Sugar River II

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 – safer, easier, and now offering a night-and-day difference in downtown Paoli. But it is still a narrow and twisty creek-environment with obstructions to dodge around every bend in relatively lively current.

Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆
Trip Report Date: May 18, 2024

Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Class Difficulty: Riffles + Two Class I ledges

Gradient:
2-4′ per mile

Gauge Recorded on this Trip:
Verona: ht/ft: 3.1 | cfs: 56

Recommended Levels:
Water levels are usually reliable. But the river will be awfully shallow and slow-going between 2.5′ to 3′. Conversely, it would be a wild and unruly ride above 4′.

Put-In:
Bobcat Lane, Verona, Wisconsin
GPS: 42.98854, -89.57612
Take-Out:
The Mill off Canal Street, Paoli, Wisconsin
GPS: 42.93032, -89.5244

Time: Put in at 11:45p. Out at 2:45p.
Total Time: 3h
Miles Paddled: 9.5

Alternate Trip Ideas:
Riverside Road to Paoli (5 Miles)
Valley Road to Paoli (6.75 Miles)

Wildlife:
Great blue herons, turkey vultures, turkey, sandhill cranes, hawks, songbirds, duck varietals, turtles, muskrat, beaver, and lots of carp.

Shuttle Information:
By car: 6.75 miles via Highway 69 and 18/151. By bike-shuttle:  7.5 miles via Range Trail, Sunset Road, Highway 69, Riverside Road, Sugar River Road, Marsh View Road, and County Highway G. This part of Dane County is quite popular with the cycling community, so bike shuttling is generally safe.

Background:
You’ve likely heard this before, either from us or some other paddling periodical: you never enter the same river twice. Meaning (without getting too weedy in the metaphysics or philosophy) that conditions change all the time, such that a river is never what it was once. Or ever will be in the future. It is only how and when you experience it in the moment. (Is that why it’s called current?) There are the obvious indexes: a river at high water levels will be totally different than at low levels; spring will look and feel different than summer than autumn. (Winter is another whole thing…) Was it sunny? Windy? Hot and humid? Did you get rained on? Did you paddle alone or with another? A group paddle? Did someone get hurt? Did something go awry? Then there are the subtler flavors. Was the river open or was there a lot of deadfall? Was the water cloudy or clear? Did you see a lot of wildlife or hardly any? These are givens on any body of water, especially one as dynamic as a river. Change is constant.

While fallen trees and water levels are mainly subject to the vicissitudes of weather (and beavers), sometimes it’s the hand of man (and it’s usually men) that changes a landscape more dramatically than nature left to its own course. This influence can be so much for the sake of good as bad. When Europeans “settled” the Midwest in the 19^th Century, nearly every moving body of water was dammed for milling lumber or running textiles. On smaller scales, low-clearance farm bridges and culverts were built for equipment and personnel to cross from one side to another. There was no such thing as recreational paddling; canoes were vehicles for travel, trade, hunting, fishing, and gathering wild rice. Kayaks were sea kayaks – intuited by the Inuit alone.

Waterways were dredged, wetlands were drained. Almost every tree was cut down for shelter or warmth. Granted, this all sounds awful – and I’m sure it was. But I’m just as sure that I wouldn’t be writing this now and living where/how I do – or alive in the first place – if trees weren’t cut down to build towns and grow food. And some of those towns grew into cities, attracting people (like me) to change and/or better their lives. By and by, change and/or betterment lends itself to recreation as well as re-creation; we want parks and playgrounds, we want to have kids, and we want our kids to have parks and playgrounds. Cities typically expand like so many waistlines, requiring one or two belt buckles loosening up unto suburban sprawl. Meanwhile, all those increasing people gotta eat.

(The weird irony is we keep losing farmland to subdivisions – which is to say less food for more mouths. (Lord knows it’s not actually less food so much as it is concentrated food operations, better known as factory farms or CAFOs.) More people means more kids, which in turn means more land that once grew food is now used to house people, who will invariably have kids, and a need for more housing, which will mean fewer farms or open fields, etc., etc. It’s not so much a “vicious cycle” as it is a positive feedback loop with virtually zero regulation or governance. R. Crumb’s cartoon “Short History of America” captures this perfectly. We’ll give a nod and nominal homage to the world that was once natural and name the new subdivision or the streets comprising it after all the flora and fauna since displaced, as Billy Collins wryly wrote in his eloquent elegy, “Golden Years.”)

