TRIP REPORT
IHSC Kayak Trip to Peninsula State Park

Friday

The majority of the trip participants car-pooled up to Wisconsin leaving from the Naperville area early afternoon on Friday arriving at the camp site at around 9pm. Since Northwest Passage had arrived before us, the campsite along with tents were all set up prior to our arrival - plus food and drinks (ie. BEER!) were available. We all sat around the campfire staring up at the clear starry night discussing our kayaking plans for the next two days. Paul and Matt (our guides) enticed us with tales of more advanced adventures run by Northwest Passage such as a North Pole trip for which you must survive a shakeout trip -- including an intentional jump into icy water. Much of the discussion focused on what the weather report was for the weekend. The Weather Channel had predicted scattered thundershowers throughout Saturday, clearing Sunday. The Green Bay forecast was for all day rain on Saturday and Sunday. Either way we were going to get wet - from both below as well as above...

Saturday: 7:30am.

The clear night sky of yesterday had turned overcast with light drizzle. We all awoke to the gentle sound of rain on the tents. Managing to extricate ourselves from the dry, warm environment that the tents afforded us (well, some of us had dry tents, others could have kayaked out of their tents...), we were at least greeted by our guides with coffee and breakfast. After a great breakfast and several cups of coffee, we took a few pre-kayaking pictures in the rain and headed out to Peninsula State Park to begin our kayaking adventure.

We were hoping that the light rain would give way to sunshine, but the further we drove and the closer we got to Peninsula State Park the harder it would rain. As can be seen in one of John's photos on the web site we were driving in an absolute downpour. We got to the boat launch area at the height of the rain and proceed to unload the kayaks and outfit ourselves with wet-suits, raingear, and yellow splash skirts which made everyone look just fabulous! While still on land, our guides proceeded to instruct us on different paddling techniques and how to launch and enter the boats from the shore line. As you can see from the pictures, someone (GARY) didn't pay attention and flipped the kayak while on shore (actually, Dave Anderson flipped his first but we didn't get the picture to prove it). After everyone successfully launched his/her kayak we proceeded to paddle out into the middle of the bay for more instruction.

One of the lessons we learned was how to capsize the kayak, release the skirt and float out of the kayak to the surface. We then had to learn how to do an assisted rescue which involved using another kayak to right the capsized kayak, drain it of water, and then help the kayaker back into the kayak. The guides were supposed to demonstrate all of this for us first, but John Gentry decided he couldn't wait so he capsized his own kayak and had to be rescued by the guides - thanks John. Once the lessons were over, we paddled a couple of miles along the shoreline and bluffs, had lunch, and then proceeded to paddle out and around Horse-shoe island which lies about a half-mile off shore.

Back at camp we all got warm showers (Kathy enjoyed seeing the line on the men's side for once!) and feasted on some great chicken fajitas that were prepared by our guides - despite the continuing rain. After dinner some of us decided to head into town to visit the local establishments in search of dry surroundings and local brews. We found a nice little tavern to quelch our thirst and catch the Greenbay game. After spending a few hours at the bar and watching the clientele switch from Greenbay fans to couples dressed up in suits and dresses we decided to head back to the camp and sit out by the campfire.

Sunday 7:30am.

We awoke Sunday morning to bright sunlight filtering through the trees as well as the smell of blueberry pancakes being prepared. After a heathy dose of awesome tasting pancakes and coffee we went about the business of packing up the campsite. Fortunate for us that we were packing wet tents that belonged to NW Passage and not our own - less work for us upon returning home.

This day we were going to kayak the lake side of the peninsula and headed out to an absolutely beautiful sandy beach. As can can be seen in the photographs we had unlimited sunshine and smooth water. After hauling the kayaks down to the beach we adorned ourselves with splash skirts, climbed into the kayaks and paddled off. At least this time everyone had the kayak entry down and no one rolled the kayak at the shoreline - which was good since we had several sun bathers watching our progress. We paddled out to an inlet and followed it several miles inland until it got too shallow to proceed further. Upon our way out of the inlet the lake had kicked up some and we encountered some wave action. That made the paddling interesting since we had water splashing over the bows of the kayak (made us feel like real sea kayakers). We continued to paddle back past our beach and down the shore line for a ways before returning to the beach. After beaching the kayaks and going for a quick swim to cool off, we helped load the kayaks onto the trailer and enjoyed a great lunch. The sun, beach and beautiful day on Sunday did more than make up for all the rain we encountered on Saturday.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end so we packed ourselves into the cars and headed back to Naperville. The group consensus was that the trip - even with all its rain - was great and people were looking to do another trip in the future. So stayed tuned and don't miss out next time -- especially all our female members.

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Tue Sep 25 09:19:19 CDT 2001 Mail Dave Bodenstab with questions/problems about this site.