Well, I'm getting good exercise.
I'll tell you that.
I thank goodness, two things, two thoughts today.
I thank goodness for Mark McCauley and what he showed us the pine could be.
And I can't imagine the first
Years that he went and I know his dad helped him and there were others that helped clear that pine But oh my gosh We're getting a lesson this year and I think goodness we got great volunteers and people that are stepping up and helping to clean so
for those who are looking to go kayaking this weekend that rock bridge section now all the way down to the county sr highway 80 landing that is open very enjoyable honestly that's my favorite section to kayak just because of the rock formations and you know from rock bridge down that that's really neat it's
I described it to some guests that your opportunity to get a flavor of Wisconsin Dells without the expense and the noise.
And there are some that have been to the Dells, they go, Hey, you're right, you know.
So that section is fantastic, really ready to go.
Anytime you go south of SR County SR Highway 80 landing, it gets pretty dicey after that.
I would not encourage anyone go south of that.
And that even includes the
Bowens mill to Millpond Park section now for those that have been out on social media and have seen Sunday we had we had a near kayaking miracle show up chainsaw Jesus came and For those you who don't know there's this fella that goes by
Well, Mark gave him the tag chainsaw Jesus and now I have seen him in action He and I were out on on the river We cleared two major problem spots that we had been working on that only honestly only he could do I would have I would have probably five chainsaws stuck and we'd all be sitting there trying to figure out how to get them out because of how big
the trees were and how much pressure there was.
We could do that.
We could charge admission at least and make some money off from the chainsaws stuck in the tree.
But CJ, as we call him, he really did a heck of a job.
And so the one by North Park that a lot of folks were familiar with, that's gone.
that's taken care of.
And then we had another one just north of there off Jim Wilson's property and heads up to Jim.
I really appreciate he let us get on his property and walk right down to it.
And we were able to clear that one as well.
You have to go under again.
That's a huge tree, but really good clearance to where you could go under that.
So we felt really good about ourselves.
We thought, all right, we're good to go.
We checked that stretch again because everything else was clear as of two weeks ago.
Well, we had, you might remember, we did have one storm, a windstorm with rain.
And sure enough, we have two more big blockages.
And now yesterday,
Dave Hausner and I, Dave's been a really good volunteer this summer going out and helping me on the river and Dave went out.
We worked for about four hours and the Pine River won.
um we were down two chainsaws uh two chainsaws died on us we had one left and the rule of working on the pine when you are using a chainsaw is when you get down to where you only have one chainsaw you stop because sure as heck what's gonna happen you're gonna end up with a chainsaw stuck in a tree because the pressure
You can work on wood on the ground on level ground where you have control of everything and you'll still get a chainsaw stuck every now and then.
Am I right?
Oh, sure.
You know, well, when you get into the river and you start working and you don't know where the pressure is really until you start cutting it, you're going to end up with a chainsaw stuck.
So we had to stop.
So there's still some work to do there.
It's a pretty major blockage and I really would I'll say this you can portage around that one But then there's a second one south of that.
That's it's pretty major too.
So until We get volunteers to kind of finish finish those other two
Um, and they're able to get to them and we've got a schedule where we think we're going to get at it.
Uh, I'd really avoid that portion.
You're going to get frustrated.
Um, there's one portage that's not hard and then there's a second one.
It's going to be work.
So I'd, I'd really tell folks going kayaking, uh, this weekend, uh, you know, towards the end of July here, uh, really from rock bridge down to count County SR highway 80 landing, that's almost a three and a half, four hour kayak trip.
So.
That's an afternoon or a morning, and that'd be sufficient, I think, for a lot of novices.
If you're an expert, you want to do a portage, and then another portage, and maybe even a third one on that lower portion go right ahead.
But it's going to be an adventure, and you might have some choice words.
Yeah, so there are some.
I know Chuck Pardoon has done that.
There's two things that happens down on that section.
It widens out a little bit, so there's a little more space, a little deeper.
Then the second thing is we just can't get there, right?
So now you're on your own, you're in the wilderness, and there are some blockages down there.
There have been past years where Mark, when he was running the kayak operation, he was able to get down there a couple times when he had good years and didn't, you know, you could get everything cleaned out and no floods came or no windstorms and he got into it.
It's not as scenic as far as there are no rock formations down there, but...
I know there are people who are real adventurers and they love kayaking and they don't mind portaging.
They're self-sufficient.
And they've done that.
And to get all the way to the Wisconsin River even.