But the past itself can’t be undone (though it can certainly be learned from). The former dairy and farming community of present day Paoli, WI, is a case in point in reinventing itself in a revitalizing way – a slow and small scale way. More on that elsewhere below. Some of the old ways and rationales that made sense in the past (or were never questioned in the first place) and have outlived their function can be undone and remediated. To wit, this segment of the Sugar River; gone are the cattle gates, the barbed and electric wires, and the dangerously low concrete bridges. What once was rather treacherous is tame and playful today. Downed trees happen; that’s just bad timing. But volunteers and outfitters have done a truly commendable job of clearing a safe and sensible passage through fallen trees and stray limbs alike.

We first paddled a portion of this segment back in 2011 and then updated our report in 2014. Still, that’s ten years ago. And while we’ve paddled some version of this trip half a dozen times easily since 2014,* it’s long been on our to-do list to fully revise our report for the Sugar River from Verona to Paoli. So much has changed on this little river – for the better, by and by. Given our familiarity with and proximity to the Sugar, it’s been incumbent on us to get right with all the improvements on the Sugar and the investment in Paoli.

* This may come as a surprise, but we don’t write about every single trip we paddle – and not just the duplicates or re-do’s. There are dozens of trips that, for one reason or another, we just don’t get around to documenting. If we had a dollar for every paddling trip we’ve done that’s not on Miles Paddled, we could cover the site’s hosting costs in one felled swoop! We’d also crash the internet itself if we documented everything we do and everywhere we go. This is not a brag; it’s simply a disclaimer. While my favorite river is the one I haven’t been to yet, oftentimes the best place to go is the one closest to where you live. Besides, I already loathe how much pollution I add merely by driving a car to go paddling somewhere. For every one pilgrimage out to the Volga or Zumbro or Bois Brule, there are sixty local paddles only 60 minutes from home. Just saying.

Overview:
The access at Bobcat Lane is easy to miss. Honestly, if I didn’t already know about it, it would never occur to me to launch a boat from a dead-end road in the shadow of Highway 18/151. There’s an inconspicuous path from the road to the river next to an informative sign and boot/gear cleaning kiosk. This is with fishing in mind, but of course it applies to paddling as well. It’s all perfectly legal and kosher. Directly across the river, half a mile away as the heron flies, is the Taj Mirage that is the corporate campus of Epic, aka the Cupertino of Dane County.

No commentary here about Epic; it’s just too complicated, complex, spectacular, and preposterous. Plus non-compete clauses.

Experientially, this trip can be separated into two unequal halves – Bobcat to Highway 69 (5.75 miles) and Highway 69 to Paoli (3.5 miles). The former is influenced by wetlands, whereas the latter is a little woodsier. Alas, both are surrounded by farms and crops. While the area itself is composed of soft hills, the riverine environment is mostly flat. From Bobcat down to the next access at Valley Road (2.6 miles) the whole feel is that of paddling through a lazy maze of grassy wetlands, even though the river courses through only a portion of the Sugar River Wetlands SNA. No matter what direction the wind is in, you’ll feel it against you and behind you (as well as left and right); the squiggly meandering ensures that you’ll paddle in every cardinal direction. It’s as if an engineering department were headed by a surrealist. Things will straighten out some, but the first mile and change is very kinky. It’s also very narrow here, about 15′ wide (which offers a 14.5′ canoe a margin of error that’s marginal at best).

I had to climb on top of one downed tree, pull the boat over, and slide back in. That was the only portage of the trip, much to my happy surprise. And as the creek-like river wends its way to the southwest towards aptly named Sugar River Road, an unnamed tributary from the northwest enters on the right, which does add some width to the narrowness. Soon after this, however, the creek gets pinched to an almost implausible degree of roughly 6′ wide where there’s a fun little Class I chute. There used to be a sinister/sadistic low-clearance bridge here, which I’m delighted to report is no more. The Sugar now bee-bops to the southeast past a proverbial white picket fence and farm beyond it. Some scrubby grasses and trees line the banks until the Valley Road bridge, where there is an excellent access (and spacious parking area) on river-left, upstream of the bridge.

