County Road K to Riverside Landing: Crystal clear water, good current, great wildlife, dozens of free campsites along the way to provide for fun multi-day trips, and all set in a very wild-feeling environment because of minimal development, the…
Browsing Tag
Paddle Report
Center Road to County Road W: Hands down, this was the single most fun and exhilarating run of whitewater we’ve ever experienced. This brief but beautiful and exhilarating segment of the Pine River is an absolute must. Non-stop Class…
County Road A to Lily: A mostly fun and pretty trip on what can be described as the dress rehearsal of the famed Wolf River rapids further downstream, this stretch is mostly quietwater with a couple notable exceptions. Just…
County Road S to Highway 56: The West Fork of the Kickapoo is a “river” by name only. This is very much a creek and creekers will love this lively and twisty section which shares distinct similarities to not…
Highway 131 to Ontario: With water clarity as stunning as the sandstone rock outcrops before and above you, this “path less paddled” of the otherwise extremely popular Kickapoo River will dazzle newbies and delight old hands alike who sensibly…
Hatfield to Black River Falls: Combining two trip types into one full day of paddling – the first a couple fists of adrenaline-inducing rapids through rugged granite rock outcrops, the second a calm palm of relaxed water but no…
County Road WW to Wisconsin River Road: A fun and scenic jaunt on a lesser known segment of an already hardly known tributary of the Wisconsin River just northeast of Wausau, this short trip is satisfying in every sense.…
School Section Road to O’Riley Road: A truly outstanding trip that will win the hearts of newbies and seasoned paddlers alike due to the surrounding scenery and river environment itself, with numerous access points to shorten or lengthen the…
Grafton to County Highway T: Simply an exhilarating ride down the rapids of the Milwaukee River surrounded by beautiful limestone and dolomite dells and multiple islands that braid the main channel, this is a great trip for light whitewater…
Newburg to Fredonia: A revisited paddle at much more accommodating water levels, Newburg to Fredonia was anticipated to be a little more exciting than it turned out to be but what it did offer was a swift current with…
Spring Parks to School Section Road: A combination of two streams on one trip with a few hassles that should disabuse most sensible paddlers of recapitulating this, doing each separately instead, but this area of the upper Turtle Creek…
New Fane to Kewaskum: An exceptionally pretty section of the awesome East Branch of the Milwaukee River, this trip picks up where the last one left off. It has less swift water and less of a rugged feel, but…
Fall River to Columbus-Fall River Road: An exploratory trip full of initial promise with riffles, ledges, sandy-bottomed clear water, outstanding wildlife and little development, but also the most neglected and obstructed stream I have ever been on. Eventually, I…
New Prospect to New Fane: A smorgasbord of a paddle featuring a variety of landscapes in less than eight miles. Ranging from woods to meadows to lake to swamp to rugged hills and rapids, this outstanding trip does have…
Zumbro Falls to Millville: The Zumbro River is a fun, occasionally riffly and easy-going paddle that cuts through the distant wooded bluffs of the beautiful Zumbro River Valley. Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Trip Report Date: June 1, 2015 Skill…
Faribault to Dundas: A visit to one of the staples of Bluff Country, the Cannon River offers a variety of beautiful sights, including limestone cliffs, outcrops and a stunning old gristmill to end the trip. Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆…
Menomonie to Dunnville: A sweet and easy, serene trip down a wonderful river, this final leg of the Red Cedar rewards the paddler with excellent accesses, an obstruction-free but still engaging stream, tremendous wildlife, a true sense of getting-away,…
Saylesville to Neosho: A potentially fun river with lots of riffles, great wildlife and pretty scenery but way too many obstructions and portages – there’s a reason why you’ve never heard of the Rubicon River or at least paddling…
Manchester to Kingston: Featuring a river as beautiful and becoming as its surrounding countryside that is undeservedly mugged by a mind-boggling amount of obstructions, this trip is utterly rich in potential but obscenely robbed of its reward. Rating: ☆…
Woodford to Highway 11: The last stretch of the Pecatonica’s East Branch, before it merges with the mainstream between South Wayne and Browntown, offers some truly pleasant moments (modest rock outcrops, tall bluffs and some riffles) but it’s a…
Leipsig to Lowell: A trip that has several sweet moments but also a lot of monotonous redundancy, in addition to tedious paddling towards the end where the river widens out to a lake-like impoundment caused by the dam. But…
County Road O to Endeavor: A trip that has its pretty moments but is also monotonous and slow, with virtually no current since the river starts to sprawl out into a huge lake near the takeout. That said, it…
La Valle to Reedsburg: A trip that begins with a bang of rapids, several scenic sandstone bluffs, an expedition trek to an incredible waterfall (albeit artificial), but then peters to a long and unremarkable monotony (the only highlight of…
County Road J to Huckleberry Road: A monotonous trip through a marshy wetlands that empties into the Fox River between Princeton and Berlin. There are far too many obstructions and really not much “there there” to recommend doing this.…
Brownton to Winslow: A lazy-loaf float trip down the slow muddy waters of the Pecatonica River in its last stretch in Wisconsin before dipping down into Illinois. There are no outstanding rock outcrops or riffles on this trip but…
Merton to Highway 83: A strange smorgasbord of paddling environments and a trip of contrasts which include public land, subdivisions, the Ice Age Trail, downtown Hartland, rocky rapids and cottonwood marsh. There’s much to admire about this section of…
Marl Lake to Shadow Lake Road: If you haven’t paddled the Crystal in a few years or never navigated the lakes leading to the headwaters, you now have every reason to reintroduce yourself. With the added miles of some…
County Road TT to Canal Road: A sluggish trip upstream and down to the interior of the Deansville Marsh and subsequent mile of the Maunesha River before the lake impoundment caused by the dam in Marshall. This trip is…
County Highway Q to Brainards Bridge Park: Riffly, woodsy and wonderful, this section of the Waupaca is popular due to its proximity to the city but also because water levels are usually favorable to paddle it all season. With…
Olson Road to Aztalan State Park: With not much to look at and slow current, this is a totally fine but mostly unremarkable trip on the Crawfish River, which is usually the case on this river. Rating: ☆ ☆…