Canoeing the Wisconsin River!

We headed out early on Saturday morning to catch up with Ty (Dan’s cousin) who is in the 17th year of the organizing a canoe trip down the Wisconsin river.

After an hour or so we got to the launching point, and put in with a few other people from the group. I captured a bit of video as we meandered down the river. The Wisconsin isn’t the largest river in the USA, but I think it would dwarf the Murray in Australia. It feeds directly into the largest river in America, the Mississippi. It is possible to canoe the river system for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of kilometers, and by the amount of people we saw in canoes, it’s a very popular activity for north American people.

After a few hours of paddling we made it to the island – essentially a large sand-bar in the middle of the Wisconsin river, where everyone was pitching tents and enjoying a few beverages. Ty had organised ‘Beer Olympics’  . . . a set of activities that involved frisbee, ping-pong, and bag throwing kinds of drinking games. My days of excess drinking are behind me, so I was perhaps a little more ‘with it’ than many of my competitors . . . which gave me an advantage in the games!! Tim and Dan and Ashley (another of Dan’s cousins) were on my team, and we did really well in all events.

I estimate around 50+ people made this trip, and I commended Ty for his great work organizing it. It was a really memorable experience, and a lot of fun. Here’s a picture of Dan and Ty:

Here is a panoramic photograph to show the beauty of the place:

During the evening we got together around a huge bonfire, chatted and played around with glowsticks! Some of the folks had bought large packets of these things, and the silliness that transpired will forever be known as the ‘Great Glowstick War of 2014’ . (Because they looked great against the night sky, people were throwing them around at each other for hours and hours . . . like hand-missile lasers, you know? Many of Ty’s friends were military, so you know – things that look like lasers and all the military folks = Great Glowstick War!!!).

Here’s a panoramic of the scene. I’m sitting to the left.

Everyone slept in a little the day following . . . I think many would be suffering hangovers! Still, the island was cleaned up and we made our way along the river for another couple of miles to the landing point. What an awesome experience!!

A great thank you to Dan for inviting me along and welcoming me to his friends. It’s a great way to travel, when you can hang out with local people and share time with them. I had not seen Dan for 16 years, we worked together on a summer camp in Wisconsin in the summer of ’98. He’s a great fella and it will be good to one day return the favor and show him around my home country, Australia.