Packed to Paddle

Pecatonica River - Wisconsin

Date: April 23, 2022; Length: 8 miles; Duration: 3 hours

Put In: County G Bridge (Calamine)

Room to park and cleared space under the bridge but steep mud banks leading to the water making for a difficult put in.

Takeout: Black Bridge Park (Darlington)

Park just off the river with parking and gravel landing space leading to a lower grass bank to use for fairly easy access.

Paddling Experience = 3/5

This 8-mile stretch of the Pecatonica could be a much more pleasant paddling experience if some of the deadfall got cleared up or at least opened up enough to paddle through without issue. That and we had a strong South wind, making for some extra resistance at times but also fun riffles to paddle through.

Natural Scenery = 3/5

The river and the surrounding scenery kind of blended in a bland look, with the scattered trees still bare at the time to go with the mud banks and brown water. On a positive note, there is only one bridge in this 8-mile section, helping keep things more natural.

Accessibility = 3/5

Aside from a steep muddy put in, the two access points were fairly accommodating. The real issue in access comes in the recurring near complete deadfall blockages to try and find a way through.

Gradient & Water Level

Gradient: ~1 foot per mile.
Experience Paddling at this Water Level: The water level was good. There were no scraping issues and only few moments I felt the river bottom with my paddling strokes.

Gauge Information

Here is information on stream gauge readings around the date of this paddle (Note: Gauge located in Martintown, WI, near the Wisconsin-Illinois border and a ways downstream of this section of the Pecatonica.):

  • USGS Number = 05345000
  • Discharge Rate = 1100 CFS
  • Gage Height = 7.5 ft

Overall Experience

Planning: The Pecatonica River starts in southwestern Wisconsin and flows southeast into Illinois before merging with the Rock River. Mike Svob has three successive trips of the Pecatonica totaling 32 miles in Illinois, along with the one 8-mile section of Calamine – Darlington that I chose to use for my trip.

Shuttle: The main attraction to this section of the Pecatonica river was the trail that ran alongside and connected access points, making for an ideal hiking shuttle. The trail was more like a smaller dirt gravel road, which several UTVs and dirt bikes frequented while we hiked our six miles of it in just under two hours.

Paddling: The river had a decent current at times for having such a flat gradient, which could have just been a result of the strong winds. These winds were a pain to paddle into for some longer straight stretches, but happened to generate some fun riffles as well. The river had some other positive paddling qualities, with its narrow width, winding nature, and no scraping issues. The real paddling issues came when I couldn’t paddle due to about ten different deadfall blockages. Some were partial blockages with small but clear openings to paddle through while others were more congested, complex to bypass, and required hands on branch moving and pushing or hoisting over partially submerged logs.

Observations: The river had a bland brown color and lack of clarity, and of course all of the scattered trees or deadfall in the water at various times.   Mud banks and scattered trees were the immediate surroundings from here, with some more open areas of farm land and the fairly popular trail running alongside common sights and sounds of UTVs and dirt bikes going by. On a more natural note, we spotted pairs of geese a handful of times, some ducks, a few ruffed grouse, and one big snapping turtle entering the river.

Reflections: This section of the Pecatonica River is nothing too special. The trail connecting the 8-mile stretch is the most appealing aspect, with the narrow and winding river my favorite paddling characteristics of it. You can get some solitude with the lack of bridges, but the near off trail is commonly used by UTVs and others and the natural surroundings are pretty bare aside from some scattered trees. Who can forget the various deadfall blockages to try and pass around or squeeze through. That is the main thing to be prepared for if planning to paddle this section of the Pecatonica.