Boating Micro-Adventures

[WI-Tom]

Still early spring weather here, temps around freezing on many nights. Still, I managed to launch my boat for a couple of micro-adventures on local(ish) waters. It's kind of a new focus for me, encouraged by the past year's pandemic travel restrictions: finding sail and oar outings on a small scale, close to home.

Micro-Adventure #1 was an overnight trip to Perrot State Park, on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi river, just 5 miles or so south of Winona, Minnesota:

Winona.jpg

The park is bordered on the west by the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge, which is entirely cut off from the Mississippi by a series of dikes and railroad causeways, and is a brief spring/fall stopover for herds of wandering wildfowl and migrating warblers, and year-round home to lots of bald eagles. Dramatically steep bluffs, and an inner bay at the mouth of the Trempealeau River, which empties into the Mississippi under a low(ish) railroad bridge.

Perrot State Park.jpg

(Pardon the misspelling in the Google Earth image--it's Trempealeau)

[WI-Tom]

I had visited Perrot State Park with my wife on a very early warm day, hiking some of the trails up and down the bluffs--no boats involved. What I saw made me want to come back. Specifically, I wanted to visit the "centerpiece" of the park (from my perspective, anyway): Trempealeau Mountain, a dramatic bluff rising 425 feet above the Mississippi.

Trempealeau means "foot bathed in water"--a name that reflects the mountain's "island" status. It is connected to the Perrot State Park mainland by the railroad bridge/causeway, but crossing by land seemed like cheating to me. My plan was to use my sail & oar boat to approach by sea (well, by water, at least), climb Trempealeau Mountain, and then explore the inner waters and marshes of Trempealeau Bay, and the outlying islands in the main Mississippi channel just outside the park.

Somewhere in there, I expected I'd find a sheltered backwater to anchor for the night and sleep aboard.

Tom

[amish rob]

None of that “purity” stuff. I’m just a terrible photographer, and a forgetful and scatterbrained fellow about such as that.

Also, despite how I may come across, I generally don’t record or talk about my doings, as I can’t imagine they’d interest anyone.

Having the phone should have changed that, but I often have no clue where the phone is, either. Since I got the tablet for art, I can usually access the Internet, because I generally remember where I left this sitting.

[WI-Tom]

None of that “purity” stuff. I’m just a terrible photographer, and a forgetful and scatterbrained fellow about such as that.

Also, despite how I may come across, I generally don’t record or talk about my doings, as I can’t imagine they’d interest anyone.

Having the phone should have changed that, but I often have no clue where the phone is, either. Since I got the tablet for art, I can usually access the Internet, because I generally remember where I left this sitting.

Well, this place is the ONLY spot in my life where it's likely for me to find people interested in my boat-oriented activities. With everyone else, it's more like:

Them: How was your trip?

Me: It was nice.

Them: What do you want for supper?

And that's for a 3-4 week trip! A little afternoon outing like these doesn't even get noticed...

Must be a different kind of fun to have kids involved, though. I have some plans to corrupt a nephew and niece or two with some sailing outings this summer while the parents aren't looking.

Tom

[amish rob]

Well, this place is the ONLY spot in my life where it's likely for me to find people interested in my boat-oriented activities. With everyone else, it's more like:

Them: How was your trip?

Me: It was nice.

Them: What do you want for supper?

And that's for a 3-4 week trip! A little afternoon outing like these doesn't even get noticed...

Must be a different kind of fun to have kids involved, though. I have some plans to corrupt a nephew and niece or two with some sailing outings this summer while the parents aren't looking.

Tom

When people ask what I’m up to/doing, I answer, “nothing”. Whatever I AM doing is just being me, so who cares? I surely ain’t making millions nor curing cancer nor crossing oceans, so I generally just stay shut up.

Which probably seems like a lie, seeing as I blather on, here, but that’s all there is to do, here. Blather. Or read it.

Kids? In my opinion, they enhance everything. They remind me of what an uptight jerk I’ve become, that I care WAY too much about dumb stuff that really doesn’t matter, and that I have NO IDEA how to enjoy a day at the lake on a boat.

