2018 Nov - 11 Point River Overnight Adventure
November 3-4, 2018
Submitted by Sandy Stacks
Friday, several of us drove up early to Alton, MO. Paul B., Jill, Sue C.,Keith and Sherri, and myself got to hike down to Greer Spring. Beautiful hike, colorful foliage, and a blue-green spring sending water to help make our paddle pleasant on Saturday.
I had a very hardy group of paddlers join me on this year’s adventure. Even after I emailed everyone an update of the weather prediction changing the percent rain from 60% to 100% on Sunday, we had 14 brave folks in 12 boats. We put on at Greer with temperatures in the low forties. It warmed up some and we had a pleasant paddle under cloudy skies. The fall colors were amazing. We were treated to about 20 eagle sightings! (or a pair of eagles flying back and forth!) Check out the scenery pictures.
We had hoped to camp at Greenbriar. However, it was closed due to downed trees. The next campsite was Bose Mill (Blue Hole). It was a first for me to camp there. That meant that we had paddled about 17 miles on Saturday! At least the take-out was only a couple of miles away.
We arrived about 5:30 to set up camp. The campfire started, tents erected, dinners prepared in record time. The potluck was very tasty, including campsite made guacamole, smoked salmon, taco soup, cheese tamales, KFC chicken and the fixings, dutch oven peach cobbler, etc.
Great stories around a really warm campfire were enjoyed by all. The 100 % chance of rain came about 3 a.m. and quit just about the time to get up and have breakfast and pack up. After Tony bringing coffee around to folks in their tents, we enjoyed breakfast and were treated to cinnamon rolls cooked in the Dutch oven by Keith and Sherri. Who said that primitive camping along the river wasn’t fun?
The group packed up and headed out to paddle the short distance to Riverton. Everyone stopped in Pocahontas to eat at the Mexican restaurant. As usual, it was a great meal.
Thanks to everyone for going to paddle with me on the beautiful Eleven Point River. Also, thanks to the all the eagles for the cool sightings!