June 27-28, 2014, Wildcat Mountain State Park, Ontario, WI

I’ve been wanting to paddle the Kickapoo River, so we decided to join MadCity Paddlers on their Saturday morning paddle of the Kickapoo from Ontario to Wildcat Mountain State Park. We arrived Friday around 7 and set up our tent at group campsite A (or “1” as it seems they have two systems for naming the group sites). I was glad that they reserved this site as it was the only heavily wooded of the three group sites. There were about 15 people from the club there, and for the most part they were very friendly, especially the trip leader Betty Thomas. Betty also has a three year old granddaughter who loved to play with Amber, so it made for a nice distraction.

We had a short stay at the campground, getting up around 7 am (OK, Lorraine probably got up hours before that) for an 8-ish departure to the put in. We decided to break camp after the paddle since Amber and I aren’t the best morning people. We were worried about storms being predicted for Friday night, but everything was dry. The club planned to paddle Saturday and Sunday, but we needed to spend some time at home as we’ve been busy too many weekends in a row to spend all this weekend camping and paddling. It took quite a while for everyone to unload and ready their boats, then we still had to run shuttles. I ended up leaving my car at the put-in after given a couple people a ride to the state park takeout. We finally got on the water around 9:30.

The Kickapoo was a nice paddle and lived up to its billing as the crookedest river, but we didn’t really see any wildlife other than the beer-drinking crowds in rental canoes. We were the only people from the club in a canoe, although there was one paddle board. The river was mostly clear but there were plenty of obstacles to navigate. There was one downed tree with about three feet of opening, and luckily someone was standing there helping guide people’s boats. The current was moving along at a decent pace but nothing dangerous. It was fine to stand in without getting pushed around, and I did have to get out a couple times to dislodge us from the rocky and sandy bottom. Even though the water was higher than normal, I wouldn’t want to paddle it at a much lower level. For the day we paddled, the gauge at Ontario reports just below 90 cu ft/sec (about 20 cu ft/sec above average) and 8.5 ft, and the gauge at LaFarge reports just below 300 cu ft/sec and about 3.4 ft. I heard that anything above 5 ft at LaFarge was not recommended, so we were at a good level.

The topography is interesting along the Kickapoo and throughout the Kickapoo Valley Reserve with small mountains and numerous bluffs. We paddle through numerous bluffs, and they make some nice shade a good photo opportunities. I think Amber was a bit worried to paddle close them as she was worried about falling rocks. I was also glad to not be on a lake as the wind was fairly strong and steady. I think we will do the Kickapoo again and definitely are interested in more rivers. Lorraine was even looking at kayaks online and in the catalog. Maybe she’s getting bit by the paddling bug too!