so that we could get up early the next day to do some more kayaking.

Hi Guys

What you doing back there?

Nice Water

Waz Up?







 

What a great Day

Three Days of Mauthe (Day One)

Eileen's Blue Heron

Day 4   (7/17/14)
This was the first time in several years that we have actually had a chance to do a two night camping trip so we were pretty excited as we headed off to Mauthe Lake our favorite camping, kayaking and biking spot. We were pretty rusty at preparations since we had only gone out camping once last summer and that was just overnight. When we finally got to Mauthe we found out that they had no campsites for two nights in a row but we could stay the night and get on a waiting list for cancelations the next day. We had never had a problem like this at Mauthe during the week before but this was one of the first times this summer that there was little chance of rain in the forecast so everybody was rolling the dice and taking a chance at camping just like us. Since we had come this far we determined to spend the night and see what happened. The problem was that we would have to be back at registration at ten o’clock the next morning, or only stay one night, which would rule out any kayaking in the morning.  We had invited our son, daughter in law and Lil Wade (our grandson) over Friday afternoon so we figured it was worth the hassle. We found our spot which we really liked. It was quite secluded but still close enough to all the important facilities as to be bikeable. As soon as we set up camp we were off in our kayaks across the lake to head up the Milwaukee River, one of our preferred areas to explore. Considering the fact that we couldn’t book two nights we were pleasantly surprised to find we had the lake and river pretty much to ourselves. In the past we have been able to get great photos of wildlife as we work our way quietly up river. We were not disappointed and about a quarter of the way up the navigable part we noticed a Blue Heron fishing on the edge of the river. It has been our experience in the past that the Blues are usually very skittish but this one seemed quite unconcerned as Eileen slowly worked her way toward it. I usually hold back and video and photograph her stalking the subject. Finally when Eileen got about thirty feet from him he took off and flew up river and circled back and landed behind us. We figured we would probably see him again on our way back down so continued on. We were surprised, that with the water as high as it was, it was still very weedy. It was a beautiful night for kayaking. The water was smooth as glass. In spite of the lack of breeze there were even very few mosquitoes. When we finally reached the end of the navigable part of the river and had to turn around we were saddened that we couldn’t go further. As we had expected the Heron was waiting when we got back. This time he wasn’t as tolerant however and although we got pretty close it wasn’t like the first time. After that we headed back to camp to build a fire and make some supper. We were off to a good start.

Eileen stalking her Heron

Reflections

Just Drifting

More Reflections

Back at the Bridge

Back to the Heron

Life is Good

Two,Two, Two Days in One

Road to Boat Dock

Day 3 (7/9/14)

It is Wade Wednesday and we had gotten an early start on the bike trail which you can read about at: http://donurness.blogspot.com/2014/07/two-twotwo-days-in-one.html Wade had gone home with his parents at noon and Eileen and I had the kayaks loaded and ready to head out to Mauthe Lake. We had heard from friends that the boat dock was flooded and determined to go check it out. As expected to road down to the landing was closed and the dock itself was under water. In fact the road to the dock was mostly under water. We had fun wading around in it though and hiked over to check out the bridge over the outlet. The weather was beautiful. It was in the seventies and sunny. The only problem was the wind. The same thing that saved us from the mosquitoes on the bike trail was going to keep us off the lake at Mauthe. It wasn’t that we couldn’t have gone out if we were that serious. Our main destination however, would have been to the other side of the lake and up the river. Had it been earlier in the day and us more ambitious we probably would have gone for it. We have done it before but this was more of a scouting mission. We are planning on coming here camping next week and wanted to know how the flooding was going to affect things. We determined it should be “good to go”. We spent what we had left of the afternoon exploring the park and watching dragonflies. We determined that Dragonflies must be very territorial because we would see certain colors allowed in certain areas and others chased away. Feeling content that our plans for camping next week would not be compromised, we headed home feeling relaxed and excited for our camping trip to come. 