Given the superior access and designated parking area, Valley Road is a better place to get onto or off of the river than the next bridge down (Riverside Road). It does offer an additional 1.7 miles of paddling, but there’s not much to write home about. It’s still narrow and still flanked by scrubby grasses and trees, or farms. It is more tree-canopied, which of course makes it prone to deadfall and general woodsy objects to dodge. There are a couple interesting curios – a house idyllically perched atop a steep bank with a canoe rack and private watering hole; an odd metal bridge that ascends on an angle from left to right; a pleasant glimpse into meadows now and again – but generally this stretch is a bit unkempt and nondescript.

By the time you get to Riverside Road, you’ve paddled 4.25 miles. Just before the bridge, Badger Mill Creek comes in via the left. (Paddling-wise, it’s a poor man’s Badfish Creek. But in reality it’s the opposite: the effluence of Verona’s affluence is washed down to Badfish and eventually into Rock County via the Yahara River watershed, instead of Badger Mill – even though it flows through Hometown USA – courtesy of the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District.) Similar to Valley Road, the river can be accessed here on the left on the upstream side of the bridge. Unlike Valley Road, however, there’s no dedicated access, the bank is steeper, you traipse along a ditch from the road to the river, and it’s all roadside parking along the shoulder. Totally doable, but none too ideal. From here to the next access, off Highway 69, is 1.6 miles of mixed woods and grassy wetlands.

After the river makes an abrupt left-hand bend, pleasant riffles will have you briefly pass a smattering of very modest rock outcrops on the right – an anomaly in the squishy wetlands of the upper Sugar. A farm bridge follows, with plenty of clearance. A tranquil stretch leads to a handsome cottage of rough-hewn stone off to the left. This in turn is followed by a quaint truss bridge. The banks may be tree-lined, but they belie the denuded landscape beyond them; farms and croplands abound. But soon even these thin trees will disappear, and before you once more is half a mile of grassy, windswept wetlands – for the last time.

Interestingly, the river nose-dives to the south here only to ricochet back to the north before curling east and under Highway 69. No rock wall or hill diverts it thusly; it just does it on its own. There’s a dedicated landing with a large parking area 300′ down from the bridge itself, on river-right. From here, it’s 3.5 miles to the mill in Paoli – and arguably the most varied and engaging segment on this trip. Why? Well, for starters there’s a knoll on the left with statuesque oaks reaching spindly limbs worthy of Grimm fairytales. Secondly, there’s more public land in this final segment than anywhere else on this trip, courtesy of Dane County Parks. A designated wildlife area today, it’s nearly 400 acres of public land that more or less surrounds the river. You’ll notice that the river bottom is more shallow and gravel-bound than upstream. The gradient gradually picks up, too. Mixed with various natural and artificial objects to dodge around, this stretch of the river is both pretty and fun.

You’ll pass the first of several remnants of the former, notorious low-clearance concrete bridges. They’ve all been removed, but some vestiges remain along the banks. An attractive pedestrian bridge precedes a lovely swath of easy-going river surrounded by a meadowy area. Then a high-clearance concrete bridge announces an atypical straightaway that runs southeast through open plains. On this trip in particular, and the upper Sugar in general, there aren’t too many opportunities to relax, but this is one of them. In case you’re wondering why there are random conifers here and there hinting just for a moment at a boreal environment, the landscaping magnate, the Bruce Company, used to have operations here before selling a whole lot of real estate to Dane County. Increasingly, you’ll hear vehicles along Highway 69, but only for a short spell.

The river bends to the left, away from the highway, and rebounds northeast for another half-mile into some veritable woods. You’ll hear rushing water first and then see a pedestrian bridge spanning the river. There used to be a small dam here (including a sign that warned of said dam), but now there’s only a fun Class I+ drop beneath the bridge. A pool forms below this, which allows for rerunning the rapids and/or surfing in its hole. You can even end your trip here, as there’s decent enough access and a parking area only 50′ away via river-right. But there’s still pleasant paddling from here to the takeout just shy of a mile downriver.

Unfortunately, a rather perilously placed remnant of one of the concrete bridges lies just past the rapids. It’s to the left, but not all the way to the left – and the current draws you directly toward it. Paddlers must choose to steer to the right of it (recommended) or sneak past it on the left (tricky). Whichever course you choose, commit to it; hemming and hawing, or changing your mind at the last moment, will all but guarantee your running right into – and likely going for a swim. There’s a ton of other obstructions to circumvent, but most are easy to miss. Nasty storms in the last decade alone have made the subsequent half-mile look tortured like a tornado alley with uprooted trees in several places – but they’re all pulled off and away from the river. The bridge at Range Trail makes for a crappy access best to skip. Besides, shortly past it the river bends to the right on account of a hill on the left with attractive oak trees (beyond which lie the walking grounds of Seven Acre Dairy Company, a boutique hotel/restaurant/soft-serve ice cream parlor). From here to the take-out it’s nothing but riffly goodness, although paddlers will still need to be vigilant and avoid strainers, as there’s no shortage of deadfall here.