Every time, I feel like The Mole; or if Mr. Toad could ACTUALLY feel guilt, because really I’m more of a sham like Toad, propped up, in clothes I don’t belong in, flailing, trying to BE somebody.

[WI-Tom]

Here's a view of Trempealeau Mountain from the east, from the summit of Brady's Bluff in Perrot State Park--a nice overview of Trempealeau Bay, Trempealeau Mountain, and the wildlife refuge just beyond:

Brady's Bluff view.jpg

You can see the railroad bridge/causeway (the "cheater" route) connecting the Trempealeau Mountain "island" to the mainland, running from the bottom left of the photo. The dike/causeway running from the righthand (north) side of the island marks the boundary of the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge. All the marshy little brown islands in the foreground are in Trempealeau Bay, which I hoped to explore.

When my wife and I visited on foot, there were hundreds (thousands?) of sandhill cranes out in Trempealeau Bay, all over those marshy islands.

Tom

[amish rob]

DFA59960-CE33-402A-81A7-1EEC90A11A9D.jpg
Here’s an older one. We took the punts to the lake when the water was SUPER high. The kids brought a friend who had never been to the lake, never been in water to swim, and had never been on a boat.

C0389EBA-B494-4B3C-9667-E0797C0DDC0E.jpg
Of course, our kids literally grew up in goofy boats, so they delight in any time on the water.

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The Punt Regatta. Of course Tiny and I won. The rowing position in the duck punt is actually kind of nice, even with the stumpy oars. She rows nicely.

I don’t think anyone went further than a mile from the car. Just farting around, doing laps on the lake, looking at whatever there is there that ain’t at home.

[nrs5000]

Oh goody!

[WI-Tom]

My brother joined me, but left his own boat behind. Fair enough, I suppose, after all the times I've tagged along on his Phoenix III (or just stolen it for my own uses entirely for a solo trip!) We launched just across from Trempealeau Mountain, rowed around a sandspit at the mouth of the Trempealeau River (i.e., ran aground on the sandspit, poled off, detoured farther downstream and back in to the channel), and continued up the main channel for not quite a mile, landing at the northwest corner of Trempealeau Mountain:

Rowing 1.jpg

Right about here Philip Schwartz photo):

Philip Schwartz photo.jpg

Rowing against a 1.5 knot(ish) current, with an extra person sitting in the sternsheets (my brother agreed to split the rowing duties "equally"--with me rowing the upstream leg, and him rowing back), encouraged a leisurely dawdling pace that was entirely suitable for my intentions.

The "mountain" (I used to live in Colorado, so...) was, at least, steep enough to be interesting:

Trempeleau SNA.jpg

In fact, according to the Wisconsin DNR, at least, Trempealeau Mountain is one of only three solid rock islands on the entire Mississippi River. There were some cliffy bits, steep or overhanging sandstone, maybe some limestone too.

[WI-Tom]

Large birds all over the place--April is the month for birds around here. Seemed like there were at least half a dozen bald eagles in sight at any moment, some adults, some juveniles (but still too big to want to mess with). Also some large birds of indeterminate status--eagle-ish size, but owl-like heads.

A faint path led from the end of the National Wildlife dike up the northwest ridge. For about 100 meters. Then, the path faded into obscurity, but seemed to be heading up a frighteningly steep and muddy hillside along the edge of some 30-foot cliffs. And then, even more steeply, along the top of the cliffs.

And then, easing off from "terrifyingly steep" to merely "frighteningly steep" again for a while, (by this time I had already halfway mentally vetoed the idea of returning by the same route), to another section I would describe as "very frighteningly steep, AND exposed" that had us above the treetops. A couple of actual cliff bands to climb through (one guarded by a spiky dead tree, the other by vast exposure for a couple of class 4 moves just beneath the summit), and there we were.

This isn't my photo, but it's the only online image I found from the summit--photographer is listed as Matthew Lukas:

Summit view.jpg

That's the view basically westward from the top, into the National Wildlife Refuge (which is not connected by water access to Trempealeau Bay).

