Hey not to be outdone by my biking on Saturday. Sunday was such a gorgeous day as well, I could not pass up using it to my advantage. Joel and I went grocery shopping around 1:00 and then I decided to go kayaking on the river. No more lake runs for me, time to see some real action. I quickly packed up the car and had Joel drop me off at the Milwaukee river landing in Riverside Park in West Bend. Probably about 10 minutes from home.

The put in has a bunch of riffles and looks real mean but it's really not much. However that did not stop a bunch of typical Wisconsin busy-bodies to give me their opinion.
 "You guys going boating?"
 "river looks pretty scary there"
 "not sure I would do that, I think you are nuts"
Says the fat guy on his cruiser bike. The other in his group all nod in agreement. I said not a problem, it's really not a big deal. It truly wasn't. Its no more than 2 feet deep there and the low water and rocks just make it look 'rapidy'.

I get loaded up but I made one error to start with. Because the current is stronger here I should have had Joel hold the back of the boat to the 'dock', because when I launched, well,  the current had already taken my rear end into the current and I ended up going the first 100' backwards! Nice start I though to myself. Joel laughed, waved and said I love you Dad, good luck! As if he may never see me again. I can now wave to him since I am pointed the wrong way.

I get turned around and head though a few more riffles and then its pretty much flat water from here on out. 

The river is never too far from a road so the cars and noise is often heard. The river also winds behind the West Bend water treatment facility, West Bend Airport, West Bend Lakes Golf club, Quaas Creek Park (where I play softball) and Goeden Park. The weather was perfect - in the 70's the wind was pretty strong out of the north, and when I though I was hearing riffles of water it turned out to be wind in the trees, kind of disappointing.

 I did manage to see (scare) 5 blue herons up close, a wood duck, a mallard and a raccoon that was eating on the shore. The herons just watch and as you get a few feet away they just leap and soar either out of sight or just down the river a bit more. I thought I would see more but not today.

 The river is very slow and there are a ton of down trees and branches in the water. Most are very easy to avoid but some are a little harder. One spot the river looks like its stops, but I look at the map and determine that it has to go right. There it is, a tree fell and almost covered the entire river except for a spot just wide enough to get my kayak through. It's pretty amazing how little water these boats need to get through. I squeak through and continue on. The rest of the trip is pretty uneventful for the most part.

Not sure how fast I would go I set two spots for a takeout. I wanted to be off the water by 6:00PM so I could get home in time to make some dinner. The first contingency spot was Goeden Park. 8.5 miles in. It's 4:45 and I see the Goeden Park takeout. I look at the map, only 3 and a half miles to the second spot: Newburg. Not even 5:00, no sweat!

I push away from shore at Goeden and off I go to finish my epic 1st time adventure.  I come around the bend there I can see the Newburg bridge.  The damn that was here was taken out about 3 years ago so the river is taking its natural course.  I get to the boat landing, get out with help from a gentleman and his 2 kids fishing.

I made it.  2 hours and 45 minutes to go almost 12 miles.  I was tired for sure. But I could have kept going had it not been almost 6:00.  I called Joel and had him pick me up.

Can't wait to do that again.

A lot of the trip was like this.

Here is an overview of the river trail I took.

Here is a video compilation of some of my trip - cool but yeat its a bit tedious at times.  Go watch it on You Tube for a bigger HD view.