Namekagon Encounter

Sometime in the past three years, likely as the result of some Canoecopia presentation or perhaps the River Kings Namekagon video series, I decided that I really wanted to paddle the Namekagon. Well, last week, we got our chance. This thread will chronicle our journey.

The Namekagon River flows east to west across northwestern Wisconsin from Namekagon Lake to the St. Croix River, the namesake of this National Scenic Waterway. It is a mix of flat water and light rapids, with two significant settlements along its course. Internet reviewers speak highly of its tranquil ambience, and the videos I could find seemed to back up the sentiment.


My son (ZF) and I have been canoeing since buying our first fiberglass beater in 2019. First, they were simple day trips on local reservoirs and the White River (Indiana); just a way to get more outdoor time together. That graduated into the occasional overnight, and then, in 2021, we decided we wanted to try a "northern" trip. Where are two newbies to start? Well, the BWCA, of course. We didn't have much gear, so we made arrangements with Piragis to go on a fully outfitted trip. During the interim, a couple of friends learned of our plans and asked to go along. As the summer progressed, and the Minnesota rains stopped, we watched nervously as fires and closures steadily crept nearer our chosen entry point. Then, two weeks before departure, the wilderness was closed to all entry. With no way of knowing when we would be permitted to enter the area, we elected to take the money reserved for the trip expenses and buy our own gear. It wasn't as nice, and definitely more sparse, but we had our own kit.

The group was determined to make good on the planned PTO takings, and we settled on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage in northern Wisconsin. I'm not sure how we landed on that choice, but I bet it had to do with the 66 water access-only sites and the designated "quiet area" that was positively reported on via the BWCA.com message board. In any case, we had a destination. I had to borrow a second canoe, pray all the ordered gear arrived on time, arrange transportation, and cobble together a transport rack, but by some miracle, it all came together, and before I could believe it, I was standing on the shoreline of the "wilderness". I use the quotations here out of respect for those who *live* more remotely than I was experiencing, but at that moment, this suburban dad was HOOKED. An eagle wheeled overhead to accentuate the moment, and I knew our adventures in central Indiana were about to be forever eclipsed.






Why share this old tale? Because it was the gateway. As we drove into the northwoods toward our first canoe camping experience, we crossed bridges over scenic rivers. We camped in the unique weather patterns of autumn. We experienced the stress of finding planned campsites taken, the darkness that can be felt on a moonless night in a dark sky area, and the freedom that comes with no cell phone signal. And before the ten days had even passed, we determined to return.

And return we did. Our friends also enjoyed the experience, and so we made another trip to the flowage, along with one to the BWCA, and one to the Sylvania Wilderness in Michigan. JR and JS are great camping partners, and we get along famously. However, they are dedicated base campers and care to move only every three or so nights, so river trips are not very high on their want-to-do list.

Enter 2025. JR had used all of his PTO on other family-related matters, and JS's wife had some medical complications that restricted the distance he was comfortable traveling. While bummed to not be able to go with our usual partners, we felt the slight unburdening of stationary camping expectations. We were going to do our river trip.

Pre-trip Preparations


Without our usual paddling partners, we had immense flexibility in trip timing. My son is homeschooled, so not many obstacles there, and I am fortunate to have a job with great latitude given to PTO taken for the advancement of family relationships and personal mental/emotional development. We initially determined to make the trip just the two of us, and tentatively set the departure for September 20th. As the summer progressed, the weather patterns continued to favor high-pressure ridges over the Midwest, with warm and dry conditions. We began to consider setting the trip back by a couple of weeks, hoping to grab some more of the fall foliage (and maybe some precipitation) without pressing our luck too far. At the same time, I became aware of a need within my extended family that I believed would benefit from some "unplugged" time in the woods. Happily, the young man's fall break would coincide with our new departure window, and so, with all the parental conversations taken care of, our duo became three.

KT is no stranger to the outdoors, growing up in a sportman-oriented family full of hunting and fishing, but had never been in a canoe or camped for more than an overnight. This trip was set change all of that, to be sure.

As September came on, I hedged our bets by setting up an alternative trip to the Jacks' Fork / Current River in Missouri, should the weather in Wisconsin suddenly turn nasty. At two weeks to go, I did my best tea leaf reading and sent shuttle requests to the outfitters in the Namekagon area that listed private vehicle shuttles on their websites. As of this writing, I still have yet to hear back from two of them (VM and email), one called me back two days before departure, one responded that they no longer shuttled private boats (not my request), and one, that shining angel that I would get to know as Christy with Log Cabin Resort, called me back within 6 hours, apologized for the delay, and went about making this the easiest river shuttle I have ever set.


If there is one thing I don't care for about river tripping, it is setting shuttles. Unreliable people, unreliable vehicles, and the timing choreography usually conspire to temporarily ruin my mood in some manner every time, even though, up until now, none of my shuttles had needed to be more than 12 miles. I consider it the price of admission to my best trips, which helps a bit, but it is still the area that brings the most stress. With the van transmission still in pieces on my workbench, I elected to rent a pickup for our excursion. While not very fiscally responsible, I knew that a rental would give us the best shot at having trouble-free transport. While this proved to be true for the actual drive, renting can come with its own set of issues, as I was about to discover.

At four weeks to go, I contacted Enterprise and reserved our chariot. I had two requirements: it must be a 1/2 ton pickup with a crew cab, and it must come with two key fobs. I was assured that this would not be a problem. On the Tuesday before I was to pick up the pickup, Enterprise called me to let me know that they might not be able to produce a 1/2 ton, and would I be interested in taking an SUV or getting on the wait list for a 1/4 ton truck. I reiterated my requirements, and was assured that they would move inventory in order to meet the need.

