Saturday offered up a beautiful warm sunny morning with calm winds. The eleven paddlers on the trip were: Steve Carey, John Gerty, Lois Goldstein, John Heiam, Allen Hoeft, Harold Lassers, Pam Lassers, Marcy Maller, Gerald Wilgus, Susan Wilgus and Jill Zofia.
We met at the put-in at Veterans Park on US-31 east of the village of Honor, and a very punctual shuttle was executed to spot cars at our destination off of Deadstream Road on the shore of Platte Lake.
Back at Veterans' Park, the varied and beautiful fleet of canoes and kayaks was launched and off we paddled on this pretty river. I think the consensus was that the water was high all those tight turns a bit tricky(?). I certainly found it challenging with my beginner's paddling skills. I ultimately ran afoul of a low hanging tree and went swimming. But the water wasn't too cold, and my patient fellow paddlers helped me get sorted out.
We took a break on a grassy bank to stretch our legs and someone passed out delicious peanut butter cookies.
The river became gentler downstream but continued to be very pretty, with all the spring foliage and flowering trees. A little breeze came up around noon. We paddled though the village of Honor towards the end of the trip and then crossed a little corner of Platte Lake to get to the pull-out.
Wildlife sightings on trip included great blue herons, mergansers, muskrats and, as we made our little crossing of Platte Lake, a bald eagle on the wing.
Thanks to John Heiam for coaching me and helping get me extracted from tangles a couple times!
Submitted by Steve Carey (...come to find out, if you go swimming you write the trip report. Glad to do it!)
Here is the crew:
Lois
Marsh Marigolds lined the banks
Sue
Gerry
Pam
Steve
Marcy
Allen
Jill
Harold
John Gerty
Not pictured (behind the camera) John Heiam