Rainbow Flowage Dam to Bridge Road: A mix of northwoods, lowlands, and home lawns, this long-feeling, slightly monotonous day trip on the Upper Wisconsin River does have a few moments of fun, pop, and pretty, but not enough to…
Willow Flowage Dam to Prairie Rapids Road: A wild-feeling and mostly isolated landscape dominated by hardwoods and conifers, marsh, meadows, sandy banks, and two sets of brief but fun Class II rapids, this “official” section on the Tomahawk is…
Krogh’s Landing to Two Rivers Landing: A surprisingly diverse river with natural features that continue to change over the course of ten miles, with countless riffles and easy and fun Class I rapids, weeping seeps and natural springs, eye-popping…
Kruger to the Mississippi River: The final leg of the mighty Zumbro, this trip will appeal only to purists and aspiring river-adopters. But truth be told it’s got plenty of grit and heart to it, redounding the paddler with…
Cascade to Highway D61: A pleasant trip on a very pretty river, this tine of the Maquoketa River’s North Fork offers a morsel that’s toothsome and scrumptious. Relatively short on account of logistics, combine this trip with four miles…
Highway 30 to Kendallville: A primer trip for the jaw-dropping grandeur that awaits in the subsequent stretches of the photogenic Upper Iowa River, this section features plenty of its own rock outcrops, bluffs, riffles, and light Class I rapids,…
Touring Lake Superior from Tettegouche State Park: A truly wild and rugged environment along a sliver of Lake Superior’s north shore that treats paddlers to exquisite cliffs hundreds of feet high composed of rock over a billion years old,…
Black Brook County Park to Random Drive: This slice of the Apple River, southwest of Amery, offers some fun (not freaky) whitewater, served with a dollop of gentleness and languor that will appeal to both novice and seasoned paddlers.…
County Highway E to Apple River County Park: I took on two slices of the Apple River in northwestern Wisconsin on successive days during a sultry July weekend in 2024. This is a review of the first slice –…
Touring Busse Woods Reservoir in Busse Woods Forest Preserve: Rated as one of the best lakes for paddlers in the Chicagoland area, Busse Woods offers a lot to explore for beginner paddlers looking for a quiet lake to paddle.…
CCC Bridge to Burnt Bridge: While much tamer than the raucous stuff for which the Peshtigo River is known for, this trip has several fun stretches of continuous Class I-II rapids nonetheless – all in a secluded national forest…
Rustic Drive to County Road H: Branching out on some eastern Wisconsin water, this trip aimed to travel not just one, but two branches of the Milwaukee by way of the main stem. With a convenient bike shuttle along…
Bobcat Lane to Paoli: A return trip to reflect the many updates, improvements, and changes that have occurred in the last decade, this segment of the upper Sugar River is vastly better than what it used to be –…
U Avenue to Eldorado: A trifecta paddle that comprises three separate but interrelated rivers in one long day trip, this mini odyssey begins with unabashed grandeur, but soon fizzles and never matches its initial enchantment. Alternate accesses allow paddlers…
Fayette to Heron Road: A truly exquisite experience, this section of the beguiling Volga River will be hard to catch with enough water to paddle, but oh so worth it when serendipity presents itself! Almost entirely enclosed within public…
Touring the Lower Cache River Swamp Trail: A veritable bayou trip down near the southernmost tip of Illinois, this section of the big Cache River is renowned for its breathtaking cypress and tupelo trees, some of which are 40′…
Galena to Mississippi River: A fairly primitive yet tidy trip, this last leg of the Galena River starts in its historic namesake city and then ends in a side channel of the Mississippi River. While the current is next…
West Council Hill Road to Galena: A hinge trip that comprises two opposites – first, a rugged and ragged landscape teeming with bluffs, rock outcrops, and galloping riffles, then a kind of makeover landscape approaching the quaint town of…
Elba to Highway 74: A very pretty and intimate little stream, this creek-like river courses through large swaths of public land corridors and is surrounded by tall, attractive hills. Water levels are usually reliable, but this stream is more…
Here’s some video of a wonderful trip on the upper Wisconsin River that comes with two very distinct personalities. The first is a scenic and rugged section with numerous boulder gardens, riffles, and light rapids. The second is also…
Iverson Bridge Road to Kumpf Access: A wonderful finale to the mighty Upper Iowa, this section of the river begins and ends with excellent accesses and sublime bluffs unlike any other. In the nine miles between, paddlers will be…
Lower Dam to Iverson Bridge Road: A veritable journey into the very heart and soul of the Upper Iowa River, this long day trip can be shortened by using one of several alternative accesses. I can’t promise that you’ll…
Canoecopia 2024 is almost upon us! Best yet, paddling proselytizer, guidebook scribe, and Milespaddled.com’s own Timothy Bauer will be presenting two talks over the three-day event. That’s right, not one, but two presentations that will surely be equal parts…
Trout Run Park to Lower Dam: As diverse as a day trip’s portfolio can get, this section of the Upper Iowa begins in an industrialized area outside of downtown Decorah and ends at the historic Lower Dam thirteen river…
Malanaphy Springs to Trout Run Park: Arguably the most ignored section on the Upper Iowa River relative Decorah, this trip does have its dull moments and lots of development, but it has a lot to offer, too, by way…
Highway 61 to Bay Point Park: A smorgasbord paddle that courses through the Cannon River bottomlands after an encore performance of bluffs before quietly slipping into the Mississippi River backwaters, this scenic trip packs enough for a long weekend…but…
Welch to Highway 61: A languorous segment of the Cannon River featuring stately bluffs, occasional rock outcrops, and a sizeable stretch of public land and little development, there’s a lot to like about this short trip. There’s also a…
Part two of two on the North Branch of the Root River. This section offers lots of riffles as well as several solid Class I rapids. (Adjust to 1080p for the best picture). Root River: North Branch Moen’s Bridge…
Part one of two on the North Branch of the Root River, a simply stunning escape deep in the heart of the Minnesota Driftless Area that is abound in towering bluffs lush with exquisite limestone outcrops, rolling hills and…
Theilman to Kruger: A wider and slightly slower segment than those upstream, the salient premium on this trip is scenery and isolation through a huge swath of public land, not to mention the visible change in landscape as the…