Paddle: Namekagon River

One of our big objectives during this trip was to paddle on the Namekagon River in northwest Wisconsin. The Namekagon is in the upper part of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. We had crossed the river many times previously, coming and going from the Boundary Waters, and it always looked inviting. One year we even stopped at the visitor's center and talked to the ranger and picked up some maps.

So, today was our day to paddle the Namekagon. One can paddle over 100 miles of the Namekagon within the park, so we had a lot of river to choose from. Not having any idea which sections of the river were best, I figured it was all good, so my biggest criteria was to choose a section that could be shuttled on a bicycle. We chose the section from West Howell Landing to Namekagon Trail Landing, a distance of about 12 miles. When we arrived at the take-out, the parking lot was practically deserted. We dropped the bike and headed to the put-in at West Howell Landing. As soon as we put onto the river I was impressed. It was much nicer than the other rivers we had recently paddled. It had a nice flow, the water was clear, and the bottom was covered with lush green vegetation. Fish were abundant; we primarily saw suckers, but also saw a few small mouth bass and a 3' northern pike. Several other paddlers reported spotting a sturgeon. I was not fishing today, so I had to be content to watch the fish as we glided over them in the boat. Matilda did fine; there was no out-of-boat experience today. We left her un-tethered in the boat, which made it a little easier for her to get around in the boat. We stopped on a few sandbars and let her go wild. As usual, she slept much of the last part of the trip.

It was an excellent paddle. The river and the scenery was beautiful. We saw a 12-point buck, a weasel and a few rodents that were either very small beavers or very large muskrats. The only negative thing was the high number of other paddlers. It was a beautiful Saturday and many other paddlers and tubers had chosen to float this section today. We don't have to go out on weekends! Why do we continue to do this? Well, the number of other paddlers did turn out to be a benefit. When we reached the take-out the parking lot was packed and there were cars, trucks and canoe trailers lined up and down both sides of the road. I easily scored a ride back to our put-in to get the car, saving a 10-mile bike ride, half of which was along a narrow state highway.

This section of the Nanekagon is only about 45 miles from our camp. I wish we had another chance to paddle this river, but we will be moving north on Monday, and there are sights up on Lake Superior we want to see. If we have time, we will drop back down and paddle another section of the Namekagon before we leave the Superior area. Also, we may do a 2-3 night camping trip on this river after our Boundary Waters trip in September.