Three days and nights on the Yellow River near Necedah, WI (2024)

Last weekend I decided to try a difficult (for me) canoe trip by paddling upriver from Castle Rock Lake all the way to Necedah, WI on the Yellow River. It's hard to say how far the trip would be since the river is a crazy maze of twists and turns, but I guesstimate roundtrip was about 20 miles. Initially, I planned to get there early Sunday, setup camp and then relax for the day, leaving to paddle very early on Monday with the hope of returning late afternoon. I ended up changing plans due to severe storms in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday. I left my house at 5am and by the time I arrived and was on the water it was already 9:30am and I tried to do the paddle on Sunday.

I knew this was probably biting off more than I can chew since I had worked the day before, and woke at 4am to pack my gear and leave. I was tired when I started! Ultimately, I didn't cover half the distance to Necedah because the river current got far stronger than I expected. I was about 4 hours into my paddle and realized I was making very slow progress and my arms and shoulders were fatiguing noticeably, so I decided to turn back to camp. Here are two maps, one is a shot of the lower Yellow River (you can look up the whole thing on google) and the other is a screenshot from my phone showing my approximate GPS location where I turned back.

I got back to camp at about 4pm Sunday afternoon and the rain was expected to start around 7pm. I got my tent setup plus a strung my tarp so I would have a place to sit/rest and stay dry. I had a nice evening, made some dinner and the rain help off till 3am, but then the real storms started! Heavy rain, frequent lightning and thunder plus gusts to 50mph and my tent was staked in sand. Fortunately camp help together and I got some sleep. Storms continued into Monday afternoon before giving me a break of sunshine and warm temps, which did wonders for the soul! I took a quick drive into town and picked up a 6-pack of Coors and two bottles of Repel (lol mosquitos were savage!).

After enjoying the afternoon, storms returned for the evening and never left until I went home. I spent my time in the rain mostly reading my book and just staring at the lake. It was good trip even if I didn't hit all the benchmarks I set for myself - a good excuse to return and try again! Thanks for reading and as always, here are some pics and a cool video!

I was able to paddle up to this bald eagle quite close and get a nice shot of him. You can see how unconcerned he was at my proximity!

These pics are my entrance into the river system:

This was the first decent patch of sand I found to get out of the boat and take a rest!

continued.....

More pictures. They are out of order; the sunset pics were from Monday evening. After that the storms kept rolling in waves!

A beaver chewed on this tree!

My lakeside campsite.

I brought my twig stove @occidentalist made for me, it came in handy during all the rain. I sat chopping up wood for it, cooked some bacon, mushrooms and onions for breakfast.

Next wave of storm clouds rolling in.

The only sunset of the trip, but what a sunset it was!

Thanks for checking out my pics!

BnR said:

Heavy rain, frequent lightning and thunder plus gusts to 50mph and my tent was staked in sand.

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Sounds like a family camping trip we took to Indiana Dunes state park back when I was little.

First or second trip in my own tent. First real storm in it, anyway. Spent half the night wondering if the tent was going to come un-stuck and sail away with me in it. Granted, I was much younger and smaller then. I seem to remember insisting that I get some of those big plastic yellow tent pegs like the big canvas tent had, instead of the little wire hooks to hold my tent down after that.

No worries about being carried off in a windblown tent these days. Ignoring my own increased heft, the shear amount of gear that manages to tag along will keep it from going anywhere. All it'll do these days is just collapse.

pab1 said:

Aside from the storms it sounds like a great trip!

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I knew the storms were coming ahead of time so didn't ruin the trip, just altered it. I was prepared, but would have been nicer on the water while I was there!

biglazycamper said:

Sounds like a family camping trip we took to Indiana Dunes state park back when I was little.

First or second trip in my own tent. First real storm in it, anyway. Spent half the night wondering if the tent was going to come un-stuck and sail away with me in it. Granted, I was much younger and smaller then. I seem to remember insisting that I get some of those big plastic yellow tent pegs like the big canvas tent had, instead of the little wire hooks to hold my tent down after that.

No worries about being carried off in a windblown tent these days. Ignoring my own increased heft, the shear amount of gear that manages to tag along will keep it from going anywhere. All it'll do these days is just collapse.

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I still go to Indiana Dunes every year. Most times I pack overnight gear and leave after work mid-week and then hike the swamps. It's only about a 90 minute drive from home.