|  Back to Trip ReportsHidden Falls, Mississippi River, December 9, 2000 December! Not a month shall pass without an ISK paddle! Temperatures were in the twenties and there was virtually no wind. Ice edged the shore, yellow and thickening, a portent of cold temps yet to come. Seven us met in the morning at Hidden Falls, cheerful and pleased for the good weather. Determined to paddle... Launching went well, although many of us looked at the lip of ice at the shore and wondered how that would work. Would we break through the ice? Slide off it? How would that feel? We all got on the water without incident and paddled up to the Hidden Falls dam and lock. The locks were closed for the winter, with ice upstream. The current coming downstream towards us was powerful, and we played (some unintentionally) in its flow. It was also a day to experiment with jumping the boats up on the ice that formed downstream of the lock. We ended the paddle with hot tea, home-baked cookies and chocolate entertained by a water skier, trying to ski atop an ice floe. There are more serious die-hards than us.
 More Photos from Hidden Falls
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