Day 254 (back on the trail)

Daily Stats
Start:                9:00 AM - De Pere, WI
Finish               5:30 PM - Kauakauna, WI
Time:                8:30 hours
Daily dist:         18 miles
Total dist:         5000+ 
Companions:    Mark
Weather:         Partly cloudy, 70’s, SW wind 15-25
Notes:              Upstream in now familiar waters.

After getting dropped off by my parents with cousin Jenny and her daughter Lydia, the plan today was to paddle as far up the river as the wind and current would allow then call Jenny for a ride back to her house, rather than camp only a few miles away.  It’s always a kick to realize that an entire day of effort on the river amounts to a few minutes of driving on city streets.  Getting picked up also meant that I could paddle an empty boat which would make getting around the dams that lie ahead much easier. 

Dad, Mom, Jenny, and Lydia seeing me off at the landing at Zellers Sports

Most of the day was spent paddling all of the same water that I paddled over the last two days except this time I was paddling upstream.  It was finally a chance to find out just what kind of time I’ll be able to make while pushing into the unusually high flow.  Thankfully, even despite a brisk wind blowing downstream at times, I was able to maintain a pretty good pace.  What also helped my progress was the ability to carry around the two locks that were along the route.  At the first one the lock operator actually helped me carry around which was ultimately easier for him than cranking the lock gates open and closed by hand, which is how the Fox river locks are operated.  At the second lock I simply pulled off the river and slid my boat on the lawn around the lock and back into the water on the upstream side. 

Hand crank used to open and close the lock gates on the Fox.

The good pace had me two and around two dams and as far up as Wrightstown by 2:00.  At Wrightstown I was once again found on the water by a local paddler named Mark.  We had talked about meeting up on the river sometime during the week.  We didn’t have a solid plan as to when or where we’d meet instead he figured he could just jump on the river in front of me and wait for me to come by.  Of course the good pace I was setting almost had me by the boat launch before he ever expected me to be there.  I’m always grateful to have people join me on the water and today I was exceptionally happy to have Mark along when we were faced with portaging around the third dam of the day.

Lock no longer used in order to prevent the lamprey from getting upstream. Chicago may take note.

This lock was shut down (never to be used again) a long time ago to prevent the invasive lamprey from climbing up the Fox River off the great lakes where they had already caused loads of trouble.  While the previous two locks and dams were easy to portage around, this one proved to be a bit more challenging.  After scouting both the end of the lock canal and the river at the base of the dam, we decided to pull out on the east side of the dam.  This route meant a steep uphill climb on a narrow brushy path on very slippery clay.  It was tough enough with help it would have been a bit of an ordeal without Mark’s help. 

Mark helping me portage around the third dam of the day.

Our day ended a few miles further upstream at the first lock of the Kaukauna lock series.  There is an effort underway to get these locks operable again, but it is easy to tell by the state of disrepair that they have not been used in years.  Intertwined with a paper mill and hydroelectric plants and lying in a now dry canal that parallels the river, getting around these locks requires a bit of a carry.  I had thoughts of doing some of the portage today (rather than start the day wheeling my boat) so I hopped out and began surveying the route.  Just then Mark got a call from Jeff Mazanec who is one of the coordinators of the Fox River Heritage Paddle and who has given me a lot of information about what I’ll have to deal with on the river.  Jeff lives in Appleton, WI only a few minutes from where we were and was on his way over to show us just how to get around the locks.

When Jeff arrived we decided to save my cousin a drive and loaded both our boats on his truck to catch a ride back to where the day started.  Before we headed downstream, however, we went for a drive along the river stopping wherever we could to pre-scout all of the portages I’ll have to do tomorrow… and there are many.  Jeff also gave me the phone number of a gentleman that will be able to open a gate for me that will give me access to the service road that parallels the canal which will spare me the effort of rolling the Ikkuma up hill through a city neighborhood and back down to the water.  Now armed with the knowledge of where I have to go to get around all the (non-operating) locks and dams I’ll see tomorrow, it will make the day go much easier.  An hour spent riding with Jeff and Mark saved me half a day of walking through brush and bramble to sort things out.  Once again it is the kindness of new friends that is helping me through a sticky spot on this adventure.  I will always wonder how this trip would have gone without the help of so many great people.