You’ll first see a small sign alerting you that the take-out is nigh. And then an enormous sign via river-right that reads, unmistakably, “ALL PADDLERS STOPPING AT PAOLI MILL TAKE OUT HERE.” There’s even a short cleat of stairs to make things slightly easier and less muddy. (I’m assuming that digging out a notch in the grass and filling it with gravel or sand would get washed out in the next high water event, and that’s why the only improvement for taking out here is a short cleat of stairs.) From there you’ll have to schlep your boat and gear 400′ through a small tree lot, past the concert stage and lawn (and hundreds of people on warm weather weekends), and parking area either to somewhere near where you left a vehicle or to the loading area. If you paddle this trip on a warm-weather weekend, you can expect to see lots of children and dogs splashing in and out of the water.

Quick recap: Beginning at Bobcat will appeal only to a minority of paddlers. This was my third time paddling from there, and it’s an intriguing add-on. From Bobcat to Valley Road is 2.6 miles that took me 50 minutes to paddle and required one portage. The relative monotony diversifies some from Valley to Riverside Road, a distance of 1.7 miles that took me 35 minutes to paddle. It’s a pleasant stretch of river, but obstacles are nearly constant. From Riverside to Highway 69 the distance is again about 1.7 miles that took another 35 minutes, with fewer obstructions and a couple pretty views. The remaining 3.5 miles from the highway to the Paoli Mill took me an hour to paddle – in no small part thanks to steeper gradient and riffles. This is the most pleasant segment on this trip and offers a fun variety of landscapes and landmarks.

What we liked:
In my opinion, this is not the sweetest stretch of the Sugar River, but it is classic creek paddling. (Just don’t confuse it with Sugar Creek, southeast of here, in Walworth County, which is rather bitter.) And relative to Madison, it’s minutes away. By and by, it’s an enjoyable paddle – especially from Highway 69 down to the Paoli Mill. Even if the first couple miles are monotonous, flat, and endlessly meandering, not to mention within earshot and eye-awareness of the Epic campus, a state highway, and adjacent farms, it’s still an interesting experience. The wildlife is good, the gravel-bottom, clear water, and frisky riffles even better. The last mile is a hoot, too. Thanks to a wayward loop in the river, one could even launch at the rapids, paddle down to the Mill, and then walk only a third of a mile down a dead-end road back to the rapids. That’s my kind of happy hour. Hell, you could easily do just that in between bands playing at the Mill.

What we didn’t like:
When viewed from above, this segment of the Sugar River looks a little like a dinky strip of nature surrounded by an ocean of agriculture. There’s very little green; it’s predominantly brown and tan, literal earth tones. While there is an admirable amount of county-owned land adjacent the river from the Highway 69 to Range Trail bridges, much of this trip feels hemmed in. The scattered oak trees here and there are wonderful, but they represent less than one percent of what the natural landscape used to look like way back in the day.

The take-out in Paoli has always been a bit dodgy. With no obvious place to do so, you just got out wherever it seemed most practical on the right-hand side before the bridge at County Highway PB and then schlepped across the lawn at the mill. That was back in the day. Today, the Mill (capital M) comprises several different businesses (lodging, tchotchkes, clothing, food, a place for beer, a separate place for $12 cocktails, a live music stage, and a lawn with picnic tables and chairs) and is private property, so paddlers have the permission to access the river here, leave a vehicle nearby, etc., but it is not an entitlement. Given the draw to this site on warm-weather weekends, you can expect to encounter several hundred to several thousand people here milling about (so to speak). For better or worse, gone is the day when the grounds here were quiet and unoccupied. It’s quaint as all get out, but it’s a bit of a circus.

So, how did the hoi polloi happen upon Paoli? How does an unincorporated town one block long with a little more than a hundred residents have a boutique hotel whose room rates start north of $200/night during the middle of the week? It’s a long and inspiring story, but it’s not mine to tell. If you’re interested, this excellent article provides the prelude. If you’ve never been to Paoli before, A) you should, but moreover B) you’d never know that it didn’t always look like it does today; it didn’t look like this even six years ago. Is it bougie? Big time. Will a bust follow this boom? I doubt it and hope the hell not.

