Namekagon River 2004 August

8/24/04 Relaxed and checked out the Trego area this day.Double checked all my camping gear for the upcoming 3.5 day trip down the Namekagon River.

8/25/04 Mollie, David, Joanne, Linda, and I departed on our Namekagon trip from the K Street Landing at 10:00 a.m.Joanne and David used their 16’ fiberglass canoe, Linda used a 10’ Old Townkayak, Mollie used a 14’ Old Town rental kayak, and I used a 14’ Soar inflatable self bailing canoe.This river has a federal Wild and Scenic classification and it is well deserved as it is very beautiful, pristine, and wild.We only did about 5 miles the first day before camping at a official river camping site which had a picnic table, fire pit, and and a pit toilet.Joanne provided all the excellent food.This night we had hobo packs – ground sirloin, carrots, onions, and mushrooms.David and Mollie had no luck fishing on the entire trip.Linda and I had considerable problems getting the tent set up the first night, but eventually succeeded.

8/26/04 We floated about 11 miles this day.I was always last because my boat is much harder to paddle than the over crafts.We found another beautiful official camping site.We cooked hotdogs on a open fire for dinner this night.It started raining and thundering right after dinner. It continued at least 6 hours this night.Meggie was really upset by the thunder, shaking nervously for hours before we finally settled her down in our sleeping bags.

8/27/04 Got up and packed all our equipment wet.We had oatmeal, coffee, and hot cocoa for breakfast.The weather was much better this day broken clouds with very little rain or wind.The scenery was breath taking.We saw lots of Bald Eagles, Great Blue Herons, Sand Hilled Cranes, Sandpipers, and other water birds.We saw one deer, one beaver, and lots of turtles.Everyone seemed to be enjoying them selves including Linda.Made camp early and put out all of our equipment to dry as the weather was warm and dry.We had Joanne’s delicious home smoked pork sandwiches this night.We set up a big rain tarp cover just in case of rain but it wasn’t needed.We enjoyed another camp fire this night as we did every nigh except the 2^nd when it was raining.

8/28/04 Got off around 8:00 a.m. to a beautiful morning on the river.The river velocity increased for several miles with some easy rapids, until we got to the slow moving St Croix. We arrived at our put out around 10:45 a.m., unloaded and had a nice lunch.The Log Cabin Resort shuttle driver arrived on time at 12:00 noon.He drove us and all our equipment the 45 minute trip back to Trego.We stayed over night at Trego Town Park in our 5th Wheel.

8/29/04 Left about 7:20 a.m. driving south, arriving in Deforest Wisconsin KOA RV Park about 12:30p.m. After setting up we drove to mother’s apartment to meet everybody for our family pictures. Charlene, Mike, Justin, Cheyenne, Brady, Mindy, John, Joanne, David, Linda, Mother, Meghan, and myself attended the photo shoot. Afterward we went to Biaggi's in Madison for a great Italian dinner compliments of mother.