Start: 2:15 AM - Boscabel, WI
Finish 7:15 PM - Wyalusing State Park, WI
Time: 5:00 hours
Daily dist: 27 miles
Total dist: 5200+
Companions: None
Weather: Partly cloudy, 80’s, SW winds 10+
Notes: Many memories of last winter and my first time through here.
It may not mean anything to many other people, but I have a burning need to close up that gap and know better than to think that I can take my time and paddle those miles some other day. For that reason, the day after reaching Portage (still tired from all the celebrating), I am back at it.
Boscabel was the place where my parents found me at the end of the third day of paddling last fall at a canoe launch with a half foot of snow on the ground. By the next day more snow had fallen along with the temperature and the river was clogged with huge rafts of snow and ice. As a result, my parents and I were left with no prudent choice but to jump south to warmer weather and an unfrozen river.
With a late start (we did have to drive four hours to the put-in) it was nearly dark by the time I reached the take out at the boat ramp in the State Park. The road to the boat ramp was closed for construction so I locked the Ikkuma to a kayak rack nearby and walked out with my gear to my parents waiting in my truck. This being our last night together for a while, we went into town to enjoy a meal at a restaurant then returned to camp for a campfire. Knowing that we’d be saying good by once again in the morning, all three of us were uncommonly silent as we sat watching the flames dancing in the fire. Alas, sometimes the only way to have someone return is to let them go.