Wolf Video

Here's the video from the trip down Section IV...

Peshtigo and Wolf

What do you get when you mix 8 good paddlers, 3 warm and sunny days, and some great whitewater?  A ton of fun. 

That was exactly the situation May 6-8 in Northeast Wisconsin.   For those who haven’t been there, it’s a beautiful area with several fun class II-IV whitewater rivers set in white pine forest.   It’s where I spent much of my early paddling days, and going back always feels a bit like going home. 

Bill K, Brian J, Nora, Amy, Mike T, James I, and I all played hookie from work and drove out Friday morning.  Amy and I arrived at Bear Paw in the early afternoon and shortly afterwards James and Mike arrived.  Nora, Bill, and Brian had all arrived earlier and were out on the mountain bike trails in the area.  Once they returned, we all headed out to the Peshtigo. 

Peshtigo

The Peshtigo is about 40 minutes from Bear Paw and has some the most continuous whitewater in the Upper Midwest.   There’s a bit of a paddle from the put in, but then the fun is on for the next couple of miles.   It was around 700 cfs (8” on the bridge) for our trip.

The first three rapids (creatively named First, Second, and Third Drop) are packed close together and include a big side curling wave feeding a hole in the middle and several river-wide ledges that had to be punched.  Our group tried various lines through and around the features, and everyone styled it. 

On Five-Foot Falls Bill led us through a sloping river-left line with 3 consecutive holes at the bottom.  It was a fun route I hadn’t tried before and everyone made it through, though me and one other paddler got flipped in the final hole. 

The final rapid on the Pesh was Horse Race, which is a long, curving rapid with a fun and chaotic final slope to it.   I had Amy follow me down and she absolutely nailed her line.  Everybody else picked their way down, taking a couple different variations of the same line.   Great rapid, great fun, no flips. 

Wolf, Section IV

Section IV is one of my favorite runs in the Midwest.  It’s a long, its got a  lot of flatwater on it, and you have to pay to run it, but those downsides are more than made up for by the beautiful scenery and fun, unique rapids. 

There are 6 main rapids on the run and 5 or 6 more minor ones.  The entire run is within an Indian Reservation, and the Menominee  have kept the shorelines almost completely natural.  There are no houses, no docks, and almost no man-made structures at all.  Instead, it’s white pines, leafy trees that turn beautiful colors in the fall, and lots of wildlife.  The only exception is the rafts.  If you go between Memorial Day and Labor Day, it’s generally jammed with rafts.  If you go outside of those times, though, you can pretty much have the river to yourself. 

Each of the main rapids is unique from the others, and each changes significantly with different levels.   When we ran it,  the level was just under 700 cfs.  That level opened up some different lines in Upper Ducksnest and both the Upper and Lower Dells.   The line we ran through The Upper Dells involved riding the top of a barreling side-curler into a large, chaotic hole.   The left line through the Lower Dells was looking very sketchy, but the far right was good and there was an easy line down the middle from left to right.  There were also a few awesome surf  waves in the canyon. 

The biggest difference was Big Smokey Falls, which was about 4 times wider than it usually is in the fall.  Instead of a narrow slip-n-slide lead in, it was more like a normal rapid with holes, waves, and side-curlers leading toward the falls.   There was a bit of a hole at the bottom of the falls, and those that didn’t boof generally got flipped, but spit back out relatively quickly. 

On the whole, it was a great trip.  I’m already looking forward to the Fall Colors trip!

Section III

On Sunday most of us had to get back to teach at the intro night for Canoe U, so we opted for  a quick run down Section 3 of the Wolf.  The level was high enough to let us shoot right through the boulder gardens.   

Boy Scout was a fun dodge and eddy fest with about a million possible lines and good river-running fun.  Hanson’s had good surf at both the upper and lower tiers.  There was also an audience of several fisherman on the rocks on river right.

Gilmore’s had several good, lively surf spots in store for us.  It was at just the right level that you could wash off of one feature and right onto the next most of the way down the rapid.  The surfs were mostly fun, bouncy pinball fests and it was a great way to end the run. 

 

 

Water and Pics

The rains are here, and the rivers are up! Both the Kettle and the Louey are at good levels and rising. I hope somebody gets out and takes advantage! I can't paddle this weekend, so I'll have to live vicariously through those who can. Get out and enjoy the water while it lasts!

These are some pics from the Wolf and Lower St. Louis that I got from Pike. I just thought they were cool, so I figured I'd put them up. Enjoy.