Another view of the Road



The Dock

The River

Giant tadpoles where dry land used to be

This is the mean Dragon that chased the others away

One that he would allow

Family of Cranes

The Whole Family

Al Urness Revisited

Urness, Kayak In New Orleans

Day 2 (4/29/14)

Over a year ago I had started blogging about Al Urness, an artist, adventurer and world traveler that I had happened upon by accident. Since we shared a last name and a love of art and kayaking I had decided to spend a little time in the winter looking into his life and adventures. I had gotten three installation in to it when I started to bog down and run out of information. I sent out emails to all the historical societies and museums along his route in hopes of perhaps finding some images of his art work or even more information on his trips. If the emails were answered at all they had little or no information. In some cases they had other avenues I could try but these too usually were dead ends. To my surprise since that time I have actually been contacted by three people who had encountered Al in his journeys that come across my blog. For this reason I am going to try a couple more installments. For anybody who did not read the earlier blogs, in 1952 Al Urness started on a journey, in a homemade kayak, up the Yellowstone River from Billings, Montana to the Missouri River and then down to the Mississippi and eventually to New Orleans. His original plan was to then install a sail and continue on to Florida. If you are interested you can go back to my January 8, 2013 “In Search of Al Urness” and the next two blogs for more information. In these blogs I got as far as his journey to Cairo, Illinois on the Mississippi where he stopped for the winter in 1954. On Feb 14^th 1955 Urness takes off from Cairo and gets as far as Memphis, Tennessee before heavy flooding makes him hold up for a while to do some repairs and some paintings. It seems that he did this quite a bit and at one point painted a mural for the museum in St Josephs, Mo. I have tried unsuccessfully to get information from the museum on any mural he might have done. From this point my information gets even sketchier. I do know that in 1956 Al joins up with Captain Henry C Muirhead on a 46 foot sternwheeler “Gay Rosie Jane” designed and built by Muirhead to cruise the inland waters of the Gulf Coast. On this side trip he gets as far as Brownsville, Texas before resuming his journey. The next and last article I find on him from the, “Billings Gazette” Sept 2 1956, does confirm that he indeed does make it to New Orleans almost four years later.

Urness estimates he has covered 4,000 miles along the Yellowstone, Missouri and Mississippi rivers, although he by-passed some of the Yellowstone after initial troubles Included 21 spills. Outriggers, new paddle design and other innovations helped lessen the dunking’s. He has passed 95 cities in 112 days of actual travel. Most of his summers have been devoted to sketching marine, wildlife and other scenes, although he frequently paints a mural or portrait to finance expenses. He hopes to have a one-man show eventually of more than 300 oils of the trip.

I have never been able to find any information on whether Urness went on to Miami or not. From one of the people that I corresponded with I was led to believe that he didn't. I have still only found one of his paintings and I will have more on that in my next blog. As I said, I have heard from some people who have seen my blog that knew Al and I am waiting for some images and more information that they said they would be sending.

30 Years of Yuma

Three Amigos

Day 1 (3/31-4/5/14)

For almost 30 years we have been taking trips to Yuma, Arizona about every five years. It started when my college friend Steve took a teaching job down there in the mid eighties. I will never forget his first impressions of Yuma which were something like, “as I stood on the old bridge across the Colorado River, bused there on a school bus without air conditioning, and looked out over the barren wasteland I asked myself what I had ever done to deserve ending up here.” Thirty years and a career later Steve is finally packing it up and moving back north. He invited us down for one last visit before he sells his condo and moves north. Most people move to Yuma when they retire so there is a bit of irony in his retiring to Wisconsin. In those thirty years there has been a lot of change in Yuma but also much has remained the same. We have watched as the downtown (old town) area was revitalized and then died again. When we first went to Lute’s Casino it was a rundown seedy dive that sold great hamburgers. Today it is still a rundown seedy dive that sells great hamburgers. I almost wondered if the same crowd wasn't there from our very first visit. Another favorite establishment is the garden café, a mostly outdoor café surrounded by an aviary which gives it an ambiance that you are not going to find in the north. Now days there seems to be more sparrows and doves then the parrots of the early days but the food is still good and service friendly. We were glad we had made reservations for a Tuesday lunch which bodes well for its future. Perhaps the most positive change that has occurred has been the changes in the Colorado River. The first time that we stood on the bridge overlooking what was left of the Colorado it was a dirty little river that was filled with shopping carts and other debris. The floodplain was riddled with pathways leading off to areas staked out by vagrants. In the last thirty years the entire flood plain in and around Yuma has been rejuvenated and in areas made into parks for public recreation. While we were visiting this last time they were in the process of purging the river estuaries with pulses of high volume water to reestablish the natural habitats that once existed. I am not sure what happened to all the vagrants but only one exists, that we saw, and he has a more or less permanent residence and has even been the subject of articles in the local newspaper. The first time we visited the Yuma Territorial Prison it was little more than a derelict foundation. On this last visit it has been totally restored and is a museum. As you look up across the Colorado River the old bridge and Indian Mission Church are still there although many of the trees are gone. I have been intrigued with the desert since reading Edward Abby’s Desert Solitaire in the early 80s. That being said I have never had to live there in the summer. Who knows if we will ever get back there but I will always have fond memories of the time I have spent there.