As mentioned earlier, paddling this segment of the Sugar will require more work than relaxing. I don’t much mind that personally, as I don’t seek streams for that sake. But I can imagine that for folks who don’t paddle weekly or year-round, folks for whom paddling is comparable to zip-lining (e.g., a random thing to do via a rental), there’s probably a premium for relaxation. And that’s hard to achieve when the river keeps weaving this way and that, only 20’ wide at times, with a whole lot of tree debris to avoid running into. For those looking to languor, the Albany-Brodhead area is a better bet. But then you don’t end up in Paoli.

If we did this trip again:
I’ve paddled some variant of this section of the Sugar River at least a dozen times since our first report of it in 2011. In those intervening years a whole lot has happened in Paoli. Not to mention the Epic campus, shimmering in plain sight for the first couple miles. The river itself has changed quite a bit, too – well, the human-influenced vestiges and attributes. I don’t know how I feel about the explosive popularity of Paoli, and the bonanza of Epic is almost literally otherworldly. But the two have radically different notions of growth and success. The sprawl of one and the emphasis of small by the other make for a fascinating contrast, hard not to think about since each lies at the beginning and end of this trip. Regardless, the river today is a perfectly viable paddling prospect in a way that could not have been said ten years ago. We’ll be sure to keep coming back here.

***************
Related Information:
Sugar River Overview: Sugar River Paddle Guide
Sugar River I: White Crossing Road to Valley Road
Sugar River III: Paoli to Belleville
Sugar River IV: Belleville to County Road X
Sugar River V: County Road X to County Road EE
Sugar River VI: Albany to Brodhead
Sugar River VII: Brodhead to Avon
Sugar River VIII: Colored Sands Forest Preserve to North Meridian Road
Good People: Upper Sugar River Watershed Association
Good People: Lower Sugar River Watershed Association
Map: Upper Sugar River Trail
Outfitter: Sugar River Outfitters
Wikipedia: Sugar River

Miles Paddled/Driftless Kayaker Video:

Photo Gallery:

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Alternate Trip Report: Shorter Paddle (5 Miles)
Riverside Road to Paoli
September 14, 2014
☆ ☆ ☆

A charming and short stretch quietly nestled in the soft hills and farms of southwestern Dane County, featuring clear water, riffles, pretty stands of majestic oaks, good wildlife, a fun rapid and the button-cute hamlet of Paoli. This section has been greatly improved upon and receives our paddling endorsement.

Gauge Recorded on this Trip:
Verona: ht/ft: 3.27 | cfs: 53
Brodhead: ht/ft: 1.84 | cfs: 496

Put-In:
Riverside Road, Verona, Wisconsin
GPS: 42.95855, -89.55882
Take-Out:
County Road PB Bridge, Paoli, Wisconsin
GPS: 42.92949, -89.52439

Time: Put in at 1:10p. Out at 2:45p.
Total Time: 1h 35m
Miles Paddled: 5

Wildlife:
Blue-winged teal, great blue heron, green heron, deer, killdeer, kingfishers and unidentified fish.

 

Background:
If ever there were a stream that embodied the old adage “you never paddle the same river twice,” it’s the Sugar – this section in particular. They say you never paddle the same river twice because each experience is unique and has its own feel and conditions (favorable or fubar) change all the time. This was my third time paddling the Verona-to-Paoli leg of the upper Sugar and it was by far the best occasion. Some of that has to do with my own growing up as a paddler but much of it is thanks to the commendable work of both volunteers cleaning up the Sugar as well as Dane County purchasing tracts of now public land along the river.

Gone are the concrete footbridges midway through this short jaunt as well as the fallen tree against which I was pitifully pinned and rolled under last year (an almost lethal debacle that still spooks me when I replay the incident in my head, one whose eerie association with the term “deadfall” is uncomfortably close to home). Two strands of barbed wire remain but they’re fairly decrepit, easy to discern from afar and duck under. Plus they’re both located shortly after the put-in at Riverside Road, so they shouldn’t surprise you. In fact, there were no obstructions until the very end of the trip.