Really a worthwhile adventure, a little more challenging than I had anticipated. It's good to be a little scared now and then.

Tom

[stromborg]

Your pictures are showing up (at least for me) as "Invalid Attachments"

[WI-Tom]

We found a path leading down southwest off the summit, and followed that for a while before a bit of bushwacking to get down to the water and circle the island back to the boat. At which point, a northerly wind--quite strong--made the idea of rowing farther northward into Trempealeau Bay quite unappealing. Instead, we walked a loop on the park trails that took us over the summit of Brady's Bluff and back along the river shore.

Brady's Bluff walk.jpg

Some nifty dry-stone staircases leading up to a CCC stone-and-log shelter.

Brady's Bluff stairs.jpg

Then back to the boat for lunch (supper?), with my brother heading home, leaving me to row back out into Trempealeau Bay to find the night's anchorage. Chilly weather predicted, but I had a sleeping bag and a silk liner, and lots of bundle-up options.

Tom

Edit to add: Attachments again! I'll try to fix them later. Might as well take the boat again for now.

[WI-Tom]

Thanks--I reloaded them. I suppose they'll fail again a few times. The photo process can be a bit finicky on the WBF, I find.

Tom

[stromborg]

Ah, there they are!
I lived the Second City for a time and always found Wisconsin (AKA Chicago's State Park) a beautiful place for a motorcycle ride. Not to forget about the ice cream and custard...I still have a license plate frame that says "Riding for the Sundaes".

Looking forward to your micro-adventures, I recently realized there are any number of 1-3 day sailing adventures to be had from my home port that for whatever reason I had been ignoring. There is a plan to fix that this summer.

[WI-Tom]

The next day, the cold woke me early enough to have the tent and gear re-packed before 7 a.m. A chilly morning indeed, with my dry bags covered in flakes of frost. Only one thing to do: start rowing to warm up!

So, I did. Mission one: circle along close to shore to see as much of the Trempealeau Mountain shore as I could--the logical landing point for an easy all-trail ascent would be at the intersection of the railroad causeway. I headed that way:

Rowing 4.jpg
Again, nope. Too shallow, even for a 7" draft. (A kayak could make it, I think). After trying a shortcut back along the railroad causeway (nope: too shallow), I reversed course, and went back out the same way I came in.

Plenty of daylight left--I doubt it was 9 a.m. So, I continued out to the Mississippi and rowed around a few islands for a while, watched a barge tow pass by in the main traffic channel, and rowed back to the car by early afternoon.

Rowing 5.jpg

Then I rowed up a different channel of the river as deep as I could, and ate lunch among a bunch of red-winged blackbirds and 'rats swimming around in the reeds. Read a book for a while. Then back to the car, loaded up, and went home--Micro-Adventure #1 complete.

Tom

[WI-Tom]

Ah, there they are!
I lived the Second City for a time and always found Wisconsin (AKA Chicago's State Park) a beautiful place for a motorcycle ride. Not to forget about the ice cream and custard...I still have a license plate frame that says "Riding for the Sundaes".

Looking forward to your micro-adventures, I recently realized there are any number of 1-3 day sailing adventures to be had from my home port that for whatever reason I had been ignoring. There is a plan to fix that this summer.

Having seen a fair bit of northern Illinois, I can't say I blame you all for coming up to the Driftless Area of south/southwestern Wisconsin.

I hope you post some of your own micro-adventures!

Tom

[WI-Tom]

This side channel is the spillway/overflow channel--the main dam face is off to the side. This rock-filled channel is, I think, the original course of the river, which was a series of rapids and falls here 100 years ago.

1.jpg

Yep. "Rock-filled" is an adequate descriptor.

Tom

[WI-Tom]

Found a little niche out of the wind where I thought the boat might not bang around too much, and went ashore. This is looking back down toward the entrance to the main river channel:

2.jpg

And looking the other way, toward the loooong wall of spillway gates (the main dam is out of the picture to the right):

3.jpg

This is a really neat little wild rocky "wilderness" (kind of a post-apocalyptic abandoned-industrial feel to it), with acres of exposed granite slabs. Must have been a neat section of river before it was tamed.

