Baraboo River

I am wondering if any of you midwest paddlers have done the 4 mile stretch of this river that flows thru the town of Baraboo. It is supposed to be mild whitewater{class 1+ rapids} and am looking for your impressions, tips, or things to watch out for specific to this particular stretch of water. It will be our first venture into more than just rock garden riffles or wind induced waves. In a previous post several of you said class 1 should be no problem for a 13’ rec boat as long as we had basic boat control skills, so we are anxious to give it a try. Any insights from paddlers who have paddled this river would be most appreciated.

It ought to be a real circus out there -

Get ahold of Derrickam.
He’s from Baraboo. This is his website too:



http://www.kayakwisconsin.net/



Jim

stand up
Hi,



Yeah, the Baraboo is a nice family version of whitewater. Class .5 - 1. There’s one little spot that might earn a 1.5 on a really good day! LOL!!



Usually the real issue is bouncing off rocks for big sections. It can be irritating. With a WW boat you can avoid most of them but even with a 12 or 16 you’re going to catch some rocks or bottom now and again.



If you do get caught on a rock, just jump out and stand up. It’s rarely over a foot and a half deep in the riffles. Current is pretty tame unless the flow is really, really up. Some spots are 3 or 4 feet deep but only in the slow calm sections. There are some strainers along the banks but you should have ample warning. Just remember to stay to the outside branches when the river splits a couple times.



Not that you can’t get in trouble, but you’d have to try pretty hard.



Any other questions, yeah, just email me. :slight_smile: