Upper Iowa River
Last weekend I canoed the Upper Iowa River for the first time, with an assortment of people from various canoeing clubs and the Sierra Club. It was a beautiful river, and I had a good time with the "Class 1 Riffles." I'd like to go back and canoe down more slowly so I could see more of the bluffs. Canoeing with an unfamiliar partner is always inefficient, and my partner and I had entirely different philosophies about steering, so the two of us had to work pretty hard to keep up with the others.
It was funny to be with a group of nice and likable people with whom I had a lot in common, but to feel like we had little in common. Our similarities included a political orientation somewhere in the left wing, enjoyment of good food and beer, love of the outdoors, love of rivers, and a propensity to pick up litter. I think that our differences are most conveniently summed up by our choice of T-shirts: They all wore canoeing T-shirts, food co-op T-shirts, environmentally focused T-shirts, and I wore an angry-looking samurai.
Be that as it may, I had far more in common with the friendly river cleanup squadron than with the drunken mob inhabiting most of the commercial campground where we pitched our tents. Even the employees were drunk, driving around at 10:30 at night noisily collecting canoes from people's campsites. One night I slept with my 10-inch heavy steel flashlight next to me in my sleeping bag after some lout who could barely stand invited me to make out with him. I asked around later, and apparently not all women are routinely propositioned by drunken louts; I'm just special that way.
It was a pretty spot and would be fantastic on a weeknight. The smoke from the fireworks and campfires hung around the bluffs and somewhat obscured the stars, but we could still see some of the Milky Way belt, so there was very little light pollution.
It was funny to be with a group of nice and likable people with whom I had a lot in common, but to feel like we had little in common. Our similarities included a political orientation somewhere in the left wing, enjoyment of good food and beer, love of the outdoors, love of rivers, and a propensity to pick up litter. I think that our differences are most conveniently summed up by our choice of T-shirts: They all wore canoeing T-shirts, food co-op T-shirts, environmentally focused T-shirts, and I wore an angry-looking samurai.
Be that as it may, I had far more in common with the friendly river cleanup squadron than with the drunken mob inhabiting most of the commercial campground where we pitched our tents. Even the employees were drunk, driving around at 10:30 at night noisily collecting canoes from people's campsites. One night I slept with my 10-inch heavy steel flashlight next to me in my sleeping bag after some lout who could barely stand invited me to make out with him. I asked around later, and apparently not all women are routinely propositioned by drunken louts; I'm just special that way.
It was a pretty spot and would be fantastic on a weeknight. The smoke from the fireworks and campfires hung around the bluffs and somewhat obscured the stars, but we could still see some of the Milky Way belt, so there was very little light pollution.
Labels: travel
posted by Margo at 5:27 PM
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