Paddling the Wisconsin River

This past weekend Julie and I paddled the Wisconsin River from Spring Green to Muscoda. It was a wonderful, mellow weekend.

We got a late start on Saturday and didn't get to Spring Green until 2pm! I did the shuttle which meant driving our car to Muscoda and biking back to Spring Green. It was 22 miles and I was reminded that I'm out of biking shape! Next time I'm limiting the bike shuttle to 13-14 miles, otherwise we take two cars! I was so tired before we even got on the water. We finally got on at about 5:30pm. Our friends Jerry, Greta, and Lan Lan were in Spring Green for the weekend and had come to the boat launch/beach to swim. It was fun to run into them and they offered to take my bike back to Madison for me so I didn't have to leave it locked up at the boat launch. That was super nice of them.

Somehow we managed to paddle to the Lone Rock bridge by 7pm. 8 miles in 1.5 hours. That seemed fast even with the current, but it was a nice surprise to see the bridge. We camped a bit beyond it just as the sun was setting. Below is a photo of Julie paddling up to our campsite. Once in camp, Julie made some delicious chicken quesadillas for dinner and fueled us up for the next day.

sunset on Saturday night

We woke up to rain falling on Sunday morning and we waited for a lull around 8:30am to get up. Our timing was perfect. We were on the water at about 9:45am right when it started raining again. Paddling in the rain is much better than trying to pack up in the rain. With a paddling jacket and a brimmed hat you can barely tell it's raining on the water. Kayaking is a water sport after all, which means you're gonna get wet anyway!

We took a loungy break on a sandbar over the lunch hour and decided we much prefer outdoor vacations to city vacations. We were in Chicago a couple weeks ago and while that is fun, it's not rejuvinating like being outside is.

After lunch Julie learned to tow. Really it was just my excuse to get towed. hee-hee.

Julie practicing towing me

We finally mossied into Muscoda by 3pm. A great weekend!! Over the weekend we saw several bald eagles including one feeding it's babies in the nest. We also saw Sandhill Cranes, Great Blue Herons, turtles, a few minnows, and people tubing, canoes overflowing with garbage bags of gear, but mostly people just out having fun like us. On Wisconsin!