The Mariah Owners Club - Island Living on the St Croix

(If only for the weekend! And the St Croix River, not the "other" St. Croix)

We stayed on an island on the St Croix this Labor Day weekend (this river divides MN and WI, then dumps into the Mississippi southeast of Minneapolis/St Paul). We camped for three nights, had beautiful weather, and got to see a lot of boats before the end of the season. This was an unplanned trip (before planning began on Friday afternoon), and we knew it may be our last long weekend on the water, so we decided to go for it.

We stayed here: 45.089662,-92.774893 (paste into Google maps, change to Satellite view)

So our adventure started out a bit on the sketchy side. We got going late, as usual, on Friday afternoon/evening. By the time we had the boat loaded, camping gear in the Excursion, and bellies full, it was about 8pm - and we're just getting ready to launch! The launch is called Boom Site (have no idea where that name comes from - if anyone knows, please post), and it is in a very very shallow bay. I didn't realize it, but the majority of the bay is not navigable, even more so at night with a fully loaded boat! So, we got stranded, I stuck a paddle down and found we were in 1-2 feet :(

Picture this, we're (me, 6 month preggo mommy, and our 19 month old) are headed out for the long weekend, it's late, I'm frustrated because we can never get out on time, and now I'm dealing with an unknown body of water - and we still have to try to find a campsite!! These islands are first come, first serve, pick a spot and setup camp. I've never scoped these islands out before, had no idea what to expect, and wasn't even sure if we'd find a spot available.

So, I hop out of the boat and start pushing. I got us out of the bay and into open water. Water is calm, moon is beautiful, and we're on our way. The first island is packed with boats - big ones. We keep heading upriver, saw another island with two boats on it, kept going. We went a bit more, then I decided to see if we could go down the "back" side of an island where it would probably be less busy. Took my time again, shut off the engine and paddled a bit (I knew it would be shallow back here), finally made it far enough that we could go no further. Had to get out and push again! Beautiful S.O said "Must be a sign, this might be the spot". I waded ashore, and lo and behold is a Shangri La of campsites nestled a few feet back in the woods - soft sand covering the entire area, sheltered, safe, and just waiting for us!

Now, the question is how to get the boat over? Well, I'm stuck. Can't move it, so I start hauling our gear, wading through the knee to just below the "ole boys" depth water. Got everything onshore, came back for the tiny camper (you can see a pic of her eating cereal like a big girl below) and mom (mom was not able to get carried above water by her shining knight). We setup camp in the moonlight (and two lanterns), found there was a nice little breeze, no mosquitoes, and the softest surface we've ever put our ground cover on.

We had the most relaxing weekend we've had this entire summer (6th camping trip of the summer) - about 87 degrees, cool breeze in the shade, perfect water temp to cool off in, and good neighbors (we met the others on the island the next morning :) ).

Spent some time at Hudson, cruised around Beer Can Island, went to Stillwater, and had a blast. I'm going to attach a couple of pics, one was in Stillwater of the red-neckiest pickup I've seen since I lived in North Carolina - the bumper stickers are:

Orange County Diesel
Team Hard
Warning - My balls are bigger than my brains
NRA
Herculiner (nice looking bed liner ;))
Size Matters
BikeMan Performance
Orange County Diesel (for symmetry)

Back window is:

International Harvester
BikeMan Performance
BikeMan Performance (really cares for the aesthetics of symmetry, doesn't he/she?)
and another Warning (I didn't dare get close enough to read - it is a warning for god's sake :))

BTW - I don't even own a Mariah, I've got a Glastron Fish-n-Ski - waiting on my Z275ST (or maybe a Z302?)

We are very lucky, aren't we? :wink_thumbup:

~bluelakeside