Last winter: We are discovering that we like the same things: camping, hiking, fishing. Rivers, lakes! I have an inflatable kayak, he has a small boat that fits in the back of his pickup. We both love floating rivers. Hey, why not do a trip down the James River on his boat next summer? We can use his truck and my van to shuttle from put in to take out. Perfect, we think as the temperature drops to minus twenty and the snow falls yet again.
The best little boat for fishing or a river run
March: I am north of Jamestown, camping in a snowstorm. On the way home, I stop at Walmart, hoping to find the North Dakota Recreation Atlas, which will give us detailed information on the course of the James River and any roads that cross over. Summer is coming, yes, summer will come someday.
Easter: “Thanks for the wonderful Easter dinner. It is so beautiful today, we are going over to the James River to scout out where we can start and end our river trip.” Off we go full of ham and other Easter goodies. We drive east about an hour and find our possible take out point, Sportsman Park, in LaMoure, ND. The tricky part will be getting out before we come to the small spillway.
Easter Day 2015, at James River spillway near LaMoure, ND
Next, we head north on a gravel road marked “Scenic Route”. We stop at bridges and other potential put in spots, but the banks are too steep. We also find a small campground, near the little town of Grand Rapids, ND, that we believe will be the perfect starting point. The distance between LaMoure and Grand Rapids is about 7 miles on a straight road. We know that the river trip will be longer but doable. Satisfied that we had a plan for summer 2015, we continue up the scenic road, passing a historical ranch and enjoying the natural setting.
June 20: “Can’t wait until Tuesday, for our river run on the James River”, I reply that I am eager and ready. I will have a lunch and lots of water plus food for Tango. Suntan lotion, bug spray. I suggest that we take my kayak paddle too. It might work nicely (we are leaving the trolling motor at home). Later, I check the river flow from the dam in Jamestown, and it looks good at 840, but I don’t really know much about cubic feet per second. All I know is that 2000 is darn fast, so we should be good.
June 23: Early in the morning we are off, after 6 months of dreaming about our river trip. We form a little caravan, with me, Tango, and the food in the van. Don and the boat are in the lead. We stop in the small town of Lehr, ND for a huge breakfast to fuel us for the trip. There, we pour over the recreation atlas again so we don’t get lost finding the small campground. Some guys drinking coffee at the cafe ask if we are traveling, so we eagerly share our adventure plans. Don the joker says, “Yep, we are going whitewater rafting down the James.” The reply, “Ha-ha, you mean brown water rafting”.
We head out towards Sportsman Park in LaMoure and drop off the van. We hone in on the perfect take out spot before the spillway. Three huge white pelicans float below the spillway looking for their own breakfast. Pelicans are a good omen for the trip. Next, up to the campground to park the truck and put in. I am so ready for this adventure!
Note: I was getting tons of spam comments. I added a plugin to stop it, and now some people who comment get a message saying “you are a bulls…. user”. I apologize and hope to have this fixed soon!
