What happens when you impulsively buy canoes

An Arkansas canoeing friend relayed this set of pictures showing the outcome of his purchasing four canoes from Wenonah, in Winona, and then road tripping the four boats all the way to Arkansas on a Subaru Forrester. One trip.

Winona trip

A Field Day at Gordon Creek

As part of an ongoing documentary film project, we spent a gorgeous fall day out on Gordon Creek this week. With blue skies and some quiet, I could not ask for a better day to be out on a creek. Having a third grader at home who loves bugs and worms and other cool things, the pleasures of small things close to the ground are front of mind for me. With both still and video, I almost always am lucky enough to find something small and up close that I used to just pass by. Today was

The Farmer's Almanac says something about fuzzy caterpillars and the oncoming winter

no exception. Thanks to my third grader's gift of perspective I saw this little black and orange fuzzy caterpillar on a road trip. Not sure where it was going but it was putting the energizer bunny to shame.


My fuzzy 100 leg friend was just the start of a great afternoon. We were out on Gordon Creek to walk it with Kathleen Falk, the Dane County Executive, and an enthusiastic caster of flies. Jim Gentry and Mike Schmidt from the Southern Wisconsin chapter of Trout Unlimited were along for the walk as well. Today was a big day for Dane Country as they were announcing another land purchase along Gordon Creek. It was a big day for SWTU and Quietwater as it was a chance to get some time with a major player in the stream restoration activities in western Dane county. I continue to be impressed with the effort that goes on behind the scenes in stream restoration. It looks to me like about 95% of the effort happens between people and across tables, sometimes even coffee is involved.

Two critical pieces of stream restoration - people who care about the land and the machine that does the last 5% of the work.

Jim Gentry and Mike Schmidt, from SWTU, have spent countless hours writing grant proposals, learning their way through the vast spaces of restoration infrastructure, meeting landowners, and working with numerous levels of government. Finally they swing a hammer and get to build a few lunker structures, although not as many as one might think. The end result is a stream left in better shape than it was when they started.

Back on the Water

I met Andy this spring and discovered he was an avid kayaker without a kayak. He did have a wheelchair though and limited use of his body from the collarbones up. Enough to get him back on the water and paddling again.

Andy Janicki talking with Kevin and Karen Carr, owners of Chosen Valley Canoe Accessories

Johnson Outdoors, who just happens to have their headquarters in the great town of Racine, WI., donated a kayak to Andy's employer, the Wisconsin DNR, to further Andy's efforts in promoting adaptive paddling. The paddling community, across the country, came together and raised enough money to purchase adaptive paddling gear. With that, we were off.

I met Andy at Devil's Lake State Park one day in mid-July, got the boat set up and him in it. Then - he was off and free again, paddling on his own for the first time in almost four years.

Dana Johnson's efforts getting the word out within the paddling community were instrumental in this effort being a success.

Andy Janicki, back on the water thanks to Johnson Outdoors and the paddling community

Next time you are in Brookfield, WI., be sure and stop in at the REI there and ask for Dana. She's great. Johnson Outdoors is one of the few publicly held companies in the paddlesports world. It's a pretty big place with alot going on. Cynthia Georgeson works there and was instrumental in making this happen. She took the time to listen and care and make something good happen for the small world of adaptive paddling. People like her will help this effort grow and reach out to more people.

Doing the Right Thing for Gordon Creek

Or maybe it should be "Trout Economics"? At any rate, regardless of what the working title is, we are creating a short film for the Southern Wisconsin chapter of Trout Unlimited about the restoration efforts they, and many other parties, are making in the Gordon Creek watershed.

A stretch of Gordon Creek, looking north, restoration partially complete.

For me, this is an unexpectedly complex but interesting view into the "what why and how" of a watershed restoration project. On first view, I thought this would be about placing some structures back in the stream and the people doing the work. It is some of that. But there is so much behind the scenes, it makes the actual in-stream work seem like that 10% of the iceberg you can see, while the hidden 90% lurks under the surface.

The final step for stream restoration. A large machine made delicate in the hands of a skilled operator

That hidden 90% of stream restoration is all about land ownership, access rights, township-county-state-federal-citizen-nonprofit cooperation and interaction, the issue of invasive plant species, and of course what needs to be done to improve trout habitat. The more I see and learn, the more fascinating the whole behind the scenes effort becomes.

At its heart, restoration work is about land and water stewardship. Ultimately doing the right thing. Getting the work done is also a marvel of cooperation between many parties and many people.

The trout like it too!

Another Great Labor Day at Lake Wazeecha

The Labor Day weekend was great this year. Again. And again we went to Lake Wazeecha up in central Wisconsin. The kids are a year older than last time,

In the middle of a wonderful
three days at Wazeecha

which made a difference. They're all strong swimmers now and they're all strong bike riders. So even though my wife and I still keep them on a short leash, they are also now self entertaining and able to mostly think for themselves. Which meant there was time for other stuff besides kids. We brought up lots of boats and bikes and used them all. Usually, half the stuff we bring we could have done without as it went unused.

Having a trailer makes (un)loading much easier

I found a fly rod in my hand which was nice. Caught nothing - but I find the motion and the concentration you need to cast a fly line to be nearly hypnotic.

Perfect evening except for lack of fish. Boats probably not helping matters.

So the lack of fish was the cost of the simple pleasure. Besides with all the boat traffic and warmth, I'm betting the fish were deep and I was fishing a grasshopper imitation near surface.

Our little shoebox dog, Banjo,

Our little shoebox warrior keeping the world safe.

enjoyed herself this time around. She usually does. She has new dirt to roll in and new smells to entice her.