About midway into this paddle I happened upon two other kayakers lazing about in the sun and they told me that a friend of theirs had paddled this stretch recently and had informed them of a downed tree near the dam (where the 2’ drop is located) and another by the Range Trail bridge. That information was spot-on. Shortly after the 2’ drop is a downed tree but a narrow clearing on the far-left made it passable. Alas, about 25 yards downstream from the Range Trail bridge was a honking-big fallen tree from bank to bank, likely the victim of one of the several thunderstorms we had had back in early September. That one I had to climb over – the only such annoyance on this otherwise spectacularly improved trip. The good news is that the great folks at the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association (USRWA) know about it and plan on clearing it (which, by now, a month later, may well have happened already). So I think it’s entirely reasonable that this stretch should be obstruction-free if you choose to paddle it and it’s definitely worth checking out.

What we liked:
What begins as little more than a drainage ditch near the headquarters of Epic cuts its way through Dane and Green counties and then down into Winnebago County in Illinois, more or less marking the periphery of the Driftless Area. As such, the surrounding landscape is picturesque. Plus there’s something cool in knowing that this little stream that begins just west of Madison flows all the way down to Illinois where it teams up with the Pecatonica before joining the Rock – both of which begin in Wisconsin – on its way to the mighty Mississippi.

One of the nicest parts of this little trip is how much variety there is in only five miles. True, most of the paddling is through pastures but there are a couple steep hillsides, a glimpse here and there of the gently rolling landscape at the fringe of where the last glaciers came and ended and the Driftless begins. Especially nice are the many old oaks, handsomely macabre in their gnarled isolation. The river does meander but it has moments of straightaways too, sometimes tree-canopied, other times in savanna settings of unbroken sunshine. Predominantly rural/agricultural, this trip finishes in the cute-as-a-button tiny town of Paoli, today a hub for road bicycling enthusiasts and also an artist community.

The water is clear, the bottom sandy and the current generally reliable. But for one very wide section about midway, the river is generally 30-40’ wide. There are obstacles to dodge but usually none so formidable as to be dangerous (again, usually). One of the darling highlights near the end is a 2’ drop where there used to be a dam. Predictably, you’ll hear the sound of the rushing water well before you come upon it. Also, there’s a sign that reads “Dam, Swift Water” alerting you beforehand. A well-marked portage trail allows you to circumvent the drop – or allows you to run it, get out and run it again as many times as your heart desires. It’s a sweet little drop that is a perfect combination of not really dangerous but just adrenaline-raising enough. Surfing below the drop is a whole lot of fun, too.

Riffles will take you along 100-200 yards of pretty backdrops of woods and steep banks to the charming take-out behind the beautifully restored old mill building. There’s no designated launch but the lawn is only half a foot higher than the water, so taking out is pretty easy. A short walk across the lawn leads to the gravel parking area on Canal Street.

What we didn’t like:
This is the upper Sugar River, so adequate water levels can be an issue. At 3.27’ and 53 cvs, (the levels at which I paddled this trip on this day) there was just enough water to manage the shallow sections. Still though, I’d recommend paddling this with more volume. Another 2-3” would have been perfect, especially for the fun riffles leading into Paoli.

The barbed wire also is unfortunate, of course. It’s pretty easy to discern and negotiate, as I mentioned above but still, who wouldn’t prefer that it never be strung across public rivers in the first place?

Last, the put-in at Riverside Road is totally fine and adequate but it’s somewhat confusing in that from first appearances it doesn’t look all too inviting or accessible. There is no signage for one and the path leading from the road to the river is more a trampled one made by footsteps, not one that was mowed. The bank is steep and the parking is along the road. You just have to trust me on this: the actual public access is on the upstream side of the bridge on the river-right. What’s strange is on the downstream side, river-right, there is a sign facing the river – meaning that it’s legible only if you’re already on the river – stating that this side is private property and that public access is on the other side of the bridge. Presumably this is for paddlers who have put-in upstream (about which consideration I’ll mention something in a moment) but why not have at least a modest, unadorned sign (hell, a flier) on dry land telling you where you may and may not go?

OK, so why not put-in further upstream? It’s a good question, particularly since there are two acknowledged public-access landings on USRWA’s own map of the upper Sugar. One on Bobcat Lane (north of Highway 18/151) and the other on Valley Road (south of Highway 18/151). I’ve never even scouted Bobcat Lane but it seems safe to speculate that one would need a whole lot of recent rain or snowmelt to put-in there without getting stuck in shallows. The map indicates a “rapids” between Bobcat and Valley roads, which sounds intriguing. As for Valley Road, I do not now recommend it. As of 2013 there still were barbed wires and a questionably legal cattle gate on the segment of the river between Valley and Riverside.

