Craig to Pelican Point - 18.1 Miles

This is a first for me!!  I'm not sure I have ever paddled more than ten to twelve miles in one day and we went over eighteen today.  We left Craig a little after eleven and arrived at Pelican Point at exactly four o'clock.  With a stop for lunch, it took just under five hours.  The guide we talked to at the take-out said we made really good time.  The note in our car from the shuttle people said to expect us at five.  I guess they do that in case people don't show up so they can go looking for them.  

First Thing You See After You Put In

I will confess, though, that we had some current helping us out.  At times it was pretty calm, at times we had quick water and for short periods we had Class I and Class II rapids with maybe a Class III thrown in for good measure.  That was the one where, if you were listening, you would have thought I had Tourette's Syndrome.

Some Rapids...

And Some Calm

Being in the middle of the day, we didn't see as much wildlife as we had when we paddled with Bonnie in the evening.  The temperature was in the mid nineties again.  I love this dry heat! It was a perfect day to be on the water.  We hadn't gone far when two white pelicans flew overhead. Contrasted against the blue sky with their black wing tips, they were quite a sight.  We saw more in the water further on.  I saw another marmot under the same bridge where we had seen two the other night.  One raft of mergansers has twenty-eight birds in it.  We saw more deer at the water's edge than I can remember as well as dozens of Canada geese.  Swallows, red winged blackbirds, a kingfisher, an osprey and many other species of birds kept our interest along the way.  I even saw another muskrat.  Oh, ...and cattle.

The river is really beautiful with tall cliffs and rock formations along the way.  There are quite a few cottages and some really lovely homes with many cottages for sale.  Even though we really like this area, we are not at all tempted to settle in one place.  We were joined on the river by fishermen and rafters but the river is wide in most places so we didn't really meet up with anyone.  

We passed under I-15 four times in our meandering travels and under the Frontage Road only once at Hardy Bridge.  At times the road was right beside the river and at times we were in the wilderness alone and could imagine what it must have been like when Lewis and Clark paddled through a little over two hundred years ago.  It was a great day on a beautiful river.

Hardy Bridge - Almost There