[WI-Tom]

Even at low water, a few waterfalls trickle down the rocks from the spillway gates:

4.jpg

A really neat place--even better when you arrive by boat (you can approach by land as well). I'd love to anchor here for an overnighter...

6.jpg

Except that the thought of a sudden release of water from the dam might make me a bit uneasy--the rocky banks here are ENTIRELY underwater--raging class IV whitewater from the look of it--during big releases.

[WI-Tom]

OK, so my brother left for home, and I set out alone to find an anchorage. I rowed deep up into Trempealeau Bay, heading for a forested island where I figured I could spend the night undisturbed:

Rowing 2.jpg

Actually, "deep" into Trempealeau Bay isn't even possible, it turns out. Depths were mid-calf at the deepest, with the keel often dragging through the mud, and the upper tips of the oar blades sticking up out of the water. I had to abandon my attempt when it became apparent I'd never get anywhere near those islands.

So, Plan B:

Rowing 3.jpg

Got there at twilight, just enough time to tie the bow to shore in a cozy little backwater bay, set up the boat tent, and arrange some cushions in the sternsheets for a comfy session of doing nothing but being there. And being then.

From a different trip the year before, here's my tent set-up:

DSCN6365.jpg

A cozy cold night on the boat, tucked in below Trempealeau Mountain. Barred owls all over wanting to know who was cooking for me (the answer, tragically: no one--I made do with a somewhat soggy and convincingly mashed-up ham sandwich), and muskrats and beavers swimming around my little cove, with nothing visible but the V of their wakes, and only the occasional slap of a tail to draw my attention. A bright sickle moon off to the west, and the North Star hanging above Trempealeau Bay.

A great night!

Tom

[WI-Tom]

Micro-Adventure #2 went truly micro: a stretch of river between two dams, just 8 blocks from home. Only a couple of hours of rowing, but man, this is a nifty little mini-wilderness right at the edge of town.

A straight-up no-frills mile of upstream river rowing (but the current is gentle unless they're letting a lot of water over the dam--at which point, rowing upstream is pretty impossible) led to a rocky entrance to a side channel right below the dam's spillway:



(In pretty much every photo in this micro-adventure, you can assume that I'm either about to scrape the keel across a barely-submerged rock, or just got done scraping the keel across a barely-submerged rock--water levels were about as low as I've seen below the dam).

Tom

[amish rob]

I actually know a bit about the making of books. Well, I know how to draw a cover for one.

And, our kids all love WITW. We have an old, early 1900s copy. It has wee drawings that are hilarious.

My kids loved Swallows and Amazons, too. They’re still mad we didn’t have the proper number of children...

[WI-Tom]

A wider shot for a little more context:

7.jpg
Attachment 84565

And then, after an hour of wandering around below the dam, it was time to head back home:

8.jpg
Attachment 84567

With a last look at the main dam face once I reached the river and headed downstream (the rocky spillway channel is off to the left in this photo):

9.jpg

And that's that--Micro-Adventure #2 complete.

What little trips are the rest of you up to?

Tom

[Woxbox]

Nice. The "hawk like birds with owl heads" is a pretty accurate description of the Northern Harrier, aka Marsh Hawk, by the way. Were they swooping around at relatively low altitudes?

[WI-Tom]

Thanks, Dave--I had a look online, and it might have been a northern harrier. Not my photo, but here's one:

northern harrier.jpg

We saw them sitting on tree limbs overhanging the river, looking out over the marsh and not flying. But the terrain in the photo above is exactly what they were looking at.

I forgot one other wildlife sighting--in a MOST unusual location. The location? Under a big tree, well inland, at the foot of Trempealeau Mountain.

The species?

gar.jpg

Alligator gar, about 18" long, and maybe 30% eaten. Judging by the amount of white-splattered leaves under the tree, it must have been dropped there by an eagle. Not what I was expecting to find in the woods!

Tom

[jpatrick]

Tom, when they do those big releases from the dam, do they look for and warn small boats and other users that are on the river? Or does one take a chance?

