Fall 2010: Two Weeks Out: Flambeau Selected!

We made the final selection of river: Flambeau, from Deadman’s Slough to Camp 41

Big Bear Lodge will be providing the shuttle at a total cost of $65. Everyone please bring $12 (+tip) in cash to pay the livery.

The Twin Cities group will meet on Friday, October 8 around 9:30 AM at Christian's for a 10:00 AM departure. According to various mapping resources, the trip will take a little more than 3 hours.


View St. Paul to Big Bear Lodge in a larger map

We'll meet up with Craig at 1:30 PM at Big Bear Lodge. They will follow us to Camp 41, load our gear and us and bring us to Deadman’s Slough.


View St. Paul to Big Bear Lodge in a larger map

The green dot is our starting point at Deadman's Slough and the red dot is our end point at Camp 41. Maps can be found at here: Flambeau River State Forest.

We should be on the water by 4:00 at the latest which gives us plenty of time for a leisurely 4-5 mile paddle to our first camp.

Fall 2010 Trip: Four Weeks Out

We are four weeks out. I just checked water levels for the upper St. Croix, they are just below OK whereas the levels for the Flambeau they are great as of yesterday, Sep 8. It looks like we are closing in on the Flambeau!

As we move closer, please consider the following:

1. Meals: People self-selected for one of the slots, sorry Ben, you were late for Saturday morning.

• Lunches, from your personal stash. I like to bring whole weat bread, cheese and sausage. Everyone as they like it.
• Friday dinner: Christian will do his traditional first night steak dinner, i.e. BLT with steak instead of B. 
• Saturday breakfast: Craig
• Saturday dinner: David
• Sunday breakfast: Joel

Paul and Ben will be assistant cooks. Dish duty is shared by those who are not involved in preparing the meal.

     2. Gear:

• Canoes: Craig has one and I have one. Ben, David or Paul, do you have or can you organize a third canoe? If not, I'd suggest renting at the U of MN Rec Dept , they charge $35 for the initial three days. Best rate anywhere. One problem: they open at noon, we need to pick up on Thursday if we want to get an early start on Friday. As I mentioned before, I can easily haul two canoes. 
• Canoe packs: I have enough for 2-3 people. I also find that cheap storage boxes from Target work quite well for a tame river trip. They are quite water proof in the event of rain. 
• Tents: we've got 5+1 for sleeping, i.e. Craig insist on sleeping in splendid isolation because of his loud breathing. Seems we need two more tents. I have a snug three person and Joel has one, too. Ben, David or Paul, if you are insisting on your own, please let us know. Oh, and I am planning to bring my dog Mellie along. She's like the cat in Catch22, sleeps on your face and bites your nose off when you wake up from a suffocating nightmare (in fact she is a lamb and suffers the cold nights shivering silently except for her shattering teeth. Ask Joel).
• Sleeping bags and pads. I assume everyone has this. If not, pipe up, I am sure we can come up with the necssary.
• Kitchen: I think we've got it covered: Joel for the tripod grill, Christian two-burner Coleman stove and French press and Craig the dutch oven (yummm). Add to this list for any items you need to prepare your meals or you cannot do without
• Living area: plan to bring your favorite camp chair. I'll bring a tarp, in case it rains (or snows).

2010 Fall Trip Planning: Flambeau Option

Nine Mile Creek to County W Landing, about 22 miles of paddling.

Trip from St. Paul to Riverside Landing: about 2:30 hrs.

Shuttle options:

Flambeau Sports: (Dave) has rentals and shuttles in Lugarville.
Nine-Mile Tavern Canoe Rental: right near start point of trip.

Maps:

State Forest Map
General Area Tourist Info site "Paddle the Flambeau river"

Narrative:

The North Fork of the Flambeau is tame ... a few ripples. Water levels can be an issue. We'll be looking at a stretch of around 20 miles

Nine-Mile Creek or Dead Man's Slough (gulp) which is west of Fifield on hwy 70 to "Camp 41" take-out.

Lotsa wildlife ... and then there's the animals. I paddled this scenic stretch a number of times a few years ago (including once with Joel, Pablo and Christian). Order a map from Flambeau River State Forest, W1613 Co. W, Winter, WI 54896 or call at 715-332-5271 today or print it out from the State Forest web site, above.

There's a good mix of challenging whitewater and peaceful stretches below W. In this section of river, you are in the heart of the Flambeau River State Forest. There are two campgrounds, Lake of the Pines and Connors Lake, located a short drive east of the river off of Highway W. Launch at the Highway W bridge. About 5 miles into the trip, you will encounter Porcupine Rapids. The Porcupine Rapids are difficult, and there are 3 main drops in this set of rapids. Proceed through this section of river carefully - there’s a good deal of current at this point.

I (Craig) took multiple trips thru this section (Porcupine Rapids) with a bunch of inexperienced 12 year olds and no one had great difficulty. We would take-out a mile or so downstream of these rapids at Camp 41.

2010 Fall Trip Planning: St. Croix Option

Information on St. Croix option:

Gordon Dam to Riverside Landing, about 23 miles of paddling.
One portage, around Copper Dam

Trip from St. Paul to Riverside Landing: about 2 hrs.

Shuttle options:
Wild River Outfitters: $225 ($144+$35 per extra canoe+tax, seems high but 225/6=$37.50 per person, not too bad.)
Jack's Canoe Rental: $131, or $22 per person. Jacck's gave us a shuttle last year, from Namekagon Trail Landing to County K for a very reasonable $78. Looks like we would hire them again!

