Battered by a Lock & Dam, Saved by a Sandbar

For about 10 minutes, in a lock & dam in Minnesota City I thought my days were over.  We were more than halfway through our kayak trip from Alma to Fountain City. It was a windy day so the paddling was a little bouncier than normal.

The first couple of hours were nice, paddling through lotus flowers, blue herons flying up in front of us, the wind pushing us from behind.

We stopped at The Cove in Buffalo City for lunch. The difficulty started as we tried to cross the river from the Wisconsin to the Minnesota side.  Paddling with the wind hitting us sideways was much harder.  I was fighting hard just to get to a sandbar to rest.  The lock was within sight and our camping spot was a little further along. I hopped back in my kayak and thought we were so close, what could go wrong. As we neared the lock, I could feel the waves strengthening and I was really working to keep my boat pointed south so as not to capsize.  I recalled the words of my husband not 30 minutes prior.

Me: It's pretty choppy out here.  Aren't the waves going to get bigger when they hit the walls of the lock?
Husband: No, it should be fine.  It's a protected area.

As we entered the lock, the waves were throwing around the kayaks. I paddled over to the wall toward my husband and my boat crashed right into the side of his boat but luckily stayed upright. I grabbed a hold of a rope which was really the signal cord to let them know you're there. We heard through the speaker that it was going to be 15 minutes. I kept holding on to what I thought was just a rope. The river patrol officer told us to let go and repeated the 15-minute wait. There are a series of ropes that boaters are supposed to hold onto while waiting. Normally they come out and help you but noone was there. I could have grabbed onto one of those ropes but I've only locked through one other time so I didn't understand everything that was going on. Holding onto the ropes next to the wall wasn't a great situation. The wind was causing so much movement within the lock that our boats were banging against the sides. We were moving up and down a lot with the waves but we were more or less in one stationary spot.  Mike suddenly paddled away from the wall and out into the big waves.  I followed him and immediately realized that now we were really in trouble.  The wind was pushing our boats toward the lock that was going to be opening. The waves were so big they were rolling over our kayaks.  I was quickly soaked up to my shoulders. I yelled for help unsure what to do.  Mike was behind me telling me to just keep back-paddling to try to stay in the same spot. I felt sure I could not maintain this for 15 minutes. I wondered what would happen if I capsized. The waves were so high and we were quite a distance from the wall and the ropes now. My boat kept turning toward the waves as I paddled with all of my strength to keep the boat pointing forward but not moving forward. Just as I was considering my imminent death, Mike yelled, "They're opening!". We scooted on through into another holding area. At this point the officer came out and explained that we were supposed to wait for a green light to come into the lock area. I doubt we could have avoided coming into the lock anyway, with the wind pushing us from behind. Now he said that the cord was a signal cord and then pointed out the ropes. I paddled over to Mike and once again banged into his boat as I desperately grabbed for a rope. The turbulence had died down some now that we were in the second holding area.  We waited another 5 minutes and the final lock opened.  As we paddled out onto the river, the choppy water and winds and dark skies were gone.  The sun slowly showed itself, the water was practically flat as we paddled on.  Two eagles started circling each other above our boats.  The sun was shining down upon us and I breathed.  I breathed and as I watched those eagles, I felt the thin line between danger and beauty. We found our sandbar and bolted out of the boats.

I stripped off my wet clothes and layered myself in dry clothes. My husband had a fire going and a cup of chilled white wine in my hand within 5 minutes time.

My husband said he had no fear during any of this lock & dam drama. He said he gets this urge to giggle, a little maniacally whenever these situations come up. Note to self, take control of all future kayaking trips.

Fountain City off in the distance.

A selfie to remember this wind-battered, wave-crashing, kayak bashing day.

We watched the sun fall.

As I ate dinner with Mike I continued to go over the events of the day. If I held my husband accountable for the lock & dam chaos, I would never speak to him again.  This didn't seem like a good option.  I told him that he is a risky kayaker. I am not a risky kayaker. I should say I won't be a risky kayaker in the future.  Winds, storm clouds, choppy water, waves are not for me.

Give me sunshine and a smooth day and I'm on board. I've learned my paddling limits the hard way. Thanks to majestic Lake Superior and the magic Mississippi, I'm still a paddler though.
We climbed into our tent to the sounds of Ken Burns' Mark Twain.

Sunrise on the Mississippi is not to be missed.

The Mississippi River. The Upper Mississippi Wildlife Refuge.  A Wisconsin Driftless gem.