Two wins in one weekend, but a washout the next

Last weekend, we made two 9.6-mile sweeps of our "adoption site 2," the northern St. Croix River between Thayer's Landing and St. Croix State Park. We hit the Minnesota side on
Saurday, and the Wisconsin side on Sunday, capturing some great photos, footage and knowedge to share as time allows. This weekend, we were hoping to tackle the backwaters near Osceola, conducting an end-of-season cleanup of light litter, as well as two larger debris items we've been alerted to.

But on this Sunday morning, we are waking to the sound of rain on the roof of our base camp; a rain that has been falling nearly non-stop since Friday evening.

Oh, well. As I've stated before, there are two forces which demand respect in any cleanup effort: Mother Nature, and Father Time. This weekend, it is she who will hinder our efforts. We might have been able to get a little more work done, but it would have been miserable in the cold, constant rain. And since our great granddaughter is along on this voyage, we elected to be even more cautious than usual.

The delay puts additional pressure on our late-season goals. Autumn was in the air this weekend; the working days are getting noticably shorter, and the air and water are cooling. Enough so that we know our waterborne cleanup season will end within several weeks (perhaps a few shoreline cleanup missions could be completed after that).

We did discover a new place to use as a base camp this weekend. Traditionally, we would have set-up at William O'Brien or Interstate State Park when focusing on this particular section of the St. Croix River. But without a reservation this week, and learning those two camps were full, we instead setup at Wildwood Campgound, which is operated by the same folks who run Wild Mountain recreation area and Taylors Falls Canoe Rental. In addition to being a great facility, it is located just south of Taylors Falls near the intersection of highways 8 & 95, making it a very convenient site for us when cleaning our adopted stretch of the St. Croix near Osceola... or perhaps a site we'll keep in mind when planning next year's Dash for Trash.

© 2008 Mike D. Anderson, Crystal, MN.