Map:
NPS Brochure Gordon Dam to Riverside Landing Map:
black and white map but has a lot of info! Landings, mileage markers, rapids, camping, ...

Narrative:
A very good write-up with play-by-play descriptions can be found at Great Outdoor Recreation Pages (GORP.com), Cruising the St. Croix.

Issues:
Water levels can be iffy, but right now it is in very good shape.
First camp site is only 1.5 mile down, the next is about 8 miles. I'd prefer to go to second. Depending on wind, weather, water levels and start time that should be feasible.

Wisconsin Almost Drought-Free

I occasionally check a drought monitor website, U.S. Drought Monitor - Midwest. This is the first time since I started checking this site that NW Wisconsin is NOT under some moderate to severe drought condition. It looks like the drought has moved into the Arrowhead of Minnesota. I'd say that this bodes well for either trip option for this fall!

2010 Fall Canoe Trip Planning

The canoe outing will be Oct 8, 9 and 10 for a stretch similar in length and difficulty to our previous trips, i.e. some easy C1 and few if any portages. So far, we have confirmed five intrepid paddlers:

Joel Alter
David Hest
Ben Lexau
Craig Shanks
Christian Franken

That leaves one possible spot for a sixth person.

River options:

1. Upper St. Croix River, from Gordon Dam to Riverside Landing, N of Danbury, WI., the northernmost part of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.


View Larger Map

Pros: 155 miles to put-in. We are familiar with the general area. On our list for several years. As a National Scenic River Way, the St.Croix/Namekagon system is maintained by the National Park Service. Campsites are well-maintained and comfortable and the NPS website is an excellent source of information
Cons: iffy water conditions, meaning possibly too little water. That's why it has been on our list for so long. The NPS maintains information on the water levels. Real-time data is available from NOAA, like for the Danbury gauge.

2. North Fork of the Flambeau River, near Ladysmith, WI.

View Larger Map
Pros: steady water. This is the river level gauge at Bruce, which is quite a bit further downstream from where North and South Forks merge.
Cons: about 176 miles drive, I initially thought it was farther than just 20 additional miles. Craig, take a look at the map to make sure I have more or less the correct put-in. This doesn't seem that bad when compared to the drive to the St. Croix.

The thought is to shoot for the St. Croix and us the Flambeau as a back-up if water is too low. Christian will research the Upper St. Croix and Craig will collect information on the Flambeau.

I'd be driving the family van having everyone except Craig, who hails from Washburn, WI. Thus we'd have enough entertainment because of the associated banter. We can (and will) carry two canoes.

As we get closer, we'll make lists on who brings what. 

Cannon River Paddle

Well, admittedly not a wilderness adventure, but nevertheless a good way to spend a sunny afternoon out of doors. Lynn had suggested to head for Taylor's Falls and paddle from there to the Osceola Bridge. I called Taylors Falls Canoe and checked on availability. No problem, canoes are available, come on up I was told. However, the price was rather dear, compared to what I recalled: $45. I went for my morning jog and noticed that a hot wind was blowing from the south, not too strong but enough to not be too excited about the 3-4 hour paddle due south and without much shade. I mentioned this to Lynn after my return and she wondered what about the Cannon. Indeed, from past experience I had found the Cannon River much more intimate when compared to the rather broad St. Croix. So I placed a call with Cannon Falls Canoe and Bike Rental. Kayaks (for James and his friend Joe) were all spoken for but they were able to hold a couple of canoes for us. At $30 per, the rental was a much better deal, too.

Lynn made some sandwiches and I prepared a waterproof pack for camera and other sensitive stuff. We left home at 11:45 and reached Cannon Falls at 12:45. The place was bustling with one party renting some bikes and another picking up several kayaks and a canoe. A young man, son of the owner quickly located our reservations, and after signing the necessary disclaimers we were ready to shove off. We had been warned of the strong current right outside the rental place and some nasty sharp rocks a little ways down. The first several 100 m had some nice C1, but nothing unmanageable. And I saw the rocks that we had been warned about, indeed not something I'd like to become acquainted with.

Joe and James managed very nicely, too. I am think that the two of them would be a good team for a future river trip. Both know how to canoe and they do get along just marvelous. If I can just bear the noise those two make.

We passed the big group that went in ahead of us rather quickly and saw quite a few parties resting on sand banks. One old timer, not a canoeist, was just hauling in a half-meter catfish. He said it was his third of the day. When Lynn asked him whether he would eat it, he said he'd release it, just like the other ones. I was disappointed that I did not bring my fly rod, the smallmouth bass were breaking the surface all over the place, often jumping clear of the water. We saw many turtles, some were painted or map turtles, and one humongous snapping turtle, at least 40 cm long. There were also black damselflies (ebony jewelwings, Calopteryx maculata), always pretty to see. While looking up information on the damselfly I learned that there are as many dragon and damselfly species in Minnesota as there are butterflies. Amazing!
We broke for lunch at one of the few sandbanks, the same we had used to rest when I and Scott, another dad, took a bunch Colin's eight-grade classmates on the same trip. Before snacking on Lynn's sandwiches and water melon we took a nice dip in the river. James found a very health-looking river mussel.

Farther downstream we had to make the obligatory stop at the rope swing, which was quite busy on this hot day. From there, I forgot how short the way is to the take-out at Trout Brook. All in all a very nice afternoon on the Cannon River