55 Pine River A
Other Menasha Ridge Press Paddling Guides
The Alaska River Guide
Canoeing & Kayaking Florida
Canoeing & Kayaking Georgia
A Canoeing & Kayaking Guide to Kentucky
A Canoeing & Kayaking Guide to the Ozarks
Canoeing & Kayaking New York
Canoeing & Kayaking West Virginia
Carolina Whitewater
Paddling the Everglades Wilderness Waterway
Paddling Long Island and New York City
Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
—Kenneth Grahame
When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known.
—Sigurd Olson
Fish
fowl
flood
Water lily mud
My life
in the leaves and on water
. . .
born
in swale and swamp and sworn
to water
—Lorine Niedecker, “Paean to Place”
As long as there’s open water, it’s never too early (or late) to paddle in Wisconsin.
Canoeing & Kayaking South Central Wisconsin: 60 Paddling Adventures Within 60 Miles of Madison
Copyright © 2016 by Timothy Bauer
All rights reserved
Published by Menasha Ridge Press
Distributed by Publishers Group West
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, first printing
Editor: Carolyn Acree Jones
Project editor: Ritchey Halphen
Cover design: Scott McGrew
Cartography: Scott McGrew, Tommy Hertzel, and Timothy Bauer
Text design: Annie Long
Cover and interior photographs: Timothy Bauer, except where noted
Copyeditor: Kerry Smith
Proofreaders: Rebecca Henderson, L. Amanda Owens, Vanessa Lynn Rusch
Indexer: Rich Carlson
Frontispiece: Paddling Coldwater Canyon in the Upper Dells will put a smile on anyone’s face. (See Trip 58, Wisconsin River A: Upper and Lower Dells)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bauer, Timothy.
Title: Canoeing & kayaking south central Wisconsin : 60 paddling adventures within 60 miles of Madison / Timothy Bauer.
Description: First edition. | Birmingham, AL : Menasha Ridge Press, [2016] | Series: Canoeing & kayaking “Distributed by Publishers Group West”—T.p. verso.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016017897 (print) | LCCN 2016025327 (e-book) | ISBN 978-1-63404-020-4 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-63404-021-1 (eISBN) | ISBN 978-1-63404-021-1 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Canoes and canoeing—Wisconsin—Guidebooks. | Kayaking—Wisconsin—Guidebooks. Wisconsin—Guidebooks.
Classification: LCC GV776.W6 B38 2016 (print) | LCC GV776.W6 (e-book) | DDC 797.12209775—dc23 LOC record available at lccn.loc.gov/2016017897
MENASHA RIDGE PRESS
An imprint of AdventureKEEN
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Birmingham, Alabama 35233
Visit menasharidge.com for a complete listing of our books and for ordering information. Contact us at our website, at facebook.com/menasharidge, or at twitter.com/menasharidge with questions or comments. To find out more about who we are and what we’re doing, visit blog.menasharidge.com.
Disclaimer This book is meant only as a guide to select paddles in south central Wisconsin and does not guarantee your safety in any way—you paddle at your own risk. Neither Menasha Ridge Press nor Timothy Bauer is liable in any way for property loss or damage, personal injury, or death that may result from accessing or paddling the waterways described in the following pages. Please read carefully the introduction to this book as well as safety information from other sources. Familiarize yourself with current weather reports, maps of the areas you intend to visit (in addition to the maps in this guidebook), and any relevant public-land regulations. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this guidebook, water, land, and road conditions can change greatly from year to year.
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