We are familiar with paddling north on the fox from Hiestand Park in Princeton but we had not paddled south. It made us wonder what the next put-in was and read about the goings on at Lock Road. Continue reading Recon: Fox River Wick’s Landing Lock & Dam
Tag: Shuttled
End to end paddle. Shuttle Required
Dodging the Tubers on the Sugar River 2019
The day was sunny, in the mid 70’s with little wind when we paddled Sugar River Station 11a to 10. We knew we would share the river with some tubers, but we underestimated their numbers. Fortunately, they were well-behaved for the most part, even though a lot of alcohol was being consumed. One set of tubers had an inflatable bull to ride. Continue reading Dodging the Tubers on the Sugar River 2019
Fox River Ice Cream Bridge to Lock Road (park)
Due to various factors, our third paddle of 2019 was in August. The water levels had been high and that was reflected in the park. It was quite a wet field with some standing water remaining.
A couple of changes at the put-in: Continue reading Fox River Ice Cream Bridge to Lock Road (park)
First Time on the Black River
Background:
We won a guided paddle trip on the Black River in the River Alliance Auction. Ken Schreiber worked for the DNR for many years and knows the Black River well and suggested that the Hall’s Creek to Black River Falls segment would Continue reading First Time on the Black River
Lemonweir to Louis Bluff on the Wisconsin River
Setting:
The third time we have won Ice House Getaway on Louis Bluff, in the River Alliance Auction. This time we were playfully trying to push the bid up and accidentally won! The Weinhold family offered a 2-day stay in their Ice House cabin on the Wisconsin River to the highest bidder to benefit the organization. With their permission, we invited several friends to paddle the Wisconsin River with us, take out at their private beach on the bluff and then have a picnic in the riverside gazebo. This land is private (not rentable) and part of a nature conservancy so it will not be developed into a tourist attraction in the future. Continue reading Lemonweir to Louis Bluff on the Wisconsin River
Introducing more friends to Turtle Creek
Our friends had never been to Turtle Creek so were happy to take us up on our offer to introduce them on a mostly-cloudy, mild mid-September Sunday. Continue reading Introducing more friends to Turtle Creek
Turtle Creek on Labor Day
It is rare to see such clear water in the rivers and streams we paddle on. Turtle Creek and The Nemahabin are a delight for that reason. A healthy stream with fish and fresh Continue reading Turtle Creek on Labor Day
Turtle Creek (first time!)
Setting: We wanted to try this creek after reading about it on milespaddled.com. We had scouted several landings a couple of weeks ahead of time and concluded that the Co Hwy C (Fairfield) put-in and the “pipeline” take-out (just off S. O’Riley Rd) would be best for us. We interrogated a group of casual paddlers as they passed under the E.Creek Rd bridge in canoes and kayaks. They seemed to be having a great time. They had put in at Continue reading Turtle Creek (first time!)
Fox River, Princeton to Lock Rd
Setting: Sunny weekday afternoon temp in the 70’s. We had never paddled the whole section, and we wanted to get out there before the expected motorboat madness of July 4 weekend.
Water level at Berlin: 1180 cfs. Median for July 2 is ~850. There is also a gage at Princeton, which does seem to pretty much follow the Berlin gage. Paddling Southern Wisconsin books suggests the Berlin gage.
Put in: 3:45 pm at the excellent concrete boat ramp in Princeton at the park at the end of Jefferson St. There is adequate parking and a porta-potty.
Shuttle: 5 mi, 15 min. East on Jefferson St, south(right) on Mechanic St, east(left) on Main St/Hwy 23/73, north (left) at the Piggly Wiggly onto Hwy 3, which is or becomes County Rd J. Continue straight north on Huckleberry Rd at the somewhat scary intersection where J turns east. After about 2.5 mi on Huckleberry Rd, Lock Rd is a left turn at the brown DNR sign for the White River/Fox River Fishery Area. The large parking lot is at the end of Lock Rd.
The Paddle: Gentle current and mostly isolated wooded surroundings. We passed the St Marie Rd put-in/take-out on the left which we had used for a no-shuttle paddle last year. We paddled a short distance into a creek (Black Creek?) which entered from the left about 3 mi from the put in . Some day, with water levels no lower, it might be fun to see how far we could paddle upstream into the creek.
Take out: 5:50 pm at the excellent concrete ramp at the old White River lock and dam site.
Wildlife: heron, swallows, many kingfishers and flycatchers.
Length: 6 miles