Recon: McFarland’s Babcock Park to paddle down Yahara

We scouted out the idea of starting our paddle at Babcock Park to go down the Yahara but it requires going through locks immediately upon launch. There is a downstream park Jaeger Park that eliminates the need to figure out how to go through the locks. We heard there is a way to portage around it, but the solution was not evident.

This map shows the relationship of the launches in the area.

Conclusion:

Although it looks inviting to put-in at Babcock Park to paddle down the Yahara to Mud Lake and exit at Fish Camp, it was not for us.