Showing posts with label Canoeing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canoeing. Show all posts

Horicon Marsh - Horicon

For the longest time I drove past this area, daunted by the immense size of the marsh.  Even with all of the nice road signs you still didn't know if you were going to have a nice dry hike. It is a marsh after all.  If you were to have a staring contest with this marsh, the marsh would win. Back in the good ole days you didn't have a nature center with nice trail maps and bathrooms or a place to warm your bones. Fast forwarding a decade or two and it seems that there is finally a proper visitors center; a warm place to share the history, buy trinkets, and to relax and regroup. And yes, a bathroom.

Lower Cato Falls County Park - Clark Mills

Clarke Mills (Manitowoc Cty)

Here is another example of places I discover while on my way to 'elsewhere' during a Road Trip. I whizzed past the sign and drove in to just check things out. Click here for the gloogled map. What I was attempting to show on the lovely photo wasn't just the size of the rapid but the huge limestone shelf on the other side that appears to be unclimbable for regular folk - great fun for those with no fear. I can try to get another shot of it but with my current camera status I know it will be utter crap.

Wheretofind: This Road Trip started at Kohler-Andre State Park (Sheboygan Cty), ended at Pinecrest Historical Village (Manitowoc Cty), and I was heading west on JJ and a bit before you reach the Clark Mills intersections is where this park can be found on the right.

This park is listed on the American Whitewater site, and the link I've provides a great deal of information for kayakers as far as starting/finishing point, length, rapid classification and a fair warning on the quality of the water should you fall in.

What to expect: Upper/Lower section with stairs leading to the rivers edge at each end (Manitowoc River, that is). Picnic and playground areas and short trails as seen on this map. Actually this link says there are 4 stairways and I only found 2, which means I still haven't fully explored this park yet.

Sidenote: I left off the hiking label on this post -- the trails did not seem long enough to warrant hiking status in my book. Meaning, that I would not make a Road Trip solely for the purpose of hiking, which is what I use to classify the label.