2002 December put in at Champlin on Mississippi River

Desperate to paddle.  Some canoe racers just cannot wait for the spring thaw.

Deighen Blakely, Al Dubois, and Tom Gardner survey the options before we put in the water. 

Deighen Blakely smiles in the cold.  YES we all wore life jackets.  Not that they would have saved us from hypothermia.