I went to Tippecanoe River State Park in Winamac, Indiana this Thursday-Friday. I stayed in the primitive canoe campground. That is ten primitive camping sites with a boat launch. You must have a canoe or kayak to stay in the canoe campground. In the 1600's and 1700's this was the land of the Potawatomi Indians. The Tippecanoe River was a major highway in the fur trade. The Potawatomis were removed to a reservation in Kansas in the 1830's to make room for white "settlers". Here are some pics. Paddling north (upstream) Thursday afternoon. The water was high and the current was pretty strong. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi01.jpg Lots of fallen trees made navigation tricky at times. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi02.jpg Lots of shoreline diversity. Sometimes forest, sometimes pasture, sometimes pretty marsh like this. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi03.jpg Nothing like interrupting natural beauty with a tacky trailer. How about those patio lanterns? http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi04.jpg A nice calm bend. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi06.jpg Looking down at the canoe launch from canoe camp Thursday evening. That's my Old Town Loon 138 kayak on the shore. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi07.jpg I have been planning on writing some equipment field test reports for my web page so I took a photo of my "Eureka! Apex XT" tent. I like this tent. I like the two big screen doors and the two big screen moon roofs. It has a rain fly but I don't have it on. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi08.jpg Another picture for my planned field test reports. This is my cheap built-like-a-tank Coleman propane stove. It is too big and heavy for bicycle trips but fine for car camping. I only use it for boiling water for my coffee. The good thing about it is the ubiquity of the gas canisters. Available at any Wal-Mart for $1.88! http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi09.jpg My campsite Friday morning. The nice thing about camping during the week is the lack of crowds. I was the only person at the canoe campground! http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi10.jpg The canoe campground sign as seen from the water Friday morning. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi11.jpg A railroad used to pass over a bridge here. This would be a great place for a rail-trail. It took about 40 minutes to float downstream from the canoe campground to this landmark. It takes twice as long to paddle back upstream. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi12.jpg Just shoreline on this pretty Friday morning. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi13.jpg It was nice floating downstream. I basically only had to put the paddle in the water to steer once in a while. I floated downstream for two hours. Which meant it took four hours to return with one rest stop. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi15.jpg Further downstream the Tippecanoe really widens out. And shoot, I accidently switched my camera to "standard mode" so this picture is small. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi17.jpg I thought I was taking a shortcut down this calm bayou but it was log jammed ahead so I had to turn back. I saw a doe and her two fawns swimming across the river here on the way back but camera was put away and low on memory. A small picture again. http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Villa/3057/tippi18.jpg I saw lots of wildlife on this trip. Lots of turtles, herons, red headed woodpeckers, and kingfishers. On the return trip downstream Thursday, I heard three very loud splashes in the water which I think might have been otters but I didn't see them. They released about 25 otters there four years ago. -Bob Matter Hammond, Indiana *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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