I've talked to some people who have done that.
And it's an adventure.
You know, you're out there on your own.
So you better.
You better have your wits about you and have some real experience.
Marquette, Marquette and Joliet.
Oh, yeah.
So, you know, how did Portage get its name?
Portage of Wisconsin.
There you go.
You know, it's portaging.
So that's, yeah, Marquette and Joliet, I believe, were the ones that really found that town.
this.
Yeah, or I thought Barry Rogher might be listening.
He'd be real proud.
That kid actually learned something.
Wait a minute.
What's going on at the branding iron?
Well, the branding iron, they had just a hot weekend last weekend.
So this weekend, things are a little more sedate.
You can head up there on Thursday tonight, and you can get into their burger menu, their own farm-raised beef, just raised right down the road from there.
And those, you know, that's a great option.
And then also a Friday night fish.
I argue one of the best fish fries around up at the branding iron in Lyme Ridge.
And then Saturday onto the burger menu again.
You know, and they have other they have chicken, they have fish, but really the feature when they're offering the burger menu, I think is the branding iron burger.
And it's it's fantastic.
Plain three day.
Yeah.
That's always a good time.
They usually have, and I didn't check the bands this year, but they usually have some really good live music.
And that's a really neat celebration with a parade again.
So another parade, playing always a fun time.
maybe not as exciting or, or unique as Casanova and Boaz, but playing again, nonetheless, really a good time there.
And I've seen some pictures of past parades at, at, uh, playing that there was some interesting things going on in the sixties and the seventies.
Oh, I
Yep.
So that'll be a good time in playing.
You
And then also I would mention Phil, you know,
we do have volunteers going out and working on the pine uh all the time it's it's a little sporadic but all of a sudden somebody will find their afternoon open up and they'll be hey is somebody available and boom they go so for the most current uh what's going on as far as where we can kayak where we can't i'd always encourage folks to get a hold of 13 pines rc 608 608 0392 um
You know, Jen can tell you if something's changed, or you can go onto the website, or I'm sorry, on social media.
If you check Greater Richland Tourism's Facebook, you'll see what's going on and you'll get the most current status there as well.
right?
You got the calendar of events.
We'll always keep you up to date on what's happening, the community celebrations, things like that.
Awesome.
Have a great weekend.
You bet.
Well, I'm getting good exercise.
I'll tell you that.
I think goodness, two things, two thoughts today.
I thank goodness for Mark McCauley and what he showed us the pine could be.
And I can't imagine the first
Years that he went and I know his dad helped him and there were others that helped clear that pine But oh my gosh We're getting a lesson this year and I think goodness we got great volunteers and people that are stepping up and helping to clean so
for those who are looking to go kayaking this weekend that rock bridge section now all the way down to the county sr highway 80 landing that is open very enjoyable honestly that's my favorite section to kayak just because of the rock formations and you know from rock bridge down that that's really neat it's
I described it to some guests that your opportunity to get a flavor of Wisconsin Dells without the expense and the noise.
And there are some that have been to the Dells, they go, Hey, you're right, you know.
So that section is fantastic, really ready to go.
Anytime you go south of SR County SR Highway 80 landing, it gets pretty dicey after that.
I would not encourage anyone go south of that.
And that even includes the
Bowens mill to Millpond Park section now for those that have been out on social media and have seen Sunday we had we had a near kayaking miracle show up Chainsaw Jesus came and for those you who don't know there's this fella that goes by
Well, Mark gave him the tag chainsaw Jesus and now I have seen him in action He and I were out on on the river We cleared two major problem spots that we had been working on that only honestly only he could do I would have I would have probably five chainsaws stuck and we'd all be sitting there trying to figure out how to get them out because of how big
the trees were and how much pressure there was.
We could do that.
We could charge admission at least to make some money off from the chainsaws stuck in the tree.
But CJ, as we call him, he really did a heck of a job.
And so the one by North Park that a lot of folks were familiar with, that's gone.
that's taken care of.
And then we had another one just north of there off Jim Wilson's property and heads up to Jim.
I really appreciate he let us get on his property and walk right down to it.
And we were able to clear that one as well.
You have to go under again.
That's a huge tree, but really good clearance to where you could go under that.
So we felt really good about ourselves.
We thought, all right, we're good to go.
We checked that stretch again because everything else was clear as of two weeks ago.
Well, we had, you might remember, we did have one storm, a windstorm with rain.
And sure enough, we have two more big blockages.
And now yesterday,
Dave Hausner and I, Dave's been a really good volunteer this summer going out and helping me on the river and Dave went out.
We worked for about four hours and the Pine River won.
We were down two chainsaws.
Two chainsaws died on us.
We had one left and the rule of working on the pine when you are using a chainsaw is when you get down to where you only have one chainsaw you stop because sure as heck what's gonna happen you're gonna end up with a chainsaw stuck in a tree because the pressure
You can work on wood on the ground on level ground where you have control of everything and you'll still get a chainsaw stuck every now and then.
Am I right?
Oh, sure.
You know, well, when you get into the river and you start working and you don't know where the pressure is really until you start cutting it.
you're going to end up with the chainsaw stuck so we had to stop so there's still some work to do there it's a pretty major blockage and I really would I'll say this you can portage around that one but then there's a second one south of that that's it's pretty major too so until we get volunteers to kind of finish those other two
Um, and they're able to get to them and we've got a schedule where we think we're going to get at it.
Uh, I'd really avoid that portion.
You're going to get frustrated.
Um, there's one portage that's not hard and then there's a second one.
It's going to be work.
So I'd, I'd really tell folks going kayaking, uh, this weekend, uh, you know, towards the end of July here, uh, really from rock bridge down to count County SR highway 80 landing, that's almost a three and a half, four hour kayak trip.
So.
that's that's an afternoon or a morning and that that'd be sufficient I think for a lot of novices if you're an expert you want to do a portage and then another portage and maybe even a third one on that lower portion go right ahead but it's it's going to be an adventure you might have some choice words
yeah so so there are some I know Chuck Pardoon has done that but it
There's two things that happens down on that section.
It widens out a little bit, so there's a little more space.
little deeper.
Then the second thing is we just can't get there, right?
So now you're on your own, you're in the wilderness.
And there are some blockages down there.
There have been past years where Mark, when he was running the kayak operation, he was able to get down there a couple of times.
When he had good years and didn't, you know, you could get everything cleaned out and no floods came or no windstorms.
And he got into it.
It's not as scenic as far as there are no rock formations.
down there but I know there are people who are real adventurers and they love kayaking and they don't mind portaging they're self-sufficient and they've done that and to get all the way to the Wisconsin River even I've talked to some people who've done that and it's an adventure you know you're out there on your own so you better
You better have your wits about you and have some real experience.
Marquette.
Marquette and Joliet.
Oh, yeah.
So, you know, how did Portage get its name?
Portage of Wisconsin.
There you go.
You know, it's portaging.
So that's, yeah, Marquette and Joliet, I believe were the ones that really found that town.
this.
Yeah, or I thought Barry Rogher might be listening.
He'd be real proud.
That kid actually learned something.
Wait a minute.
What's going on at the branding iron?
Well, the branding iron, they had just a hot weekend last weekend.
So this weekend, things are a little more sedate.
You can head up there on Thursday at tonight and you can get into their burger menu, their own farm raised beef just raised right down the road from there.
And those, you know, that's a great act.
a great option.
And then also a Friday night fish.
I argue one of the best fish fries around up at the branding iron in Lyme Ridge.
And then Saturday onto the burger menu again.
You know, and they have other they have chicken, they have fish, but really the feature when they're offering the burger menu, I think is the branding iron burger.
And it's it's fantastic.
Yeah.
playing three day.
Yeah, that's always a good time.
They usually have and I didn't check the bands this year, but they usually have some really good live music.
And that's a really neat celebration with a parade again.
So another parade, playing always a fun time.
maybe not as exciting or, or unique as Casanova and Boaz, but playing again, nonetheless, really a good time there.
And I've seen some pictures of past parades at, at, uh, playing that there was some interesting things going on in the sixties and the seventies.
Oh, I
So that'll be a good time in playing.
You bet.
And then also I would mention Phil, you know,
we do have volunteers going out and working on the pine uh all the time it's it's a little sporadic but all of a sudden somebody will find their afternoon open up and they'll be hey is somebody available and boom they go so for the most current uh what's going on as far as where we can kayak where we can't i'd always encourage folks to get a hold of 13 pines rc 608 608 0392 um
You know, Jen can tell you if something's changed, or you can go onto the website, or I'm sorry, on social media.
If you check Greater Richland Tourism's Facebook, you'll see what's going on and you'll get the most current status there as well.
right?
You got the calendar of events.
We'll always keep you up to date on what's happening, the community celebrations, things like that.
Awesome.
Have a great weekend.
You bet.