By Mary Bergin
If you love the outdoors, quenching a thirst has little to do with what you drink in the traditional sense. Within Wisconsin are thousands of miles of meandering waterways, from sleepy creeks to robust rapids. They define and fortify the natural world as we know it and beg exploration from the silent stern of a canoe.
To canoe a river is to connect with all the creatures whose lives depend upon it. At the same time, you’ll gain excellent exercise while calming the psyche and perhaps testing your resilience and reflexes.
Drawing conclusions about the length of a canoeing season or personality of a river can be dicey. Water conditions are a product of rainfall, water levels and geological shifts from one stream segment to the next. Notes veteran canoeist Jamee Peters of White Lake, “A friend and I expected a gentle-rapids ride along the Chippewa and instead found high and swift water, so the level really affects the type of experience you will have.” She advises the novice to take a canoeing class from a professional, to better prepare for the unexpected. Before running a river, find out the area’s quirks and limitations.
Urban and wilderness adventures await exploration by canoe in both family-friendly and white-knuckle surroundings. Consider this range of possibilities.
Bois Brule
Superb trout fishing lured five presidents (Grant, Cleveland, Coolidge, Hoover and Eisenhower) to this little-developed, 44-mile, spring-fed waterway near Superior. “It’s a gorgeous place with something for everybody,” says Harry Carnes of Madison, who first canoed the river more than 40 years ago.
This river offers both easy paddling and whitewater challenges. Expect a flat and calm, four-hour Bois Brule trip from Stones Bridge landing to Winneboujou landing, but there conditions grow harsher. “The river goes faster and faster, twisting as you head downstream,” Carnes says. “Soon you’re in almost all Class II rapids. You have to want to get wet to be there.”
The river runs south to north and drops 328 feet in the last 19 miles. “The challenge builds as the river elevation falls,” notes Dave Schulz, Brule River State Forest superintendent. Most challenging are the Class II and III rapids between Pine Tree landing and Highway 13, a five-hour excursion.
Equipment/shuttles: Brule River Canoe Rental (brulerivercanoerental.com) offers trips that range from 1.5 hours on the river to guided sea cave tours on Lake Superior.
River highlight: Look for historic boathouses and resorts that retain their early 1900s Northwoods design; today they are privately owned retreats for the well-heeled.
Nearby: Superior is just 30 miles away.
Chippewa
John Myhre describes the Chippewa River as a “nice, easy river with low-class rapids,” a good fit for beginners or those interested in a more leisurely trip. Myhre’s Wisconsin Northland Outdoors in Hayward shuttles canoeists to the Forest Road 174 landing, where they embark on an eight-mile stretch of river that features a mix of terrain – boulders, forest and lowlands – plus the occasional elk and wild rice fields. The trip back to Moose Lake takes about three hours – more, if you fish, says Myhre. Get dropped off at Clam Lake for an 18-mile trip back. “You’ll be near the headwaters, and there’s not much canoeable above that,” Myhre says. Same goes for the river right below Moose Lake: “It’s good fishing for musky and smallmouth bass, but you can break a canoe down there.”
The 190-mile Chippewa also twists into Eau Claire en route to the Mississippi River, and the lowest 55 miles require gentle to moderate canoeing. Portages are likely, and the terrain varies between urban and semi-wilderness.
Equipment/shuttles: Wisconsin Northland Outdoors (wiscnorthlandoutdoors.com) also provides fishing guides.
River highlight: Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (upper river), Tiffany State Wildlife Area (lower river).
Nearby: Louie’s Landing, Sportsmen’s Lodge and Mystic Moose Resort – all on Moose Lake (upper river). Old Courthouse Museum, Durand (lower river).
Kickapoo
“It’s like two different rivers,” says John Motoviloff, a longtime outdoor writer, who calls the Kickapoo his “home river” because he has owned a cabin near it since 1993. Expect rocky bottoms and outcroppings on the upper river, which is better stocked with canoe liveries than the “wilder and woolier” lower Kickapoo, which Motoviloff says “seems more like a Southern river with more sloughs and marsh as it gets closer to the Wisconsin River.”
“Kickapoo” comes from the Algonquin word meaning “one who goes here, then there,” a fitting name for a river that flows in all four cardinal directions at some point on its journey to the Wisconsin. Draw a straight line between start and end points and the 130-mile river shrinks to only 60 miles. Despite its twists and turns, it’s a good river for families, Motoviloff says. “No rapids whatsoever,” but look out for log jams while afloat through the state’s idyllic Driftless Area.
Equipment/shuttles: Several choices in Ontario, Readstown, Prairie du Chien and at Wyalusing State Park (wyalusing.org).
River highlight: Sandstone outcroppings dwarf canoeists in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.
Nearby: Wildcat Mountain State Park with its panoramic valley view.
Milwaukee
The 25-mile Milwaukee Urban Water Trail begins in Mequon and heads into the core of Milwaukee, where tourists can inspect Wisconsin’s biggest city in a whole new way.
“The river connects people to all the great resources we have downtown,” says Cheryl Nenn of Milwaukee Riverkeepers, which promotes and protects the area’s river watersheds. Dozens of public canoe launches dot the Milwaukee River and its urban tributaries (the Kinnickinnic and Menomonee rivers). Find a map of the water trail, including launches, at mkeriverkeeper.org.
“We used to have our backs to the river” because of pollution, Nenn observes. Conditions improved after the North Avenue Dam was removed in 1997, and more people are enjoying the river these days. “You’ll see locals kayaking the rivers over the lunch hour – sometimes year-round,” Nenn says.
There are no shuttle services along the Milwaukee River, but paddlers can easily backtrack to their starting point. A logical beginning is Lincoln Park (off Interstate 43, between Silver Spring Drive and Hampton Avenue), for a three- or four-hour float into downtown. Paddlers can easily backtrack to their starting point.
Equipment: Rent from the downtown Laacke and Joys (laackeandjoys.com) and begin paddling right from the store’s dock.
River highlight: Diverse urban architecture and surroundings.
Nearby: Numerous urban amenities – from brewpubs to theaters.
Wolf
This National Wild and Scenic River is among the most rugged in the Midwest, flowing through the Menominee Reservation and shadowing Highway 55. Water conditions along the river’s 24 miles range from calm to turbulent Class IV rapids.
Jamee Peters, co-owner of Bear Paw Outdoor Adventure Resort, has taught canoeing and kayaking on the Wolf since 1978 and acknowledges that many canoeists might be put off by the word “whitewater.” That’s why she starts her students out in quiet water on a flat lake; they move into river currents as their comfort levels increase. “When students learn how to read river currents, they develop a sense of mastery over the environment, a sense of awe and a sense of respect,” she says.
Equipment/shuttles: Bear Paw Outdoor Adventures (bearpawoutdoors.com) also arranges guided canoe trips.
River highlight: Big Smokey, Big Eddy and Keshena waterfalls.
Nearby: Fine dining in White Lake at Jesse’s Woodshed Pub and Eatery, serving everything from steaks to pizza.
Mary Bergin of Madison has bumped along the Kickapoo River but isn’t brave enough (yet) to tackle anything more harrowing.