Day One & Two , Brush Creek

Weather:  Clear and sunny,  temperature in the 80's
We started this segment on July 2nd, by taking the canoe via vehicle to the brush creek bridge, one mile east of Andrew, Ia. Launched in creek and started downstream, hit the first creek fence after about 1/2 mile. Creek fence are often on landowner property lines and used to prevent cattle from crossing into the property of another landowner…This one was easy, we could go under it.   Others were more difficult, but we could usually get thru by ducking low and/or getting out and pushing canoe under or between the wire.	We launched canoe just below this bridge, about 1 mile east of Andrew, IA.
The first creek fence just ahead	Just go under it, but maybe the cattle can to.
The creek consists of small pools seperated by small rocky riffles where the bedrock is near the surface. At these riffles, we usually had to get out and walk the canoe over them. The empty canoe would generally float fairly well thru them. However, it was more work than we anticipated.   We covered the upper section of about 1.5 miles in a little over 2 hours and decided to quit for the day.	quiet water in small pool
another riffle ahead Tree lined banks here	have to get out and pull it thru this one. small bridge ahead
On Friday, July 5th, we did the rest of the Brush Creek Segment. This section was much easier as the pools were longer, the riffles were deeper with much more water flow.      Additional water was due to several small creeks entering and numerous springs.      We were able to actually float thru several riffles.      We covered the remaining 3 1/2 miles in about 3 hours.	exit for day one and launch area for day 2 at a field crossing to adjacent cornfield. shallow water about 1 ft deep
Wildlife – We didn’t see a lot of wildlife, especially in the upper section where the creek flowed between cornfields and wooded steep hills along the side of the valley. More was seen in the lower section where the pools flowed thru open pasturelands and the pools were larger. A couple of Great Blue Herons were jumped and several familys of wood ducks. A Kingfisher dove into the water right in front of us and came up with a small minnow about 2-3″ long. The female wood duck would flop along the water (faking crippled wing) until we were about 100 feet past the ducklings which hid in the adjacent grass, then she could fly away with no problems.	takeing a lunch break in the shade of basswood tree hanging over creek
Adult female wood ducks about to lead us away	Two familys of young ducklings.
We passed several small herds of cattle along the way, most just stood and looked at us, probably wondering what those fools were doing.	Herd of black angus cattle watching us pass
standing in water, because of hot weather, flies, or both
We actually exited about 1/2 mile from the Maquoketa River, and will skip that section as it is frequently blocked with fallen trees and has very steep banks which will prevent pulling the canoe around. We may be able to come up partway from the river in the next segment.	Curious Cows, “What is this thing, Looks like a feed bunk, but no corn in it !!”
We had hoped to complete the Maquoketa River segment at this time also, but it was still heavily flooded due to recent xxrains.	Canoeing down the Creek