Paddle the Cedar River

On Friday, Julie and I took a kayak trip from Indian Creek to Palisades Kepler State Park. The trip was through the Indian Creek Nature Center, but was run by Seatasea Watersports, a relatively new scuba, paddle, and swim shop in Cedar Rapids.

The trip was great. We met at the Indian Creek Nature Center, received some basic instruction, carried our boats down to Indian Creek, and navigated the short distance in to the Cedar River. The float to Palisades took a little over two hours. Along the way, you could do whatever you wanted, as long as you stayed somewhat near to the group. I paddled a little faster than the group, so I took the opportunity to really try out the boat I got. I paddled across the river, upstream, fast, slow, and even backwards for a while. I had a lot of fun.

It was a perfect night. Temperature was in the low 80s. The water was warm. We saw hawks, eagles, deer, turtles, fish, and many birds. It was very peaceful. Other than our 13 kayaks, we didn't see any other boats the whole way.

I highly recommend taking this trip. They are doing more of these in September and you can do a few other trips with Seatasea or even rent the boats and make your own trip. We are definitely going to do another trip, either with Seatasea, or just renting from Seatasea, so if you are interested, let me know and we'll get a trip going.

One last note. Seatasea is having demo days to try out their kayaks on the next two Wednesdays, August 23rd, and 30th.