KCSO
July 8th, 2009, 13:57
We ran about 15 miles of the lower Niiobrara rive here in NE Nebraska yesterday. The weather was about perfect with temps running from 65 at 7:30 to 85 at noon. Although we paddleed into a head wind the swift current (average 6 mph) kept us moving well. This is a difficult river to run as the swift current moves a lot of sand and the bars will move ovenight. You can be paddling in 6 feet of water and 4 foot away in any direction it can shallow up to 2". You need to read the river well to keep water under the boat. Tis is real mixed bag kayaking as one minute you are on a wide flat river and the next you miight be rushing through a chute 4 foot wide. Add snags, sawyers and floating logs and it makes for a fun and chalenging outing. We covered 26 miles of actual distance in a 15 mile downstram run as we had to continually cross form one side to the other to stay in the channel. We put in at just before 9AM and were puling out at 1PM. The group that went had everything from my fishing kayak to a nice Wilderness Tsunami. Needless to say everyting the Tsunamii guy felt sand scrub his bottom he wished for a cheaper boat. The Old Town voyagers seemed to be the best compromise, as they are light enough for the portages over sand bars and tough and stable enough for the condition. My Furute Beach 144 was very stable and still paddled well but at the end of the day the extra 15 pounds of weight was noticed. Next trip I will probably use a Pungo.