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5 Fox River A: INDIAN HILLS CAMPGROUND TO PORTAGE CANAL

• THE • FACTS •

Put-in/take-out Indian Trails Campground/Portage Canal on Agency House Road

Distance/time 8.7 mi/Allow for 4–5 hrs

Gradient/water level 1 fpm/See the NOAA gage in Pardeeville. Look for a minimum height of 7 feet. Call Indian Trails Campground (608-429-3244) for real-time water levels. Higher water is better for paddling up the canal. Also, check the wind forecast to try to avoid high winds from the north or west when paddling across Swan Lake.

Water type Quietwater and flatwater

Canoe or kayak Either

Skill level Beginner

Time of year to paddle Anytime

Landscape Sedge meadows, oak savanna, prairie remnants, tamarack swamp, historic lock and canal through urban downtown

OVERVIEW This day journey for the adventurous type explores the historic Fox River, where it begins as a narrow, meandering creek through woodsy meadows, empties into a lake, quietly exits the lake amid a pristine setting of tamaracks and barrens in a protected wildlife area, and finally becomes a river as it takes up its long trek to Green Bay. Passing through an unspoiled landscape as it enters the city of Portage, the river is linked to a famous canal that once connected to the Wisconsin River. Expect to see sandhill cranes, great blue herons, deer, wood ducks, fish, and lots of turtles, including the cool spiny softshell.

SHUTTLE 9 miles. From the take-out, head south on Agency House Road, then turn left onto Cook Street/WI 33. Stay on WI 33 for approximately 6 miles, then turn right onto Wendlick Road. Turn left onto Haynes Road and then turn right into Indian Trails Campground.

TAKE-OUT N43° 33.544' W89° 26.217'

PUT-IN N43° 32.940' W89° 19.380'

• THE • FLAVOR •

PUT IN AT THE PRIVATE CAMPGROUND, where there is a nominal fee ($6) to access the river. There is a free public boat launch at the lake in Pardeeville, but I don’t recommend using it as a put-in, due to the many logjams and necessary portages you’d endure from the boat launch to the campground. Plus, the owner of the campground does an outstanding job of keeping the narrow river clear of obstructions, so think of the fee as gasoline money to keep those chainsaws running.

The Fox here is sweetly intimate, only 20 feet wide and shallow. The water is clear, the bottom sandy. The landscape is marshy, but not flat; tall grass and alders in the foreground contrast with the slopes of pine behind. The river does meander quite a bit, with ubiquitous oxbows, so expect a small workout if you’re in a canoe or longer kayak.

After a mile or so, you’ll pass under the derelict remnants of a bridge and then a beautiful cabin on the left. A welcome straightaway announces the inlet to Swan Lake, 407 acres large and 80 feet deep. The opening upon the lake reveals sections that are wild, undeveloped, and lovely. Alas, it’s more than 2 miles of lake paddling from the inlet to the outlet, so you may wish to preserve your stamina by not tooling around the outskirts too long.

From the outlet to the public boat launch on Swan Lake, off South Shore Drive, is less than a mile; houses and docks line the shore. (The boat launch can be used as an alternative put-in or take-out for those looking for a shorter trip.) Fortunately, there’s less development in the far southwest corner of the lake, which is where you want to head to find the outlet back to the river proper. Look for the yellow Fox River canoe signs. It’s a pretty cool feeling to leave the lake by following a river trail.

Back in the river, the water is wonderfully clear again, the bottom a mix of sand and gravel. You can essentially relax now and let the surprisingly reputable current do some of the work. Besides, the river here is twice as wide as upstream, so there should be no obstacles to dodge. The next 2 miles take you through the Swan Lake Wildlife Area, an undeveloped 2,400 acres of wetlands, grassland, and wooded habitats, including sedge meadows, cattail marshes, oak barrens, and tamarack swamps. It’s a truly beautiful place hidden in the shadow of historic Portage. Also, as you make your way northwest, you’ll begin to see the big beautiful Baraboo Range off to your left, a rather dramatic contrast to the lowlands of the marsh. (Baraboo River C, for more information on the range.)

After a longish straightaway, the river will begin to meander gently as trees come closer to the banks; there are billowy weeping willows in one particularly pretty bend. A few more meanders lead to a tight right turn immediately followed by one to the left, where you’ll find five foundation pylons in the water supporting a nonexistent bridge, a sort of Fox River Stonehenge.

Quietwater makes for some beautiful reflections.

A few more gradual bends follow as you’ll begin to hear the sound of traffic coming from the bridge across WI 33. On the right bank, upstream of the bridge, is the Surgeons’ Quarters, the only surviving building of Fort Winnebago, one of three such forts protecting the trade route between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. Built in 1828, the handsome old building is open to the public. (Fun fact: For a brief spell, some 30 years before going on to become the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis was stationed here.)

Below the bridge is a wayside on the right (Fox River B), but you’ll paddle past this for close to a mile before the river heads north, then east, through shallow, sandy shoals. After a quick succession of left–right–left turns, you’ll come upon the Portage Canal, technically an outlet from the Wisconsin River to the Fox River (more on that following).

Turn left into the canal, paddle 300 feet up to the derelict lock and dam, and take out on the right at the grass. Just down the road is the Historic Indian Agency House, a home first built in 1832 by the US government to house the Indian agent John Kinzie and his wife for the purposes of “negotiating” with the Ho-Chunk (a.k.a. Winnebago). Today, it can be toured for a fee between May 15 and October 15.

• THE • FUDGE •

ADDITIONAL TRIPS You might consider paddling the canal itself, about 2.3 miles from end to end. There is an imperceptible gradient from the Wisconsin River side to the Fox River, so paddling from the latter to the former is pretty easy. It’s stagnant water, however, prone to some pretty funky algae sludge in warm weather, and the canal tends to be very shallow. But the tunnels, tall old mill buildings, concrete walls, and medieval fortress–looking gate, all closer to the Wisconsin River end, make for a fun and scenic side trip.

There is no direct access to the Wisconsin River anymore. That said, it’s a short 300-foot walk to the big river over the levee. Consider this: If a raindrop falls to the south of the levee, it eventually makes its way down to the Mississippi River via the Wisconsin River, past St. Louis and Memphis and New Orleans, and into the Gulf of Mexico. If that same raindrop fell to the north of the levee, it would end up in the canal, travel down the Fox River, into Lake Michigan, through Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario (tumbling down Niagara Falls in the meantime), past Montreal and Quebec along the St. Lawrence River, and into the Atlantic Ocean.

CAMPING AND RENTALS Indian Trails Campground is situated on a small lake a few miles east of Portage (W6445 Haynes Road, Pardeeville; 608-429-3244).

FOOD FOR THOUGHT For a savory meal or sweet treat, stop by Le Croissant Bakery and Restaurant (235 W. Pleasant St., Portage; 608-742-5466).

SHOUT-OUTS For Historic Indian Agency House tour information, call 608-742-6362 or go to agencyhouse.org.

Special thanks to the Friends of the Fox and the Fox Wisconsin Heritage Parkway, advocacy groups working to preserve and promote the river’s heritage. And for a fascinating read, check your public library or antiquarian bookseller for a copy of Reuben Gold Thwaites’s Historic Waterways: 600 Miles of Canoeing Down the Rock, Fox, and Wisconsin Rivers, published in 1888.

Two blocks west of the canal take-out, on West Edgewater Street, is a Greek Revival home built by Zona Gale—writer, activist, and the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for drama—as a gift to her parents.