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New Guy From Indiana

Joined
Mar 8, 2022
Messages
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244
Location
Indiana
Hi, I'm Michael from central Indiana. I trip with my son, nothing longer than nine days so far. We usually paddle slow river systems, but want to get a couple trips to the BWCA in before he turns 18. We were all set to go for 12 days September 2021, but they closed our entry point 10 days before we were to arrive. So we went to the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage in WI instead.

We want to do the Current River in MO and the Allagash in ME. We have kicked around the idea of doing the Northern Forest Canoe Trail as a rite of passage into adulthood, but that's a bit down the road. We do regular local day trips around Indiana.

We currently use an Old Town Discovery 164 for most things. We also have a Canadian Canoe Company chopper gun boat from marketplace that we patched up and used for two years as our first boat. Lately he has been wanting more boat independence, and has been hinting that he wants to switch our boats to two solo units.

So, I will be fishing the archives and contributing where I can. Thank you to the admins who made the effort to migrate the site to Xenforo, it has been a great resource to me!

As an aside on that, the membership confirmation will not send to a free account like gmail. I don't know if that's on purpose to reduce the spammers like on some forums, but I figured I would mention it.

Glad to be here, thanks for providing a place for paddling discussion!
 
Hi Michael, I live in Missouri and paddled a day trip on the Current river once several years ago. I have also made a few BWCA trips and have another one planned for this summer.

Welcome.

John
 
Welcome. What you can you tell us about the Turtle-Flambeau flowage? It would be great to know more about Midwest paddling.
 
Welcome. What you can you tell us about the Turtle-Flambeau flowage? It would be great to know more about Midwest paddling.

It is a large, relatively shallow waterway that is made up of several original lakes and the backwater resulting from damming of the Turtle and Flambeau rivers. There are many campsites on the flowage, and the entire flowage is open to motorboats. There is a large area to the northeast that is a designated voluntary quiet area, and this makes it a popular area for human power craft.


Here are some photos from our trip last year. I have hundreds more if there is interest in a specific area or gear or whatnot.



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Gorgeous photos, Michael. I’m glad they set aside part of the area for “quiet.”

Have you paddled the upper St. Croix? I was there many decades ago and wonder if it is still relatively undeveloped.
 
Gorgeous photos, Michael. I’m glad they set aside part of the area for “quiet.”

Have you paddled the upper St. Croix? I was there many decades ago and wonder if it is still relatively undeveloped.
I have not, although we plan to hit it within the next three years. It is designated as a "wild and scenic river" by WI DNR, so I would assume that development has been limited.
 
Don't give up on the BWCA - you will love it. I had to change entry points in September but did manage to go.
 
Don't give up on the BWCA - you will love it. I had to change entry points in September but did manage to go.

Not at all. I am still sold on getting up there in the next year or two.

It was just way too close to our departure time to chance it remaining closed. Two guys in our group were doing complete outfitting and had to scramble to beg, borrow, and buy gear so we could keep the trip alive. We then decided to go to a less drought-stricken area to ensure that a trip still happened.
 
I have paddled the Current River in Missouri many times, most recently about 100 miles in October of last year. Also quite a few other rivers in the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks including the Jacks Fork, Big Piney (MO), St Francis, North Fork of the White River, Bryant Creek, Eleven Point, and the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. I am part of a group that meets twice a year in the Ozarks to paddle. Our next get together will be in early May. If you have any interest in joining us send me a PM and I will give you the details. You should paddle Sugar Creek in Indiana if you have not already done so.
 
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