Wind and river give paddlers a push

By David Horst  sandhill7@gmail.com

SPRING GREEN -- Take majestic bluffs and a wide, tree-lined river. Add to that 80-degree temperatures, a 4 mph current and a strong tailwind and you’ve got the makings of a good day of paddling.

Better yet if you are with 20 friendly and interesting people.

That describes the second day of Fox-Wisconsin Heritage Paddle 2013. The first day wasn’t bad either.

May 18 we paddled the 11 miles from Arena to Spring Green on the Wisconsin River. The next day covered the 12.5 miles from Spring Green to Gotham.

The Arena landing is tucked down River Road off State 14 about 30 miles and a couple decades west of Madison. Fifteen kayaks and four canoes

Cranes, wolves and paddling

By David Horst   sandhill7@gmail.com

Here's a look at this and that while we wait to see if spring plans to stay for a few days.

April 13
I stood out in the driving snow pre-sunrise to take part in the annual International Crane Foundation Crane Count. Punctuating the prehistoric cackle of the sandhills was the occasional disquieting crack of ice falling from tree limbs after the ice storm that entombed tree branches like I have never seen before.

My count for the day was 27 sandhills -- seven on the ground and 20 flying over.

More noteable was