A Paddling Trip on the Upper Platte
Today, our group of ten (eight, not including the dogs-- see the bottom of the report for the names and species of the kayakers) kayaked down the Upper Platte, starting at around 1:00 P.M. and ending at around 5:00 P.M. The weather was relatively dry and sunny, without strong breezes and rain (although there was a small amount of wind towards the end of the trip). It was not exceptionally hot or cold-- most people did not really notice the temperature during the trip except to comment on how perfect it was. It was the perfect day for a trip on the river.
During the trip, Jocelyn lost her grabber in a flurry of Max, current, sticks, and larger logs. While attempting to pick up a piece of trash, Max managed to get out of his cage and jump around. While attempting to get Max back in his cage, Jocelyn drifted into a log jam-- meanwhile, a gust of wind caused Max’s now-empty cage to fly out of the canoe and into the water. Jocelyn was able to quickly grab Max’s cage, get Max back into the cage, and prevent the canoe from capsizing, but she lost her grabber during the action.
The trip was David’s first long paddle in a challenging river. He had been on smaller rivers with a weaker current and less obstacles, but never in one as long and challenging as the Upper Platte. The entire trip took around four hours, much longer than any of his previous trips, and required more attention paid to the obstacles in the river.
Fred and Jocelyn collected a large quantity of plastic and glass bottles (among other types of trash) along the logs and banks of the river-- enough to completely fill Fred’s bag. Although Jocelyn’s grabber was lost, a large amount of trash was removed from the river. Fred and David also clipped the branches of plants at the Deadstream landing site after the group had pulled their boats out of the water (because protruding branches were making the movement of the kayaks more difficult, and there was not a huge amount of space in the first place).
The trip went very well, on the whole. Even though Jocelyn’s grabber was lost, the group was able to have a fun trip on the river.
Members of the group:
Humans:
David
Fred
John
Harold
Jocelyn
Lois
Tracie
Jackie
Dogs:
Max
Bella
David
Jocelyn and Max
Harold
David and Fred
Tracie
Lois
Bella and Jackie
The Platte River
Photographer - John