Meramec Trash Paddle – 6/14/2013

I’m trying to get my family out on the river more to enjoy it with me. I would like to say I’m doing a good job, but there sure have not been too many trips out on the river so far…

Today was a day of triumph. Corvin was off at an overnight summer camp, so it was just the three of us, Danelle, Hogan, Sonora. I asked Sonora and Danelle if they wanted to go paddling with me and they said yes. So we took off to Greentree to put in the water. The water was up, but that wasn’t a big deal to us. At the put in, the people in motor boats couldn’t imagine anybody without a motor going upstream on the river, but we went off anyway.

I know that the family, but especially kids won’t want to go anywhere near as far as I do on a trip, but that was okay. We got up to Simpson Lake inlet and went upstream. There, we found backwater that was sitting with logs partially blocking what little flow there may have been. The water was gross and full of trash. Typically I go through it and come back and think nothing of it. We came to a compromise and decided to do an impromptu trash pickup. Danelle in the front and Sonora in the middle picked up things and put them in the boat while I maneuvered the boat around to make it possible for them to reach the trash. This became a fascinating game for Sonora, trying to get as many tennis balls as possible into the boat.

By the time we finished picking up trash, it was getting dark and Danelle was quickly running out of room where her feet go. When we got back to the ramp, we carried the boat with the trash contents to the bathrooms at the boat ramp. There, we completely filled up the trash can with the contents from the river.

We had a great family paddle and did a good deed. What a perfect day!

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Hogan Haake