Caught in the Rain

This was a trip that we took up the Nippersink. The weather was PERFECT. We launched from Pioneer Landing and headed upstream. Once we got up past rt 31, into the prairie section of Glacial Park, the clouds started to get thicker. I wanted to get to the camping area of Glacial Park, but I did not know how far ahead it was. I got into the trap of thinking that it was right around the next bend. As we came around each bend, the clouds came in faster. Thunder started right to the north of us and that's when we realized we needed to get off the creek.

We had heavy trees ahead of us, but the creek zigzags so much in this portion, we could not tell if we were getting closer to them or not. I knew that we would not be able to get back to the last section of trees that we had past either. Just as it started to rain, we caught a nice little bank under some large trees.

Our smallest member had the right idea. She snagged a coat and hunkered down in the canoe.

Luckily, the storm did not last as long. It blew out of the area just as fast as it came in. The trip back to the take out was beautiful. Just as there is a calm before the storm, the calm after a storm is perfect.
This was a great experience. It had the right mixture of emotions. There was the relaxing paddle of the trip mixed with the excitement of trying to find coverage from the storm. While it was a great experience, we did learn a lesson.... always check the weather before a paddle!