Jeff

[WI-Tom]

Tom, when they do those big releases from the dam, do they look for and warn small boats and other users that are on the river? Or does one take a chance?

Jeff

I think the releases are scheduled, but not publicized aggressively; they usually only happen at extreme high water levels, like early spring. Even the biggest releases don't affect the main river channel, and nothing but a kayak could get into the spillway channel without leaving a lot of paint on the rocks. Certainly not an outboard boat, which is the only kind of boat besides mine I've seen on this stretch of water (apparently the walleye fishing is quite good).

By all means, I would not try to anchor overnight there in the spring without checking with the dam about potential releases!

Tom

[WI-Tom]

Here's a nice drone shot (not mine) of the dam from late May, with the spillway gates open:

10.jpg

That raging whitewater grows out of a couple of trickles that you can easily hop (or step) over. When the spillways are open, there are two channels of whitewater--the one I rowed up (closer to the main dam face), and a steeper/narrower channel (farther from the main dam face)--good views around 2:06:



Really, it's a cool place. At low water, you can wander that whole area between the spillway channels--mostly bare granite slabs, then. And far enough from roads that you don't run into many people. There's a network of MB trails and running trails in the woods, too. Great stuff, like a mile or so from home. I do a lot of trail running there, nice and shady.

Tom

[wizbang 13]

Thank You Sir

could i have another ?

[amish rob]

Dave,

Wow. Congratulations. That has GOT to be the stuff you were dreaming of when you were sanding and sanding...

[Woxbox]

Dave,

Wow. Congratulations. That has GOT to be the stuff you were dreaming of when you were sanding and sanding...

Thaks Rob. And actually, yes. It's notions of some nice future moments that keeps one at it.

[WI-Tom]

Very shallow and sandbar-ish--as in, oar blades digging into the sand on most strokes. I headed downstream, which was also upwind on a very breezy day. I did pack my sailing rig and rudder, but left them unshipped for now.

It wasn't all that inspiring at first--lots of fishing boats on the river (no surprise on a beautiful weekend day), so eventually I pulled into a tiny little shin-deep back bay along a long skinny island that divided the river delta from the open lake.

map 3.jpg

A perfect little hidden spot, right along the relatively busy river channel. I tied up for a while, ate a bit of a lunch, and finished the book I was reading. Still wasn't feeling overly ambitious.

Island Stop.jpg

While you can't tell from this photo, the open waters of the lake were bustling with a dozen fishing boats and another outboard boat pulling kids around on an inntertube. Also, it was WINDY out there. And, I hadn't put the covers on my 10 bulkhead hatches, rendering my flotation inoperable. But mainly, I just don't feel overly inspired by daysailing. I'd much rather have somewhere to go, and something to explore.

So...

[amish rob]

Thaks Rob. And actually, yes. It's notions of some nice future moments that keeps one at it.

Well, that is a NEAT boat, and it was cool to watch it be dreamt up, then built, and then used in exactly the way we all imagined; I imagine.

I’m thinking how actually refreshing it would be to be “stranded” by the tide in such a wee gem, provided it were safe and etc.

Brew up a cup of something warm, and maybe take a nap. What? Being “stuck” on a cool boat in such a place would just be the worst. No way for modern life to remind you of all the busy work that can always wait...

I hope we can get our tribe afloat again, this summer.

[WI-Tom]

Well, that is a NEAT boat, and it was cool to watch it be dreamt up, then built, and then used in exactly the way we all imagined; I imagine.

I complete agree with Rob. Autumn Leaves tops my list right now of small cabin boats. And it's cool to get an insider look at the marshy backwaters on the Jersey coast.

Tom

[WI-Tom]

Stopped ashore again at a nice sandbar. Starting to realize what a long row it would be if the route dead-ended and I had to turn back...

sandbar 1.jpg

Then again, things were starting to open up. I wasn't sure if that was meant to be promising, or if it was more likely to mean a dead-end marshy bay.

sandbar 2.jpg

Yep, I like this boat.