Canoeing the Mississippi - Part 8

Every journey worth its salt has rocky places Bank to bank filled with frothing white water, The economics of avoidance, steering a lean course, Avoiding higher peaks that thrill - vouchsafed to others. Rest days taken during times of lower water Even portaging some sections altogether, Below one dam a three mile jumble of boulders. Only one stretch really caught us napping. Truth be told it really had me worried, But knowing that we were riding higher water I steered as best I could between foaming protrusions That prudence whispered likely hid a rock. Just once, as I recall, we grounded on gravel bar, But I pushed us off before current turned us broadside. (10) Minnesota's rollicking Mississippi is a charmer, And many State Campgrounds court her boundaries, Some even have hot water showers and manicured sites, But a pall of mosquitoes infests more timbered parks That no wind short of a tornado has the power to disperse, We ate our evening meals under beekeeper's hats and nets, It is funny when mosquitoes dive bomb cooling plates of food. Poet's Notes: (10) This is a real danger for a canoe in a rapid. A canoe that turns broadside to the rushing water can be rapidly filled with water and swamped.