The ice cleared from the main channel on this stretch of the Saint Croix on Sunday. I went paddling Monday, keeping an eye out for icebergs. Attracted by the brassy calls of numerous trumpeter swans, I kayaked into a backwater lake network north of Osceola and spotted up to thirty of the massive white birds. There were also fifty or so dapper black and white ducks, trim little fellows of a variety unknown to me, a few bald eagles and, of course, bellicose Canada geese.
I'm a big fan of that backwaters. In it is a lake filled with summer water lilies, accessible only through a narrow channel. There's another lake that, as far as I can tell from winter explorations, is linked to the river only through a swamp, impenetrable by boat. Another thing that sets this backwaters apart is that it's rimmed by small rocky hills, opposed to muck and mire. I don't have photos to do justice, but will try and remedy that in the summer.
