Down the River

I'm sorry it has been so long since I last posted! Last week was crazy busy and it didn't help that we were also trying to get ready for a canoe trip down the Milk River. It was our first weekend away in a long time and our first "big" canoe trip. We decided to take Coulee with us - I'm not really sure what we were thinking! We managed to borrow enough dry bags to ensure that if/when Coulee tipped us over, our stuff would at least stay dry. We also borrowed a river canoe and I think that is the only thing that kept us afloat. Trust me, Coulee tried to tip us over many times. At one point and time, she actually sat on the rail.

If anyone is thinking about going on a canoe trip, I highly recommend the Milk River. Our first day, we went 17 km in mainly calm waters. This gave us a chance to get used to things, and Coulee time to get comfortable in the boat. We spent the night at Gold Springs Campground - it is a developed RV park complete with beach volleyball, showers, etc.

The next day brought a much more challenging (and fun) river. We saw thousands of cliff swallows, deer, lots of birds of prey and the occasional cow. Coulee spent the entire time standing in the canoe peering over one shoulder and then the other. She was driving Marlin crazy by constantly changing sides. She usually stayed fairly still during the rapids so we were able to keep the canoe upright. We went over 30 km this day and camped at the much more rustic Poverty Rock campground. Rain threatened us in the evening so we took advantage of the cook shelter here. There were only ourselves and two other people at the campground so Coulee was able to roam free, play fetch and go swimming in the river.

The last day was 20 km of fairly calm river to Writing on Stone Provincial Park and it had the best scenery of the entire trip. When we finally got home last night we were all tired but happy.