Jonathan Stevens

Jonathan Stevens

Kayak the Wisconsin River in the Dells

06/27/20

We canoed this route yesterday and it was very scenic. For a Thursday morning in late June, the river was pretty calm until about noon when we started seeing a lot of the dells tour boats. From the confluence on the north side of Blackhawk island, heading north, the waves from the tour boats were almost unsafe for a canoe at times and the waves don’t dissipate quickly because they bounce off the rock walls along the river and make for a very choppy ride. At one point, a jet tour boat gunned it and left us on 6’+ rolling waves. If you’re going to canoe it, go early in the day to avoid motorized boats, and stay to the smaller channels like around the back of Blackhawk island and be sure to take a deture into Coldwater Canyon!

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