Sisters To St. Paul
Day 12

 

 

Date: August 7, 2005

Route: Douglas Lodge to Bena (almost)

Distance: 82 miles

Ride Time: 5h 55m

Elevation Climbed: 1625’

Weather: 70s to 90s with a moderate headwind all the way!

Log

This is the day … the real start of cycling the Mississippi. I rode the 5 miles to the headwaters where Jon met me for the obligatory wheel dunking and photo session. This is where the outlet of Lake Itasca becomes the mighty Mississippi. We had the place to ourselves but I didn’t linger after I waded across. I knew it was going to get hot … it was already 70 degrees at 7AM … and I had 60 miles in front of me. Jon’s parting words were, “Only 2495 miles left to go!”

The morning awakened slowly. That’s the beauty of an early Sunday ride. I relished the shadows, sun, trees, fields and soft, gentle air. I crossed the Mississippi many times between Lake Itasca and Bimidji. At each crossing I could see the river growing in volume and industry. By the time I had traveled 50 miles, the river was big enough to support private docks and commercial resorts. At 70 miles it had widened considerably winding past wild rice growing on the shore and islands.

 

 

 

Since I had made my mileage calculations from maps, I knew they were inexact. I asked Jon to meet me at Bena, 65 miles from the start. When he caught up with me at 2:00PM, I had 78 miles on my cyclometer. He drove ahead to see how far I’d have to go to get to Bena, and he came back with discouraging news: 10 more miles. I decided to go only as far as Highway 2 … an easy place to start tomorrow morning. 82 miles is a respectable distance for the first day and I was more than ready for a shower.

After a short rest, we went out to try and catch our dinner. Jon had spent the morning in a canoe paddling and trolling but had had no success at fishing. We spent a very relaxing hour on the lake but the only fish we caught was the one on Highway 2.