June I stayed in Bismarck an extra day, in order to track down
23-24 information on what lies ahead and to collect myself for the next
lake, Sakakawea, the largest of the six I’ll encounter. Bismarck is
an attractive little city, much larger than its South Dakota
counterpart, Pierre. Like Pierre, there’s a well-developed
riverfront park area, and from the capitol building there’s a
fantastic view of the river. The building itself is an incongruous
looking high-rise, but the rest of the capitol grounds are quite
attractive and include a museum and gallery. The area is steeped
in Native American and frontier history. Across the river from
Bismarck lies Mandan, where Lewis and Clark spent their first
winter in 1804-5. In Bismarck I met Mike Olson of the North
Dakota Fish and Wildlife Department, who set me up with river
contacts that will take me as far into Montana as Ft. Benton.
Then I used my Enterprise rental car to drive to Garrison Dam,
where I scouted out my portage route and got a glimpse of Lake
Sakakawea, an intimidating sight. I also checked into a sports
medicine clinic to have a doctor look at my shoulder. He injected
me with some sort of wonder drug that’s supposed to clear up all
my problems, and gave me some exercises to do to stretch my
shoulder and neck. If this treatment works, I’ll be back in
business. I’ve noticed that since I arrived in Bismarck the wind
has stopped. I think the wind god is playing games with me -
whenever I stop, he stops; whenever I start again, he does too.
Maybe if I pretend to start, I can trick him into getting out of this
routine.
June I started early on Sunday amid overcast and drizzly conditions
25-27 (but little wind), and paddled for more than 10 hours. My
shoulder felt fine, and it was so relaxing being on the Missouri
when it looks like a river that I just had to keep going. I also
wanted to make up for the extra day I spent in Bismarck, and the
lost time on Lake Oahe. The current is not bad on the 75-mile
stretch between Bismarck and Garrison Dam, and I could feel the
history as I paddled upstream. The weather cleared after Sunday,
the winds stayed calm, and my shoulder and wrist felt good for
the first time in a couple of weeks. This brief respite from the
lakes has done wonders for my spirits, although I’m still
apprehensive about Lake Sakakawea.
June 27- I survived the lake! I hit a fortunate lull in the wind that has lasted
July 2 a week, and I managed to cross Lake Sakakawea in record time -
about 180 miles in 5 1/2 days. The portage at Garrison went
smoothly - I love those wheels! - and I tried to make as much
distance as I could each day, anticipating the re-emergence of the
wind at any moment. The winds I’ve come to expect never
materialized, I was able to average better than 9 hours of paddling
a day, and I’m safely beached at the Rt. 85 bridge outside of
Williston. The only tricky part of the lake proved to be the Van
Hook Arm, a huge bay on the north side that I couldn’t cut across
without exposing myself to 3 miles of open water. The best part
of this week is that my shoulder still feels fine. I now have 200+
miles of real river before the sixth and final lake. After Williston
the Missouri heads west through sparsely populated reservation
land. There are some towns along the way - Brockton, Poplar,
Wolf Point - but access to them from the river may not be easy,
and I may have to take some extra time to get water. Still, I am
looking forward to this stretch to Ft. Peck, where the Missouri is a
real river and not one of those damnable lakes. I’ve gone nearly
1600 miles, there’s only 1000 miles left to the Continental Divide,
and in two days I’ll be in Montana. Things are looking up.
Click here for days 87 - 93 of Richard's journal