Lute's Casino back entrance

Lute's Casino

Yuma Territorial Prison

Six to a Cell

Indian Mission 30 years ago

Indian Mission today

Grotto 30 years ago

Grotto Today

Colorado River 30 years ago

Colorado Today

Eileen 30 years ago

Eileen today

Some things never change 30 years of Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds today

Me thirty years ago

The Golden Circle

Strokkur

Day 11 (8/10/13)

Here it is the last day of our tour of Iceland already. As always there are a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand I wish it could go on forever and I am going to miss my newfound friends and the other hand I wish I could just teleport home and sleep in my own bed. This may be the wonderful part about vacation is that it makes you miss home again for awhile anyway. It has been a wonderful trip and part of that has been due to the great group of people we have been with. There is not a one in the group that I would not want as a friend. Our first stop of the day is at Friheimar, Iceland’s largest producer of hydroponic grown tomatoes. We were not there for the greenhouses however but their demonstrations of Icelandic horses in action. So far on our trip we have seen thousands of Icelandic horses. We have made sure they were securely back in their pasture and even had a taste of their meat. This is our first chance, however, to see what really amazing creatures they really are. Although small in stature, the Icelandic horse is very strong and durable, perhaps because they have adapted to a climate that few other animals can survive in. They have descended from the horses that the original Vikings brought to Iceland in the 9^th and 10^th century. Since that time there has been no interbreeding with any other horses leaving a very pure strain of horses. At this point it is illegal to bring any other horse into Iceland. Another fascinating feature of the Icelandic horse is its added gait, the tolt. It is a very smooth and comfortable gait which allows the horse and rider to travel great distances in comfort. On our way to Haukadalur “valley of geysers” our next scheduled stop, we visit Faxi Falls another beautiful little waterfall for a quick photo opportunity.  “Geyser” the water spout which gave geysers their name has quit spewing but fortunately its little brother Strokkur “the churn” has continued to spurt every 5 to 7 minutes. It is awesome to see it blast into the air. Right next door is Gullfoss “golden falls” one of Iceland’s most famous falls because of its proximity to Reykjavik. At this point we have seen hundreds of waterfalls and the joke has become, “Oh look, another beautiful waterfall” but in truth it never fails to leave you with a sense of awe when you look on these natural wonders. We have one more stop, before heading back to Reykjavik and saying goodbye to all our new found friends, at Pingvellir National Park. This UNESCO world heritage site is the site where the first democratic parliament “the Althingi” took place in 930AD bringing together people from all over Iceland. It is still a model for the national assembly that exists today, although indoors and at Reykjavik. I would guess there are a few less drownings and hangings as well. Pingvellir is also the site where the North American Plate and European plate are slowly moving apart. Pingvellir National Park is also the home of Iceland’s largest natural lake, Þingvallavatn. All good things must come to an end and it is time to head back to Reykjavik, our circle of Iceland complete. As we say our goodbyes we all realize that Iceland is unlike any other place on earth, a place of extremes where old and new, hot and cold, life and death, danger and safety all go hand in hand.

Icelandic Horse doing the Tolt

Eileen made Friend

A couple more

Faxifoss

Hot Pool

Another boiling hot pool

Strokkur getting ready to Blow

Gullfoss

On e last Build

The Drowning Pool

Site of several international parleys

North American Plate

European Plate

Parliament Rock 

Pingvallavatn