Ice House Femtilla 2014

We won the Ice House Getaway in the River Alliance Auction. Actually, we were outbid at the very last second of furious bidding, but the Alliance director Denny Caneff got permission from owners Frank and Marianna Weinhold to allow two winners that year. The Weinholds let us invite a few well-behaved women paddlers to land at their private beach on Louis Bluff. Continue reading Ice House Femtilla 2014

Illinois Fox River at Big Bend, WI

This trip is a segment of Illinois Fox River 1 in Mike Svob’s book.
Flow at Waukesha gauge 05543830: 101 csf (median for this date 43csf)
Left at 4pm. 1.5 hour drive from Madison to Big Bend Village Park which has a nice concrete boat ramp and plenty of parking.
1 hour to unload boats, find bathroom. Floyd E Swayze Memorial Center(Lions Club) is next to the landing, but it is unclear if it is public or private. Mobil Gas Station is 0.5 miles.
In water 6:20. Turned around just past golf course, approx 2 mi from put-in. Slow current, no blockages or grounding. Water clear but lots of duckweed.
Saw ducks and swallows-not much else. Heard cranes. Pretty and quiet. Encountered family of kids and dad and fishing boat. Very cloudy. Dewpoint 72. Out at 8 o’clock in darkness.

with J&K.

Trask Bridge first foray

Started at Trask Bridge and went right upstream for 1 hour.

Water level good but had to watch for obstacles. Wide river. Beautiful and remote.

cfs 595 slightly higher for median on this day.

No boats seen but one wave runner buzzed by politely.

Wildlife: heron, cedar waxwings, finches. We thought we saw 3 turkeys but they were raccoons out for a drink on a Friday night.

It’s a beautiful ride home to Madison up 73 and 104 (and we didn’t run out of gas – whew).

This trip was after sculpture maintenance and before Skype call with Singapore.

Bark River at Prince’s Point

We paddled while our houseguests J&K attended a wedding.
Flow at gage 05426250 Bark River near Rome: 43 csf. (Median for this date: 50 csf)
Princes point to “Palmyra” after island turn around. Saw heron, muskrat, ducks, kingfisher, yellow finch, cranes and mystery bird plus lots of plover, red-winged blackbirds, mourning doves. Water was nice level. Scary fast boats are not common, but we did encounter one that day.

Fox River – Short Paddle from O Bridge

This area is a section of Fox River 1 in Paddling Southern Wisconsin

Flow at Berlin gauge 04073500: 1760 cfs (median 850 cfs)

Put in/take out at County Highway O bridge. There is room to park, no bathrooms. High water. Windy start. Turned into perfect day. Many paddlers.

Afterwards we went to look at Mecan River (probably not for us) and Princeton, WI launches.