my buddy Bill showed up to paddle this one with me
https://youtu.be/Kj0wK8B8kFA
Nice enough river. Have you ever done the Cedar river? I think St Ansgar put a little whitewater park below a dam on the Cedar.
Those itty-bitty kayaks look like fun; not sure about going straight, though.
I was hoping you saw The Volga River Boatmen, or perhaps heard them singing.
Which one of Iowa rivers did you like best? and where did you camp?
That’s rdhow’s favorite. Yo Ho Heave Ho.
liked all the streams- hard to beat the scenic cliffs near bluffton (upper iowa), Volga has some nice eroded limestone (possibly dolomite) and a bit more push, I liked the beginning of the yellow with its curves and meanders, some open farm country, cliffs, a little bit of everything. Paint creek needed more water but good for adventuresome spirits. Probably best on paint above the campground with more water(but you need to be comfortable with wood) . Wapsi was a good bit wider, but you could do some interesting side channels, and on the shuttle back to our put in you can enjoy a cold brew at the bar and I had camping to myself at Mattsell, place was deserted. It’s all good!
I had mentioned previously why the short boat, I was running ww later in the trip (ten days of boating in Colorado) and also wanted to beat boat registration laws in Iowa and Wisconsin on the way out. No problem keeping the wavsport Y straight, its just slow, meaning you really need to focus on rotation so you don’t wear yourself out. Admittedly, I did some slumping on the back deck, to stretch the legs out, unfortunately that backband doesn’t adjust once you’re in the boat. Even with filming. I probably averaged between 4-5 miles per hour in iowa, I find I go faster when I’m by myself. Most of the runs were around 2 hours.
After paddling a Taureau (ww canoe) for a few years, I think I can make just about anything go straight. Now, if you put me in long skinny boat, ask me to turn, I really suck. So it’s whatever you get used to. Keep the distances short (under ten miles) add some current, and changing scenery and a short boat works fine for me. Easy for me to load on top of the car and carry to the water which is becoming a bigger deal as my knees get progressively worse.