With five days to go, Christy called to make sure the trip was still happening, reiterated that the water levels were low but passable, and confirmed the shuttle setup. Based on her earlier advice, we had decided that we would put in at Hayward and take out south of the confluence with the St. Croix at Riverside landing. Initially, we thought we might travel the whole length of the Namekagon, from Namekagon Lake to Riverside, but Christy had advised against attempting the upper reaches, given the dearth of precipitation. The plan was for us to check in at the resort on Saturday afternoon, give them the second set of keys, drive to Hayward, and put in on the river. LCR would then pick up the truck from Hayward, park it at the resort for the week, and drop it off at Riverside the day before our planned take-out. Easy-peasy.

Departure Day minus one: KT arrived at the house with the test gear I had sent him. I was pleased that he had remembered everything, and he was clearly excited to be part of the adventure. We compiled our list of last-minute items to purchase and went to pick up the truck. With a scheduled pickup time of 3p, I figured we would be safe in arriving at 320p. Upon arrival, I was told that there would be a wait, as the vehicle had not yet been cleaned or inspected. Strike one. After waiting an additional 20 minutes, the rep handed me the fob so we could go look at the vehicle. I asked where the other fob was, and he looked at me strangely and said that none of their vehicles come with two fobs. I replied that I had been VERY specific about the need for two keys when I made my request and again when confirming the reservation earlier in the week. I also iterated that I had done the same rental two years prior and that obtaining two keys had not been an issue. The rep doubled down on there being no second key availability, so I told him to hold the spot for an hour while we went and got some other supplies.

As we left the storefront, I was perturbed. How the heck was I going to set a shuttle with only one set of keys? Fortunately, there is an Autozone store in the same lot. I have bought many vehicle parts there, and in the quirkiness of the human mind, my thoughts flashed back to a recent purchase, an extendable magnet I had needed to pull recessed check balls from my transmission case. There was my answer: a magnetic key case. I could put the one key in it and stash it way up under the body for the shuttle. I called Christy and confirmed that they were comfortable with the idea and she replied that it wasn't the first time this had happened and that they would be happy to accommodate. Finding a workable box took us to three different stores, but eventually we found a suitable unit.

Returning to Enterprise, I told the rep that we had figured out a workaround and I would take the rental. He was suspicious, but that was that, and we raced home to make it to my daughter's final volleyball game of the season. Of course, those games went long, and the match required all three sets. Great play, but I was acutely aware that the timing was not going to plan. We rolled back to the homestead around 9p and began to pack.

I had set all of the trip gear out ahead of time, but we had not yet stuffed everything into the portage bags because KT still had his stuff to add to the mix. While the boys began sorting out their packs, I went to put the transport rack into the truck bed. Naturally, the rack was three inches too long for the tailgate to close. Sigh. Nothing to do but break out the drill and move the rear supports forward a bit. Thankful for the 5th time that I had built the rack with screws instead of nails, I reconfigured the contraption for the too-short rental and loaded the boats.

Returning to the house at 1045p, I hurriedly stuffed my pack with what I hoped was the proper gear, joined the boys in packing our vittles for the week into the blue barrel, got a pep talk from dear wife, and dropped into bed just after midnight. 4a was going to come quickly.

Day One

Four o'clock did indeed come quickly. I grabbed what I thought would be the last hot shower for the next 8 days and roused the boys before making my morning coffee. As I ground the beans, I idly wondered whether I had packed enough instant and briefly considered taking my usual coffee kit, as I had several times before. No, we were all packed up, and gear creep had already resulted in heavier-than-anticipated loadouts. Shout-out to @Packrat, who turned me on to a product I had never tried: Mount Hagen instant coffee. Excellent stuff. Thank you, friend.


We slung the packs into the truck, did a sweep of the staging areas, and we were off. I don't believe Dear Wife even stirred, such was the smoothness of our exit.




We slid through Indiana before sunrise, stopping twice to re-tighten the new tie-down straps as the webbing settled into a stretch. Chicago breezed by, with the overnight construction zones battened up and the Saturday travel session not yet in full swing. We pushed past Madison, where ZF and KT remarked on various memories from Canoecopias past. Then, as the sun crept higher into the sky, we passed through the Dells. The Dells and the associated resorts have been a milestone for our trips since beginning our excursions in 2021. The feel seems to change: traffic thins out, conifers become more dominant, the terrain more varied, and it just starts to feel like "The North".





To accompany this welcome passage, we stop at my favorite gas station chain in the world - Kwik Trip.



Having fortified ourselves against starvation, we pressed onward to Trego. Before long, we exited I94 and began the trip up US 53. We passed some familiar landmarks from our sojourn to the eastern BWCA in 2023 and soon arrived at Log Cabin Resort. I regret not getting the story behind this unique adornment:



We paid our bill for the shuttles and chatted a bit with Christy. I mentioned her earlier, and I cannot over-emphasize how friendly and helpful she was during every interaction. She marked a few places on our maps where we would run into low water, and identified the best channel to take around several large islands. After additional pleasantries, we bid her good day and made the jog over to Hayward.

At the Hayward Landing, we schlepped our gear and canoes a few hundred feet down the hill, hid the key box in the truck bodywork, and entered the river system at River Mile N66.1. It was a beautiful afternoon, albeit rather warm at 87°F. I was already looking forward to the forecasted temperature drop. We were on the water by 3 p.m., and planned only a short paddle to site N63 or N62.6.



The river is still quite intimate here, with a narrowish channel that winds back and forth through many switchbacks.



Almost immediately, we were flushing waterfowl from the eddies.



After an easy paddle, we located our first campsite on river right. N63.0



The path up to the site was surprisingly overgrown, with a nice boardwalk over the marshy area between the primary and secondary banks.



Home for ZF:



Home for me and KT:



Capping off a great first day.