I woke up in a bed, which felt rather amazing. All my stuff was charged. I was showered. My laundry was clean. I couldn’t ask for much more.

After a quick breakfast, I loaded my boat and got on the water. I bid my host farewell. I truly appreciated the stay. As I paddled, I realized I forgot to turn on my spot after a while, so I didn’t have a track over that time.

I kept a pretty good pace to Otsego County Park. It had a long sandy beach, which made it a great spot for a break. There was a picnic table and a trash can right next to the water. While there, I called hotels in Minneapolis to see who could accommodate a canoe. Most told me “no,” but I managed to find one in the end that would be forever off route. I still had to walk with this thing.

I glanced at the map and noticed a boat launch with a bunch of restaurants just around the bend. Not sure why none of the other park-goers alerted me to this fact. I could have been eating while taking a break!

You can probably guess what happened next. Yep, I was tied up and the previously mentioned boat dock and inside ordering pizza for lunch. I wasn’t sure I wanted pizza at first (gasp), but the waitress assured me that was their specialty.

It was good. And I downed several sodas while I sat there, though I think she brought me a diet one time, because it tasted odd. Afterwards I hung out in the tiny park above the docks. This was one of the first places that offered a dock instead of a ramp. It was nice to keep the shoes dry.

Most of my paddling today was uneventful. It was still pretty early when I arrived around Cloquet and Foster Islands. These were the last designated sites before Minneapolis, so I’d be picking one as a home for the night.

Annoyingly, the Avenza maps from the DNR didn’t show my location correctly. I assume they made an error with reference points when the published. Anyway, that means I didn’t know exactly where the campsites were either. Even Google Maps had them wrong. I found the first one on Cloquet Island and didn’t care for it much.

I paddled back up river some through the fast little rapids and got to Foster Island. I decided to walk around through the water instead of struggling with my boat. I eventually found it. The site looked nice, but seemed to have no privy. I made the mistake of cutting through the island back toy boat on the opposite bank. I was covered in thistles and passed some kind of stinging plant like nettles.

I paddled back up river some more thinking I’d just camp next to the boat ramp at the county park. It was nice enough, but a bit busy. I hung out there for a while, but decided to go back to Cloquet Island and camp there where I was supposed to be.

I fixed all the locations on Google Maps, but they seem to have reverted back to the original incorrect ones.

The mosquitos were bad and Cloquet, but I got a nice shot of the sunset.

Mileage: 20.1

Total Mileage: 466.1

Today’s Audio: Multiple podcasts and news reports of the Trump Indictment

Day 23