Kentucky Lake Legacy
After a particularly devastating flood on the Tennessee River in 1937, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced a new building project which would have far-reaching effects on the river and the area through which it flowed. Kentucky Dam would help control flooding on the river, facilitate commercial traffic, and provide a highly desirable recreation area…
Stuck on a Stump
Kayaking any river for a length of time, you’ll undoubtedly come up with a list of things you try to avoid. You might think that locks and barges would be on this list, but we had no trouble with either of these. Number 1 on our list turned out to be rapids. We learned rather…
Pearl Buttons
I love to read the stories of immigrants who came to America with little but a set of skills, and a dream of the opportunity to use them to create a new future. Indeed, most of us are descendants of immigrants, with our own fascinating stories in our family trees. My great-great-grandfather, Christian Frederick Mueller,…
Locks and Dams: Stairway of the Upper Mississippi
On the Upper Mississippi, there’s a 420-foot drop in water level between St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota and Granite City, Illinois. In 1930, the locks and dams were built to help control all that flowing water, making it navigable for river traffic, including barges transporting goods up and down the waterway. The dams divide the upper…
Bald Eagle Comeback
I clearly remember when bald eagles were finally added to the Endangered Species List in 1978. In school, we had learned for years about the declining eagle population and tracked the data on the numbers of nesting pairs remaining. We were concerned to see, firsthand, the effects of habitat destruction and the consequences of widespread…
Pig’s Eye Island Heron Rookery
It was in St. Paul, Minnesota where we discovered the hidden gem known as the Pig’s Eye Island Heron Rookery. And by “discovered,” I don’t mean that it wasn’t clearly identified on our map. It was. It just wasn’t a part of our planned route that particular day. But after struggling for five miles to…
“Heartwaters”
“Children totter over mossy stones. Clear sparkling water trickles between their toes, swirls around grown-up ankles below rolled-up jeans.” Excerpt from poem “Heartwaters” in my chapbook, Mississippi Meanderings The first time we visited Lake Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota, we came to drop our kayak into the Mississippi Headwaters, where a small clear stream…
Mississippi Meanderings
My new poetry chapbook is available now for pre-order, through Finishing Line Press! The thirty poems in this collection were born of my impressions of the river’s many moods, moments in its rich history, and the inhabitants and travelers of its waters and shores. You’ll find yourselves awed by river wildlife and sand island sunsets,…
Sharing the Journey
Welcome to my author blog! Thank you for choosing to spend some of your valuable time with me. When I think about the things I love to read, I often settle on books, poems and articles that share an experience, memory or perspective I find fascinating. Something that leaves me with a new insight, some…
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Author Barb Geiger 