Category: Canoeing

Autumn Artistry via Canoe - video

2/21/2022

Dale has solo-paddled the Winnebago River in North Iowa in every month of every year for nearly two decades. This film, the third in a series, highlights his Autumn canoe floats, emphasizing river stewardship and passing on the joy of paddling to the next generations. Narrated with his prose and observations of his passion of paddling and nature around him.
Video by Bruce G. McKee, written and narrated by Dale Mills, ©2022 www.brucegmckeephotos.com

Official Selection of the Iowa Independent Film Festival 2022, People's Choice Award at the Siouxland Inspirational Film Festival 2022, Official Selection at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival.

Previous canoeing videos in this series:
A February Canoe Float
A Spring Sojourn via Canoe

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New Year's Day River Float

1/2/2021

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Dale Mills and I started out the new year with a bit of paddling on the Winnebago River down river from the discharge area of the water treatment plant. We made it 1.8 miles before we got to ice-over, but it was at a convenient take-out place to get a ride back the vehicle (Judy's shuttle service). It was a beautiful day, overcast but with no wind and mid 20's temperature. It was a quiet float except for hundreds of noisy Canada Geese and ducks. We saw wild turkeys in trees and along the river bank, five Bald Eagles, a Kingfisher that flew from tree to tree just ahead of us down the river and 13 Trumpeter Swans that got up off the river and flew noisily right over our heads. A great way to start the new year!
[Click or tap to see the individual images larger.]

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Paddling with Purpose

11/8/2020

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The Cupola Inn Bed and Breakfast is a charming B&B on the banks of the Winnebago River between Mason City and Nora Springs, IA. One of the fringe benefits is that guests have the opportunity to paddle the river with co-owner Dale Mills, an avid paddler for nearly two decades. On this float I accompanied Dale and a guest (Greg, a family friend) to enjoy paddling on an unseasonably warm November day as Dale made stops along the way to inspect and clean out several Wood Duck nest boxes only accessible by water. Along the way we saw Bald Eagles, Great Horned Owls, Canada Geese, Kingfishers and White-tailed Deer. The reflections on the river were wonderful even though most of the leaves were gone from the trees.
[Click images to see larger]

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Fall Canoe Float

10/9/2020

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Yesterday was the most beautiful, calm fall day for paddling the Winnebago River with good friend Dale, co-owner of the Cupola Inn Bed and Breakfas t. The colors of the Ash and Silver Maple trees were brilliant, with spectacular reflections in the slow-moving, calm water. Besides taking time for photos we spent a lot of time just floating and enjoying the view. We really were in awe at such a perfect, beautiful day. We saw several eagles, two owls, Canada Geese, and a Kingfisher bird that was just taunting me, continuously flying just a head of us all the way down the river, just a bit too far to get a close-up photo. I did get a couple of photos of two of the eagles though.
Click images to see larger.

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Voyageurs National Park Association 2019 Photography Contest

10/2/2019

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Two of my photos submitted to the Voyageurs National Park Association 2019 photo contest each received an honorable mention recognition. I also see that they are using my 2018 3rd place winning photo of a Common Loon as their promotional image for the photo contest. You can see all of the winning entries here - https://www.facebook.com/pg/VoyageursNPA/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10157893002155229&__tn__=-UC-R
[Click images to see larger]

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"Best Local Film"

9/5/2019

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Dale Mills and I were honored tonight to receive an award for the 'Best Local Film' for our film 'A February Canoe Float' at the Iowa Independent Film Festival, among the six films that were screened tonight. It looked pretty good on the big screen. I was a bit surprised because all of the films shown tonight were very good. I'm glad they liked ours.
(Produced, directed and edited by Bruce G. McKee, written and narrated by Dale Mills.)
Click images below to see larger.

Update: The film is an official selection at the 2020 Snake Alley Festival of Film July 30, 2020 and the Siouxland Inspirational Short Film Festival.
The film was a semi-finalist at the Muscatine Independent Film Festival, but didn't make the final cut. I'm still honored that it was being considered.

View the film - 'A February Canoe Float'

See also the second in the series "A Spring Sojourn via Canoe"
and the third in the series "Autumn Artistry via Canoe"

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A February Canoe Float video

3/8/2019

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Take a few minutes, sit back, relax, and enjoy a quiet canoe float down the river in North Iowa with my good friend Dale Mills who wrote and narrated the text for the video. Dale has canoed the Winnebago River for every month of every year for at least a couple of decades. He is very passionate and poetic about canoeing, nature and conservation.

Update, Sept. 5, 2019: