This past 4th of July weekend three guys and I paddled 40 or so miles down the Namekagon River. We drove up Wednesday evening, stayed that night at the cabin, and then rolled out early Thursday. Although we had planned on putting in at County K, we ended up putting in a ways above the Trego Dam for some reason and began our paddle in party barge country, pausing every few minutes to rotate the bow in anticipation of the wake. After a few hours of frustrating paddling we arrived at the Trego Dam, confused because a kayaker had said the dam was not for a few more miles. Since we had not planned on portaging, the coolers, heavy stove, and miscellaneous equipment made the schlep that much more haphazard. We came across a real grouchy old snapper hanging out at the base of the dam. After the dam, the river narrowed and picked up some speed, and we started to get into the wilder Namekagon country. The weather was unbelievably pleasant so we sat back and enjoyed the the current carrying us down the river. We came across some campsites around 2PM, hung out there for a while, and then paddled on until about 6 or 7PM. Towards the end we started passing campsite after campsite full of crews, some guys making comments like, "oh you guys camping? well good luck!" We found ourselves a sandy landing and although it was not technically a campsite, it worked just fine for us. If you want one of the nicer spots, you definitely have to stop paddling around 3PM or so, but if you're looking to paddle the river as much as possible, you can make do if there is nothing else. I did a little fishing and got one on the line, but didn't have any luck after that. The river turned out to be pretty clear and shallow for much of the stretch we paddled so the fishing was not great. We cooked up some walking tacos for dinner, built a fire on the shore, and crashed pretty early. The unbelievable weather continued into the next day, and after some pancakes on the fire we paddled on, occasionally connecting the canoes and "barging" down the river, ruttering every once in a while to stay straight. While I was not at the helm, we ventured into a "river alley", a shortcut littered with logs here and there. We started getting a little too close to one log, so I jumped out and stabled the canoe to avoid tipping, but that instability was enough to send our radio into the river. It had been perched precariously above the gunwales, so it could have been avoided, but hey the river gives and the river takes. It was a real shame since we had been tuning into WOJB out of the reservation nearby, and they were throwing down on some great lazy river tunes. We found ourselves a really nice campsite around 2 or 3, near where a giant red pine had fallen into the river. We spent some of the afternoon chopping off a chunk from a giant birch log that had fallen in the woods near our spot, carrying it back to the campsite, and constructing a bench near the fire grate. We swam in the river for a bit, explored the river tree, and then cooked up some pasta on the fire. The next day we did some real solid paddling through pretty consistent, but mild rapids and then into wider stretches until we met up with the St. Croix, paddled a few more miles and arrived at our landing. After two days and nights on the river, it was definitely a weird experience getting out, strapping the canoe to the car, and driving back the cabin. I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know some of these rivers in northern Wisconsin; there is a lot of awesome land (and hopefully fish) out there!
