May 12 - Mississippi River (Nelson/Alma)

Susan wants to view the eagles in Alma, I had hoped to paddle some of the backwater of the Mississippi River near Nelson . . . so what could be more perfect than wrapping that all into one day of adventure? After our planning meeting offcially ended on Sunday, Tammy and I ran across some information on the Great River Birding & Nature Festival taking place along the Mississippi in Wisconsin and Minnesota the weekend of May 12. We didn't have an outing scheduled for May, so this seemed the perfect fit for our group.

We haven't discussed how much we'd like to be involved with the actual festival. Most of the guided birding tours take place fairly early in the morning, so travel issues might make it difficult for us to participate. There are other community events taking place that weekend for the cost of a festival button ($3). At the very least, we can take in the sights at Wings Over Alma, a nature center that opened in January 2007. Here's a description:

The center offers a 50 foot viewing platform overlooking the Mississippi River, equipped with spotting scopes and binoculars to view a variety of wildlife year-round. The Mississippi flyway brings hundreds of spring and fall migrating birds past the deck, and dozens of winter-feeding eagles can be viewed overlooking the Upper Mississippi River Fish and Wildlife Refuge and located below Lock and Dam #4.

Now for the second portion of our plans: I lived in Rochester, MN, for seven years. During that time, my family and I traveled the land bridge over the Mississippi backwaters between Wabasha, MN, and Nelson, WI, at least once a month to visit my family in Wisconsin. I think those were the days that first got my kayaking blood running, because I'd look at all the inlets and islands and marshlands and streams running through that mile-long strip of land and vowed to return to explore some day with a small watercraft. Now is the time to fulfill that promise to myself! I found a couple PDF maps here and here to give you an idea of the type of terrain we're looking at.

If you have ideas to suggest, leave some comments and let us know!