There are no photographs with this story.

No pictures of the local rivers, their rapids and surrounding bluffs. No shots of the green trees, the tan sand hillsides, or even of the great blue heron that led our Old Town canoe down the stream on a perfect southern Minnesota Sunday afternoon recently.

Oh, there were photos.

They’re on a memory card. In a camera. At the bottom of the Le Sueur River.

It was a rookie mistake that put them there. The river was high and gushing mightily where it narrowed between the Red Jacket trestle and the Highway 66 bridge.

After successfully navigating nine miles of the Le Sueur’s quick waters from a landing off County Road 8 (Monks Avenue, about three miles south of Highway 90) we tried to bring the boat in to shore just past the two bridges.

My friend paddled up front, I ruddered in back, and the river turned us upside down and put us smack dab into the muddy water.

Fortunately, we popped right up and hurried to shallow water.

Keys — check. Cell phones — check. Wallets — check (a plastic dry bag is a must even when the rivers are low).

A copy of “Paddling Southern Minnesota: 85 Trips by Canoe and Kayak” by Lynne and Robert Diebel — soggy, but intact.

Camera — sunk.

It was the first time we’ve been dumped in three summers of canoeing in the Mankato area. But it happened so quickly that I was surprised it never happened before.

The last time we tried canoeing the Le Sueur — a 100-degree August evening two years ago — we pushed, pulled and dragged the canoe in water too shallow to paddle on. A shorter ride from the County Road 16 (Stoltzman Road) landing to the trestle took three hours and left me sore and dehydrated.

But let’s stop with the horror stories, shall we?

There is some fine canoeing and kayaking in the area. Some have even gone so far to call the activity the best-kept secret in Blue Earth County.