This weekend Naveen and I went for a canoe trip down the Elkhorn River. The plan was to start at the Wood Duck Wildlife Management area near Stanton, NE. The plan went bad when we got to the WMA and went off roading in the CRV and found nothing but fireflies, deer, and wood ticks. No canoe access......so much for my research. Plan B was to go up to Norfolk and camp at Ta-Ha-Zouka park and use the canoe access there even though it was going to add an estimated 5 hours on to our canoeing day on Saturday. We got to the park at about 11pm to find a sign that said "No Camping Until Further Notice". FML. At this point it was late and we were crabby and hungry so we stayed at the Holiday in for our first night of our Nebraska outdoors trip, but not after attempting to stay in 3 other hotels. Norfolk was BUSY that weekend I guess.
All of our camping and canoeing gear heaved in the parking lot while we decide how to pack it all and get it down to the river.
River Access! SUCCESS! We found you!
Our canoe did not stay nicely packed for very long. Every pit stop incurred some "re-organization" and by the end all of our bags were open and stuff was everywhere.
This was Naveen's first official canoe trip and my first trip down a river!(I think he looks so cute in the red life jacket)
The Elkhorn River was running a bit faster than usual due to all of the rain we have had this spring and summer, it was a sandy bottom with the only obstructions being trees and sandbars.
The total trip was 29 river miles and the first 6 hours were the most stressful for me because the first section of river was filled with "S" curves which created a lot of tree debris to canoe around.
Being 1/2 nature and 1/2 Martha Stewart I am making a toilet out of trees and pulling extra bark off to make a nice place to sit.
The end of our journey - River Park in Wisner, NE.
We canoed from Ta-Ha-Zouka Park in Norfolk to River Park in Wisner. There was a rodeo going on that weekend followed by a super terrible band, so camping was not so peaceful.
Our campsite was quickly surrounded by Cowboys and trucks as Naveen and I squatted around a Citronella candle and played UNO.
Our new shiny camping stove. We had chicken quesadillas for dinner. YUM!
Notes for next time: Don't let your ego take over. Just when the adrenaline rush comes over you making you feel like a total river badass because you just navigated around trees and the flow of the river like a pro you will undoubtedly hit a sand bar and get suck. No one looks more ridiculous than a canoe stuck in the middle of a brisk flowing river with two novices in it bitchin' about how to get off the effing sand bar.