October 11, 2009 - I got a chance to kayak part of the Cedar River today.  I had invited the Homebuilders class at SUMC plus some others to spend an afternoon on the water.  The temperatures were at near-record lows for the few days leading up to the trip, so I wasn't sure if we would be able to go or not.  The afternoon of the float trip, we had air and water temperatures in the mid-40°'s.  Ultimately, we had six hardy souls that were willing to make the trip.  Cash and Mike, Ron, Stacey (the only female, yaay!), Todd and myself put in at Palisades/Kepler State Park at about 1:45 Sunday afternoon.

The trip started out very nicely - with a bit of sunshine and blue sky showing through the cloud cover.  Todd and I wore our scuba wetsuits "just in case" and they proved to be quite comfortable.  Early on we spent lots of time exploring the bluffs along the river and boating through the trees and other debris in the river.  Some had new (or new to them) boats and so got a chance to expand their horizons a bit.  Others just enjoyed the peaceful paddle.

Among the interesting things sighted along the way - a bald eagle resting in the top of a dead tree trunk, a like-new football trapped in a debris pile, several holes and cave-like structures in the Palisades (bluffs), and Todd's new boat.  He'd had it about a week when we put in for the trip today.

We spent about 2 1/2 hours on the river before we arrived at the take-out point, near Sutliff.  Kim and Karla met us at the Sutliff tap, and we enjoyed a good supper during which we regaled the two K's with our tales from the float trip.

A good trip was had by all six participants!  We'll plan another similar outing for next spring.  The river gage at Cedar Rapids showed 4.7 ft today, which corresponded to a flow of 3,710 cf/s and that level seemed good.  Hopefully the sun will make a real appearance next year and lots more people can enjoy the river!