Day Three, Maquoketa River, Aug 7th

Day 3,  August 7th,    Maquoketa River

Today we canoed the 18 mile stretch of the Maquoketa River to complete this segment.    At about 9:30am, We put the canoe in at a small landing at the iron bridge SE of Andrew.  This was about 1,5 miles above the junction of brush creek and the Maquoketa River.   For this segment we still used the canoe, but powered by a 3 hp Johnson outboard motor.

Got the motor started and right away, got to close to the gravel shoreline and sheared a pin on the propeller,  and forgot the shear pins.  but made an substitute pin out of a couple of nails from the pickup work box.   so was able to procede.

R1Grandpa Milt’s two grandsons were visiting so we started out by giving 7 year old Ryan a short ride upstream, and then back to the landing , where we exchanged him for 9 year old Jaden who then rode with us fot the first 7 miles to the spragueville bridge and canoe landing, where we met Grandma Pat to pick up Jaden and who also brought us a nice lunch. C1	R1 Grandson Ryan getting a canoe ride to start day C1
R2the river has a lot of dead trees embedded in the bottom, more than normal this year because of the recent heavy flooding which tore loose a lot of trees lining the banks and floated them downstream where they lodged in many corners and/or shallow areas. There were also a lot of submerged sandbars and shoals where we had to cut to motor, raised it out of water, and paddle across. This first 7 miles was the worst and we often motored for a couple of hundred yards and then had to paddle a hundred yards, where we could use the motor again. This first 7 mile segment took about 2.5 hours. c1	R2 C had to dodge a lot of snags 2
We motored up Brush creek from it mouth for a short distance, until blocked by a tree , then turned around and back to river.  photo shows mouth of Brush Creek where it emptys into Maquoketa River.  jumped a Bald Eagle just as we exited.     saw several Bald Eagles on the river.	R1 C1 Exiting brush creek back into Maquoketa River
R2 c1 At RailRoad bridge next to Highway 52, 2 miles from Mississippi River	just past  the railroad bridge between H 52 and Mississippi River.