February Outing

With the temperature forecast to be near 50 degrees with virtually no wind, Pat and I decided it would be a great day to get out on the water and get February under our belts. I took the entire day off from work and did a bunch of little chores in the morning. Pat took the afternoon off. We met at the LaFrambise Causeway at about 1:30 and were away at around 1:40. The clarity of the water was amazing. You could see down to the bottom in water that was probably 8 to 10 feet deep and we could see fish swimming around. That would explain the other boats out on the river. They must not have been able to decide where to fish because they seemed to be rushing back and forth between Fort Pierre and to points downstream. Fortunately, no matter how warm it is (apparently it got to 54), the water temperatures of 34 to 35 degrees keeps the jet skis in storage. After paddling around for a while and breaking through ice around the ramp we continued downstream. As it ended up we went down to the end of the island and back. Total time on the water was just short of 3 hours and we traveled about 6.8 miles. Not bad for February.

And with this I am now up to 23 straight months of kayaking. While this winter kayaking is fun, I would not go out alone. All of these winter trips are taken with Pat, Chuck, or both. And, until the water warms up a bit I will continue to use my Spectrum instead of the Tempest. But, the days are getting longer and it will come down from the rafters before too long.

Here are a few pictures from today. The calmness of the day is clear in the reflections. Seems like I often end up with good pictures of Pat or Chuck on my site. For more pictures, including ones of me, check out Pat's site. (http://www.piratesofthemissouri.com/)