It started out with a call out on Facebook for help. It was re-posted in another paddling group I’m in. My friend Bob Hines, a fellow adventurer and someone I look up to, posted the message. If Bob was interested, I figured I should be too!
Sometimes you just have people that inspire you to be better and I figured maybe it was my time to do something extra!
Maybe I should back up a moment. What was the call out for? Danelle and I are members of Mississippi River Angels Facebook Group. This group is for people willing to help travelers paddling the Mississippi River. We do it for free because we love the river and the people. While we have never hosted anybody before, we plan to once/if we ever get our house built in Alton, IL.
Along came Morgan, Charles, David, and Trevor asking for help. Why are they asking for help? Well, it’s supposed to be a low temperature in the 20F range for two days coming up with high winds. That would be massively uncomfortable sitting in tents and sleeping bags trying to stay warm. Potentially health threatening as well.
I made a few inquiries to other river angels I knew upstream to see what I could about them. Hosting them would involve access to our house and we wanted to make sure there were not others saying they were not great to host. While they had a website and a Facebook Page – Drift South Expedition (DSE), there wasn’t much information on them and it was not up to date.
Danelle and I decided now was the time and we answered the call with yes. Now the waiting began. I sent a Messenger note and waited for a response while they were still paddling. Eventually we connected after a few messages and had a phone call. We agreed on hosting and they agreed on staying with us. There would be 4 paddlers and two boats.
I offered to meet them at the Chain Of Rocks portage. Then they could unload most of their gear in my car and paddle unencumbered the next 8 miles to a ramp just south of the arch. This would increase their speed and mean a bit less gear to move during the portage. I arrived early as I often do to things and checked out the chain. It was a 100% portage today because the rocks were visible.
I wanted Danelle to come with me, but our RAV4 only has seats for 5 people. With myself and the 4 crew, we would have needed to take 2 vehicles. Danelle opted to stay behind while I picked them up. I had time to take a walk in the area and just generally hang out while I awaited their arrival. When they did show up, it was not at all what I expected. In fact, I didn’t really know if it was them or not. Two boats were coming to the portage, but they appeared to be rowing when I thought they were canoeing. It turns out each canoe had a rowing seat and a paddling seat. This allowed one person to look up and one down the river at all times for safety. Plus they got to talk with each other along the journey.
One of the difficult things is being able to help people/groups that already have a system. DSE has been portaging all the way down the Mississippi without me. In fact, they were half way through with their trip when they got to me. I did what I could, but generally found it best to stay out of their way. They need to know where all of their gear is or something might be lost. So I helped where I could, but mostly watched.
David and Trevor portaging the first boat.
The whole team portaging the second boat. The sand was a bit rough on the portage cart, so the extra help was appreciated. I stayed with the first boat since there were lots of people out.
Setting off from the chain unencumbered by expedition gear to head to the arch. Look closely and you can see two ducks behind the green boat (one in the water and one still on shore). They were towing 3 of them the whole way. Just “junk” they found on the journey.
It takes about 90 minutes from here to the arch from past experience. I drove to the ramp just south of the arch and waited for them to show up. They were racing against sunset and didn’t have lights on the boats. Therefore they needed to make it! I got nervous as it turned into two hours. I had been walking the arch riverfront upstream to see if I could find the boats. When I did see them, I promptly walked back to the car to make sure I was there for them.
We all sighed relief when they landed at the ramp. The boats were lazily unloaded and brought to the car. I had to remember they were on river time and I had no place to be. Due to the canoes being set up for rowing, we learned that they didn’t fit side by side on the trailer. We could have made it work, but didn’t have to. One boat on the trailer and the other on top of the RAV4. Gear in the trailer and the back and the car loaded full of people.
We made a pit stop on the way to pick up scientific supplies at another person’s house (more on this below). Then I proceeded to miss the highway ramp and put us on a long loop to try again. When we got to our house, I backed in the trailer and we all took a sigh of relief. I explained to them our neighborhood was pretty darn safe and they could leave any gear they wanted in the trailer. That made unpacking for the night much easier.
Introductions were made of Danelle and we sat down to chili and fresh bread for dinner. After dinner, we did our best to leave the paddlers alone. We had two more days with them during the cold snap to hang out.
We repaired a wooden paddle with marine spar varnish. I asked for advice from my paddling group and two people recommended this approach. Funny how life comes full circle, the paddle was originally owned by Mike Clark and one of his paddle guides, Tanner, recommended the varnish as something they did. So we repaired the paddle the same way the owner of said paddle would do it!
The two days came and went quickly, with shared meals and shared stories. Danelle and I were glad to have hosted these young people and be a small part of their journey. We know after this experience that we want to be River Angel hosts again!
For my part, I think I need to leave the paddlers alone a bit more. Essentially tell them what we’re going to do and then do it. If they want to hang out or make meals together, encourage them to ask. Hopefully we/I didn’t bother them too much.
Hogan Haake
PS. Danelle here. Hogan and the DSE paddlers geeked out a lot on boat things and the mutual connections through the wooden paddle, but they also had mutual connections with me through science! That short detour when they arrived in St. Louis was to the home of a friend of mine who does river research on microplastics. DSE was working with Teresa to collect and filter water samples all down the river, trying to improve our understanding of where tiny plastic particles are found. The where includes what part of the river channel (slow water, fast water, deep water, shallow water) as well as which stretches of river (upstream and downstream). Teresa also looks at what type of plastic particles are found, both the kind of plastic and the size of the particles. All of this is important because these particles can accumulate toxic chemicals and are often eaten by fish and other animals, some of which become food for people.