The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different. --- J.B. Priestley
In the northernmost tier, most stow away their kayaks, hide their canoe behind the garage and stash their paddles and camping gear back in the corner where they put the cross-country skis and snowshoes the spring before old man winter arrives. It's inevitable. Those lakes and rivers will either be frozen over or soon to be.
"There is one thing I should warn you about before you decide to get serious about canoeing," said Canadian canoeing naturalist, author, artist, and filmmaker Bill Mason, " You must consider the possibility of becoming totally and incurably hooked on it. You must also face the fact that every fall about freeze-up time, you go through a withdrawal period as you watch the lakes and rivers icing over one by one. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing can help a little to ease the pain, but they won’t guarantee a complete cure.”
It was a magical experience for me, kayaking after the first snow in Fargo ten years ago. My skiing friends woke up excited about seeing a new blanket of snow, but for me, I still knew there were still a few more paddling days before the Red River iced up, and I would hide the kayaks away for the season.
The water was flat, the wind calm, and my hands were cold but warmed up nicely while on the river. The first snow was a sure sign the time was running out for paddling on the Red River.
This week in Outside Adventure to the Max, we take on the Fargo's Red River in the snow, in our ever continuing Over the Bow series.
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