Gas prices have gone down a bit, so maybe the new found meaning of a staycation has lost some of its resonance. Nevertheless, with pleasant places like Lake Wazeecha less than two hours from our door, we are all happy to stay close to home and find beaucoup enjoyment doing little things in local places. Go find one of those spots near you and start enjoying your own pleasant place!

pleasant places in northern Illinois

Most of my favorite pleasant places revolve around water. We took a trip a few days ago however, that once again opened my eyes to how many fun little places there are virtually right under your nose. All you have to do is look instead of glossing over the close spots on the map and searching for the far away.

My wife wanted to go somewhere for a day. She looked at those close by spots and found Apple River Canyon State Park,

At the base of an impressive cliff on the bank of the Apple River

just across the border in Illinois, about 1:45 from our house here in southern WI. Off we went. The plan was to hike and goof around at the park and then go into Galena, a nearby little tourist town, for dinner. This little state park has all sorts of neat little day trip type places and a variety of hiking trails. The Canyon was impressively deep and narrow. The bluffs were definitely of the vertical cliff-type variety. The river was small, but it was midsummer, well beyond any runoff, so I would expect it to be at low-flow. Fun to wade and catch minnows. Or try to anyway. We watched one of the three other people there actually catch a little trout, so I'm pretty sure there are even fish in the river.

A set of very impressive gates on the Galena levee

Like Leavenworth, Washington, Galena, Illinois is another worn out and used up resource town. In this case the resource is lead. This part of Illinois and Wisconsin has all sorts of metals rich geology. I believe the mines in this area were a significant supplier of the lead that Union soldiers used in the Civil War. Happily, after that sad part of our history, someone had the drive to remake the town and dress it up into a little destination place for tourists. They largely succeeded. As far as I can tell tourism and shopping are the main products of Galena. It's a cute little town. The Galena River, which flows right next to the town border was tiny when we saw it. Appearances must be deceptive though, as the town had a giant levee surrounding it and a set of flood gates the size of which I had never seen before. When the river floods I guess it really must get big.

The biggest surprise of all was waiting for us south of Galena. We had some time to kill so we wandered out of town and spied a small sign pointing the way to something called Chestnut Mountain.

Three state view from a surprisingly good vantage point

A few miles outside of Galena all of a sudden the road went straight up, wound around a few corners, and topped out on the bluffs along the Mississippi. In the parking lot of a surprisingly large ski resort. Chestnut Mountain. I was shocked at the vertical this place has. The summer time view was gorgeous. You can see three states from the top of the chairlift. The lifts were running, so they let us ride them down and back up. Our kids had never done this before so it was a real treat for them. The view over the Big River was beautiful. They have an alpine slide which they open up during the summer.

Big fun on the alpine slide

Looked like big fun. Sadly it was closed because of a recent rain, from which the concrete sliding tubes were still wet. But it looked FUN. I also saw a rack full of mountain bikes available for rent. I thought this place looked like a great weekend getaway during the summer. Big fun. Nice sights, a workout or two if you want, and a great view from a summertime chairlift ride. Wish I had known about this place sooner.

Next time you want a day trip, go to that spot on the map 65 miles away that you have been ignoring forever. It might just surprise you. It sure did for me.

Nine summer days in Florida

Florida. Humidity. Cocoa Beach. The south in the summer. All things I never fancied myself contemplating much less doing. Yet July 16th found me, my wife, and our three daughters on the way to Florida

Beautiful Atlantic Ocean beach sand right outside our door

for nine days of fun in the sweat, humidity, bugs and heat. To cut to the chase. I kind of liked it. For me, the Wisconsin heat and humidity was worse than the fabled but easily tolerated Florida heat and humidity. At least I thought it was during the time we were there. Cocoa Beach benefits from the giant heat sink that is the Atlantic Ocean. Disney, forty miles inland and with less benefit from the ocean, had daily thunderstorms that we did not see on the coast and it was hotter and more humid inland than on the coast. The bugs weren't so bad in either location, to my surprise, although I did see roaches and even managed to take a shower with a nasty one. But I digress......


We spent four days at Disneyland (or is it world ??), staying at the Grand Floridian, courtesy of a trip my wife won. It was inside on Disney property, with boats and trains going directly to and from the hotel to the park. Everything at the hotel was picture perfect. Too perfect, but it all fit together in a fantasy story kind of way. Besides that, our kids loved every single square centimeter of it from the late night excursions to the giant outdoor pool to the 24/7 café, to the big lobby of the main hotel building.

Looking west at the Grand Floridian hotel from the dock at Disney world

The room we had was very plush and fancy but way too small for a family, although I'll bet the thinking is that you spend most of the time at Disney and not so much time in the room, which I would have to agree with. The hotel was nice but nothing special, while Disney was the perfect kid fantasy place. This was followed by five days in a condo on Cocoa Beach. Very cool. Having avoided the South, and Florida in particular, for my entire adult life, I found it to be tolerable. While there are MANY MANY better places in the western part of our fine country, Cocoa Beach, Florida was OK. Kids and wife enjoyed it immensely though and it was all quite family friendly.

Surf level shot of Cocoa Beach

We all thought the beach was beautiful. I was expecting to see a garbage-strewn, run down narrow strip of nasty sand. Instead there were sea oats and some sort of creeping dune rose (my words), a wide strip of beach, life guards, and a distinct wild sort of feel. I was shocked, given the proximity to the road and the crush of hotels and condos in plain sight as far as the eye could see. Much much better than what I thought it would be.