Central Wisconsin Paddle- Waupaca

Feathers

LOVES Wooden Canoes
There are not many wood canoe events that are a reasonable drive from our area. So we've decided to just throw out an invitation to anyone who'd like to join us a for a short paddle in one of our favorite areas- the Upper Chain in Waupaca, WI. The Upper Chain is a no-wake series of small lakes connected by shallow channels. We are not a part of a Chapter and this is not any sort of official event. It would just be fun to paddle with some other folks that like wood canoes. We plan on taking a wood/ canvas and paddling Saturday, June 13th putting in at the Knight Ln. boat landing. We will provide some hot/cold beverages and snacks at 10 AM and then we'll put in and paddle for a few hours. It's not a large area and we can leisurely paddle the whole thing in that amount of time. If you're in the central Wisconsin area and would like to join us we'd be happy to paddle with you. There is more information on paddling this area here.

If you have questions, would like more information, or directions to the Knight Ln. boat landing (it is a bit hard to find) just let us know.
 
Feathers,

Are you aware of the WCHA Great Rivers Chapter, with members in Illinois and Wisconsin, and probably other states in the area? There's no fee to join -- just supply your email address to our Chapter Chair, Jerry Karbon, and you're in! Better yet, we were trying to get some kind of local day paddle events set up for this year... June 13th at this location would fit nicely! Just a word of warning, though... some of our members might stop to see if the fish are biting... :)
 
Paul, I will contact Jerry and get signed up. I guess we are members of the UP chapter because they kindly added us to their mailing list and we plan to get up there and paddle with them- but those events are at least 4 hours each way for us.

Here are a few maps for anyone interested in paddling on June 13th that have never paddled the Upper Chain in Waupaca.
Wisconsin.jpg
Waupaca.jpgKnight Ln boat landing.jpg

And the entry at the boat landing is in one of the shallow channels between lakes. We have always had enough water to float with no issue. It looks like this:
Upper Chain-1.jpgUpper Chain 2-1.jpg
 
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Geez, that's a nice-looking canoe launch...

It does a nice job of discouraging those 200HP bass boats. Oh and as to the fishing Paul, I am so bad at fishing I have pretty much given up on it. I don't know if you'd have luck fishing, but at least you'd have some beautiful scenery to enjoy while you're casting in any case...
 
A little over a month away now. We're still planning on this and looking forward to a great day. We recently acquired another wood/canvas. It needs new canvas but with two new coats of paint, a little sanding with a new coat of varnish here and there, a small and temporary seat repair- and she's ready to spend a few hours on the water this summer! So we've invited my Aunt and Uncle to paddle our other canoe that morning. So, if you're doing the math, we have effectively doubled the attendance at the paddle! I even ordered a WCHA burgee and flag pole to make any photos more "official" looking. I cannot afford to double the attendance myself again, other than perhaps with a little creative Photoshop work...
 
We paddled the Upper Chain today to check things out as we haven't paddled it since last year. Beautiful, but chilly morning. We almost had the boat landing to ourselves in the morning- likely because there was frost when we woke up. But by early afternoon there were a few other folks paddling around. Things look good for the paddle which is only a couple weeks away now. With all the rain the water is up and all the channels have ample amounts of water. We even paddled through Beasley creek into the Chain of Lakes itself. There was probably enough water to paddle all the way through but we walked the canoe through some of the most shallow areas anyway. Folks can decide if they're up for that little adventure or not.


Upper Chain-2.jpgUpper Chain-7.jpgUpper Chain-8.jpgUpper Chain-4.jpg
 
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Last bump. Hoping for some nice weather for an enjoyable paddle. Hope to meet some other folks who like wood canoes. No requirement to have a wood boat though, just bring something to paddle and enjoy the morning.
 
We are still on for the paddle tomorrow morning. The weather forecast has changed from the sunny 70 degree day that they've been predicting all week to now a cloudy morning with a slight chance of light showers. Ah well, no problem. Maybe it will be sunny anyway. Plan is still the same, we'll have snacks ready at 10AM and we'll spend some time on the water after that. The boat landing used to have a porta potty but I suspect budget cuts eliminated that. There is Hartman Creek State Park nearby but you would need a park sticker or a day pass. Otherwise the city of Waupaca is a short drive away. If you're making a long drive and need to make a stop, know that the boat landing is not going to help you out.
 
We managed to get in a paddle. The morning started out with a little drizzle but we had coffee and some baked goods under an EZ-up. Not a big crowd but Jerry showed up with a wood/canvas he had built and Tom arrived with his buddy "Toby" and a cedar strip that he had built. So, with my Aunt and Uncle paddling the St. Louis we ended up with four canoes. The rain let up for a while and we managed to explore most of the Upper Chain before the rain started to steadily build. We ended up loading boats in a pretty steady rain that also chased women's group from Appleton off the water with about a dozen kayaks. So it was busy at the take-out. We enjoyed the morning and it was great to get to paddle with Jerry, Tom, and Toby.

I took a few photos before the rain started coming down hard enough that I didn't want to pull out the camera anymore. Photos here.
 
That looks like a neat place to paddle. Is the green canoe a Morris?


No, the green canoe is a 1925 (ish) St. Louis Meramec. We did have a Morris on the water too but there are no photos as we were paddling it. My wife and I purchased it earlier this year. It had been restored about 30 years ago and needs new canvas. I put a couple coats of paint on it so we could get to paddle it a few times this year. But, it does slowly leak. Since it was my Aunt and Uncle's first paddle in a wood canvas I gave them the choice of which canoe they'd like to paddle and perhaps not surprisingly they gravitated toward the canoe that doesn't leak? I've added a photo of the morning as we were making coffee and getting ready. Shortly after this shot we had to set up the canopy as the first rain started to fall. Photo.
 
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