Fall Colors

A cold night, a beautiful day, and some great rapids made for a fun trip to the Wolf. Bryan K, Sara, Pike, Dennis, and I headed to the newly-rebuilt Bear Paw on Friday night and ran Section IV on Saturday.

Friday night was quite chilly, with lows in the mid-twenties. We stoked up a nice campfire, put on some extra layers, and Dennis and I bored the others with paddling stories for a while. The night was crystal clear and the stars were out in full view. Despite the temps, we had a great time. Bryan and Sara (and their puppy) got to test their new tent in style. It must have performed well because no one had hypothermia come Saturday morning.

We started fairly early Saturday, meeting at Big Smokey at 9 to get our bracelets and shuttle. Speaking of bracelets, the price has gone up from years past - $30 fee + $5 deposit on the bracelet. The temp was still just above freezing, but the sun was out and warmed you up whenever it hit you.

Our shuttle driver was kind enough to drop us off at Sullivan's falls so we could avoid the 1.5 miles of flatwater from the normal put-in. Everyone ran Sullivan's, and everyone did great. For Pike, Sarah, and Bryan, it was their first real waterfall! After everyone did it once, we talked about how to Boof, then everyone ran it again to try the new move.

The Ducksnest rapids went by quickly enough and we surfed a bit at Dave's Wave before stopping to eat and bask in the sun at lunch rock. Perfectly clear blue skies helped the temp warm up nicely.

Everyone flew through the Upper Dells, and Bryan nailed a solid combat roll between the two holes at the bottom. The lower dells were more interesting and the group split with half taking the rock-tongue in the middle, and half taking the double drop channel on river right. The hole at the bottom of the tongue caused a couple flips (including an unintentional cartwheel), but everyone did great and there were no swims.

Big Smokey was where we noticed the shallow water the most. There were virtually no eddies in the entire slide leading up to the falls, and at one point the water was only about a boat-and-a-half wide. It was a bit hairy at that point because that tiny amount of water pushed right into one of the protruding rocks and it looked very much like you were going to smack into it. The tiny reaction pillow saves the day, however, and all faces remained intact.

The level was about 190. The rapids were all very passable, with Big Smokey being the most affected by far. There was little play, but it was a fun level for river running.

On a fun note, Pike bought a boat! Bear Paw had everything on sale (most is 20% off if anybody's interested), and they were getting rid of their demo boats. Pike wanted to pick up a creeker, and after trying on a couple different boats picked a red Jackson Hero. It should be a good fit between his Piedra and his EZ. They've also got a like-new Burn demo on sale for $700 if anyone's shopping for one...

Speaking of Bear Paw, I was floored by the path the tornado left. I knew it was serious (it was an F4), but I've never seen anything like that. There's a perfect path 100 yards wide (guessing on the distance) like someone cleared a highway through the woods. There's no transition area or buffer, just a perfectly clear-cut path that looks like loggers came through. Sadly, the path perfectly and completely enveloped the old Bear Paw. Happily, the parts that they've finished rebuilding are great, and there's tons of free firewood. Plus, it's the same super friendly and helpful people running the place. Good to see them rebounding so well.

Wolf Part I

Nate G, Natalie G (no relation), Mike J, Kari, Dennis, T-bone, and myself took a spin up to Section IV of the wolf to check out the fall colors and see what the river looked like at low water. We paddled Section IV on Saturday, then camped at Bear Paw, then Nate, Natlie, Mike, and I did Section III on Sunday, while Kari and Tony headed up to Piers Gorge. Despite the low water, the drops were alot of fun and somehow the sun managed to peek out just as we were getting on the river. Gots some decent pictures, but didn't bring along the good camera like I had wanted to. Be sure to look for Natalie entering the first hole in the Dells shot (2nd pic in this post). I had to post the pics for this trip in 2 posts because Blogger seems to have trouble displaying more than 5 shots at a time. Be sure to check the Wolf Part II post for the rest of the pics!

Wolf Part II

Ok, Here's the rest of the pics. Anybody who was on the trip and wants me to send them a CD with all of the pics can e-mail me. Otherwise, I'll keep copies for when I see you guys next.

Perfect Wisconsin Trip

Yup, it was pretty darn near perfect. Jake and Dennis twisted my arm until I agreed to come along. We had 90 degree sunny days and high water on both Section IV of the Wolf and the Peshtigo. As a highlight, Jake hit a roll off the top of a 4 foot high boulder that essentially turned into an airscrew. Definitely cool to watch. Great weather, great water, and great company. Tough to beat that.