Cold, wet, and fun weekend!

What do you do when it’s about 40 degrees, windy, and rainy?  Lots, actually.   The weather last weekend definitely left something to be desired, but it didn’t stop the fun! 

Saturday morning began with the Get in Gear 5k race.   It was the first time I’ve ever run a race in raincoat, but Kim and I and a couple of other friends managed to have a great time and get some much needed exercise.  Saturday night was a pretty awesome birthday party, so Happy Birthday Ben!

Sunday is where the real action started, with a trip up to the North Shore.  The Kettle River Paddlefest was going on in Sandstone, but neither the freestyle competition in full winter gear nor the downriver race against a 25mph headwind was all that appealing. 

Instead, a whole bunch of paddlers headed up to the North Shore of Lake Superior to hit the creeks.  The recent rain and snow had run right off of the saturated ground, so the creeks were flowing! 

There was a large group that was doing laps on the Lester, and it sounded like they had a great time.  Nora, John J, and I decided to head up to the French instead to see what it was like at a medium-low level.  For John and I, this was our first time running that river. 

We weren’t disappointed.  Even though the water was low, the French had lots of little ledges on it combined with a few big slides.   We definitely donated some plastic to the rocks, but there was plenty of water to have fun.

All three of us had cameras, so there are no shortage of pics.   These are just mine – the others have better ones, but I haven’t been able to get them yet.  I’ve also included one video here, but there will be more to come from Nora’s helmet cam when I get around to editing them.