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Christmas Bird Counts take place all across the country during December and January. They’re scheduled for each area in advance by the area’s organizer. For the Bismarck-Mandan area, the weather this time of year can be more chaotic than usual. Such was the case this year where the Great December Blizzard of 2022 had just finished up in time for today’s bird count. The post blizzard weather was cold with a slight breeze. Additionally, the World Cup final was also held today in the much sunnier Qatar. The combination of weather and world events made it an easy choice to hunker down for the morning.

It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that the North Shore of Lake Superior is a crowded place in the summer. When planning our Duluth adventure, The Adventuress and I looked at each of the state parks, but only found one that 1.) had a campsite available for two nights, and 2.) did not involve a long hike from the car to the campsite. The park that we found ended up not being on the North Shore, but was close enough.

A friend of mine, AlsoPaul, held the first annual Chicken Loop Event <https://kitend.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/first-annual-chicken-loop-success-in-spite-of-wind/>__ last weekend (August 19-21). Chicken Loop is the premier (and, for now, only) kiteboarding event in North Dakota. One would think that wind sports would have more of a history in ND, but you have to start somewhere. [gallery type=“slideshow” ids=“209,210,211,213,214,215,216,217,218,219,221”] I stopped by for a bit on Saturday. It was more for moral support than anything since my largest kite is a 3 foot trainer. Unfortunately, the wind wasn’t too cooperative, but a few people did get some time on New Johns Lake. The inconsistent wind meant a lot of boarders would get launched just in time for the breeze to die and leave them stranded in the middle of the lake. Fortunately, several friendly boaters were available to lend a hand.

Adventuress is a nature gal, and heard about a Bioblitz happening at Ft. Pierre National Grasslands in the middle of June. Naturally, the first thing I asked was “What’s a bioblitz?” “Oh, it’ll be great! We’ll meet with a bunch of other nature types and inventory all the plants we come across.” I’m usually suspicious of anything involving other people, but Adventuress seemed intent on doing this. So, at the end of the work week we piled into the car with Adventure Dog and headed south to Pierre.

On a recent trip to northeast Minnesota, The Adventuress and I decided to make the trek to Eagle Mountain. The weather reports kept showing that Monday would be rain free, so we took the day and headed up the North Shore. The weather was perfect for the hike, and getting there was a breeze (with only minor delays for road construction). The highest point in Minnesota is supposedly also one of the most remote of the highest points in the U.S. If you measure remoteness by availability of cell phone signals, this is probably true. Minnesota is also the state with the highest point located the closest to the lowest point, at Lake Superior. In the end, this means that its a relatively short trip to dip your toes in the cool waters of the lake after the hot hike to the summit. For all the guff that North Dakota gets about being flat, it turns out that at 2300 feet, Eagle Mountain is 1200 feet lower than White Butte (ND’s highest point at 3500 ft).

After the madness of the weekend, post rush hour San Francisco was pretty tame. It took a few minutes to figure out how to get down to the airport, but that trip went smoothly. Soon, my rented Hyundai Accent was zipping down the 101 towards Palo Alto, and eventually towards Groveland. The GPS continually guided me east, across the bay and through the hills on the east side. The urban jungle gave way to rolling hills covered in tall, tan grass and spread out trees. The countryside looked a lot like western North Dakota, only with more tress. After crossing the Don Pedro Reservoir (which appeared a good deal lower than normal), it was back into the hills.

The hottest day of the year (so far) may not be the best time to paddle down a small, sheltered stream, but there I was. Apple Creek is a small, muddy tributary to the Missouri River. It winds through most of Burleigh County, but the section I paddled started at Swenson Park, on Highway 1804 just south of Bismarck. There is a low-flow dam just upstream from the park (you can see it on the other side of the highway when you put in). If you put in further upstream you’ll want to be aware of this obstacle.

Woke up with the sun. This is getting to be a habit. I actually slept really well, must be getting used to this pad. To bad I’m not staying another day or two. Right as I was about to break camp, it rained. Fortunately, it only lasted a couple minutes, but the tent and ground tarp had to be packed out wet. Paddled back to the portage. The lake was quite a site. A rock just outside of the bay had a vaguely bird like top. The top of the rock stood up, pooped, and waddled to the water. The “rock” turned out to be a grebe, sitting on a rock.

The aches and pains set in this morning, it took a little while to get going. Fortunately, I had some ibuprofen along, which helped me function enough to start moving. The portage to Hassel wasn’t too bad, but a bit long. Shoes were the footwear of the day, I think my landings and launches were cleaner because of my new footwear. I lost my sandals when I took the canoe, fortunately they were easy to find. A valuable lesson learned: if it isn’t strapped down don’t expect it to be there the next time you look.

The goal today was Battle Lake, and it was a battle to get there. The sleepless nights had caught up, and so I started out later than I wanted. Breakfast today was reconstituted hash browns and a western omelet (powdered eggs). The cooking process was a little more involved than I would have liked, especially for a day when I was going to break camp. It wasn’t until almost 9am that everything was loaded up and I got underway.