Incidentally, Bobcat to Valley is 2.3 miles and Valley to Riverside is 1.8 miles, so tacking both on would make for a 9.1-mile trip to Paoli. But until we learn that the Valley to Riverside section is relatively clean (at least from the cattle gate, for God’s sake!) then we recommend only the Riverside to Paoli section. Also, there is a very dangerous cattle gate that is indisputably illegal – flagrantly and egregiously illegal – just downstream from Paoli. USRWA and Capitol Water Trails both know about it. Even the DNR knows about it. The property owner has been asked to remove it and by asked I mean offered to have it replaced by something more paddler-friendly by the very groups themselves at no extra cost to the property owner and yet still the monstrosity is in place!?! Until it is dismantled, we strongly discourage the Paoli to Belleville section.

If we did this trip again:
Well, this is my third time paddling this trip. Due to its proximity to Madison and its potential for a short morning or after-work paddle, it’s always fun. Next time I will wait for a little more water on the river to enjoy the riffles better. At some point I will embark on the upstream options, because I’m a stubborn and curious guy.

Photo Gallery:

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Alternate Trip Report: Shorter Paddle (6.75 Miles)
Valley Road to Paoli
July 22, 2011
☆

An otherwise pleasant river, this is not a segment of the Sugar I’d recommend. There are just too many wires to slip through, deadfall to negotiate, concrete footbridges to portage, etc.

Gauge Recorded on this Trip:
Verona: ht/ft: n/a | cfs: 54
Brodhead: ht/ft: n/a | cfs: 380

Put-In:
Valley Road, Verona, Wisconsin
GPS: 42.97305, -89.56618
Take-Out:
County PB Bridge, Paoli, Wisconsin
GPS: 42.92949, -89.5244

Time: Put in at 5:30p. Out at 8:00p.
Total Time: 2h 30m
Miles Paddled: 6.75

Wildlife:
Some herons, two mergansers and great big flopping carp.

Background:
Taking my cue from Capitol Water Trails, I was inspired to explore a couple stretches of the Sugar River not mentioned in the more official paddling books. Well, it turns out there’s a reason why they’re not mentioned, they’re hardly paddleable. I was initially excited to “escape” so close to home, however, I didn’t find its proximity consolable in the least after a number of annoying obstructions (one right after the other). The Sugar here, is narrow and windy and is not altogether unattractive but neither is it so great as to warrant putting up with its frustrations (at least in my opinion).

What we liked:
There are a couple of steep hillsides (which I always like) and there are a few more sweeping vistas of the surrounding landscape (which I like as well). Towards the very end is a one-foot drop that is splashy and fun to go down and/or surf against. There’s usually enough water to run this virtually year round and yes, it is quite close to home (if you live in Madison). Lastly, odds of spotting a heron or two are pretty good as well.

What we didn’t like:
Take your pick: the barbed wires, the deadfall, the concrete footbridges, the mud… it’s just not worth it. None of those obstructions individually or in aggregate dissuade me much, so long as the river itself is worth it (or the surroundings). Neither is the case for this section of the Sugar. I found it much more frustrating than fun.

If we did this trip again:
Very doubtful, unless all the crap is cleared out.

Trip Update:
I ended up doing a shorter clip of this trip on 3/10/13. Perhaps infused with renewed paddle inspiration after Canoecopia, and needing to get out of the house at the time, I went out for a jaunt. Bad idea – very bad, dumb idea!

First off, it was raining/sleeting and about 35 degrees. Second, it had been raining all weekend with warmer temperatures a couple days preceding that, which meant the snow was melting very quickly. Thus the Sugar, which is otherwise painfully plain and pretty slow, was raging. This actually attracted me to it, but it was a poor judgment call on my part. Take it from me, when you see whole logs flow down the river, it ain’t safe!

There was a lot of water this day and it was moving very quickly. All of the obstructions were still there and profoundly more dangerous in high water conditions. I got pinned against one fallen tree and then before I had a second to figure out what to do or how to do it I got dragged by the current underneath the tree and took a rather undesirable swim. I was dressed for such an incident but still the whole thing pretty well spooked me out. A lesson was learned, albeit the hard or at least humiliating way.