Minnesota

Last night we decided to call it an early night and camp just a few miles north of LaCrosse. Even though it put us behind our milage quota for the day, it was nice to pull off and enjoy a great sunset We were tucked away on a small sand island right across the town […]
Day 8 – Crossing through La Crosse

Rob couldn’t understand why he wasn’t hungry this morning, until he pulled a wing and tail from his mouth. After hatching late last night, mayflies have plagued our vessel!These insects, Mayflies or shadflies, have a very short adult lifespan living from a only few hours to a day. Some consider this good luck, others use them for bait, BarrelRaftBoys use […]
Who Needs Breakfast When You Have Mayflies?

As our first weekend on the river, we decided to stop in Winona, MN after shacking up for the night just above Lock #5A. After swiftly cruising through this Lock at 9:45, we docked up in the Winona Marina to have some quality time off the raft. Taking a minute to drop a line in […]
Day 6 – Winona, MN

Our log says day five but I lost count about 4 days ago..this journey feels like an eternity. We’re lost on a desolate river in the middle of no-mans land with not a single bit of life besides the packs of wolves that guard the coastline, making it impossible to reach dry land. Our rations […]
DaY FiVE ALL HELL IS BREAKING LOOSE!!

Made it across Lake Pepin! It was a long day using our motor..gotta give respect to our 9.9 Evenrude for pushing our tank all day! We spotted a sandy island at the end of Pepin, both decided to pull over and call it a day and sit back and look at we just accomplished. Happy […]
Day 4 – Lake Pepin

Beautiful sunset put us to be last night in a small cove on the Minnesota side. After taking off around 7:00 this morning, we began the largest lake in our path, Lake Pepin. Again, the barrel raft boys were blessed with great weather and a calm lake. We crossed this lake after Old Frontenac to […]
Mid-Day 4

Spent the night in Prescott, WI public boat dock where the freight trains run every 45 minutes…not a very peaceful sleeping spot. We awoke to a calm, beautiful and still-aired morning to find the Mississippi-St. Croix rivers confluence within a couple of yards to where we camped. What a noticeable difference between these waterways! The Mississippi […]