This river is beautifull, with sandbars and islands all over(the sand actually squeaks when you walk on it) to camp on. Wooded bluffs line the banks. Easy paddling, I've done about 50-60 miles of this river from Spring Green to the Mississippi,easy to do 15-20 miles a day for a nice weekend trip. I found maps at the Wis.tourist keosk in Prairie du chein.

I canoed a stretch of this river with my summer camp back in the early 70's. We spent the night on a sand bar in pup tents.

Was a fun trip except for when I got caught in the current while swimming and had to be rescued by a trip leader. :(

Yeah, that current is deceptively strong.

Once I was camped on an island. Had my canoe tied up. Tent was set well back from the water. Nice night. Slept well.

In the morning the lapping of waves woke me. "Hmmm ... those are pretty loud" I thought. I looked out my tent and the water was about 18" away! Apparently there was either rain upstream or some dam was opened. I was sure glad I had my canoe tied up.

Always tie your canoe off for the night, even if the weather is great. :)

No glass containers are allowed on the Wisconsin River.

Sorry to hear about that Tom T, never went back? We swam in the little side pools. Bannock I to noticed the water would rise and fall allmost like a tide, It never occured to me that it could be a dam,duh...lol. We had no problems as we camped on the lighter(drier)sand, If it was dark sand(wetter)we camped well away from it, and used this as an indicator for water levels. We never tied our canoes off because most of the time we were on sandbars in the middle of the river with nothing to tie off on, we just pulled our canoes up on shore well away from the darker sand. The thing thats really cool about this river is the historical aspect, Marquette and Joliet canoed down this river in 1673 on their way to the Mississippi. And it was a water "freeway" to many tribes of indians. The original name of this river is Meskousing, which turned into Ouisconsin a few years later by another explorer named Lasalle, and didn't turn into "Wisconsin" untill the nineteenth century. T-wolf

The Wisconsin is pretty cool--we have a group of 4 guys that paddle/float/fish it almost every summer. There is indeed a hydroelectric dam at Sauk City. That is the last dam on the river, it flows freely to the Mississippi from there. We usually start near the dam, the fishing has always been good to us in that area. As for the constantly fluctuating water levels, most people that canoe the Wisconsin are day-tripping, so it really just affects how fast they float down the river. It can adversely affect your camping and fishing. Big releases from the dam make the water really murky (algae and debris) and always seems to hurt fishing for us. When the water is low and clear, the fish congregate in the holes on the downriver sides of sandbars, making them easier to find. The fun thing about fishing the Wisconsin is the variety of species in the river. On one 3-day trip, our group caught 15 different species (if you include the turtle). Bird life is abundant, too.

Camping the sandbars is a bit more like car camping than bwca-style canoe camping. We rent 17 ft. aluminum canoes and load them to max. capacity with gear, coolers, ice, and firewood. Yes, we bring our own (local-bought) firewood and lots of it. On the last trip we brought a screen house (highly recommended). There are 2 major things that sandbars *don't* have--firewood and shade--so you have to bring your own (if you desire that level of comfort). As far as the fluctuating water level goes, it's usually pretty easy to tell what parts of a sandbar haven't seen any water recently. Look for plant sprouts, turtle nests, etc. Pull your canoes way up on dry ground at night.

We like to climb Ferry Bluff for a scenic view of the area (and take a break from sitting in a canoe). Just downriver from the bluff is a nude beach of sorts. Outfitters will warn church groups and families to stay in the right-side channel to bypass this area. We, of course, tend to float leisurely through their little enclave, but there have been times when we wished we'd stayed to the right!

There are motor boats on the river, and the DNR is usually pretty well represented. That said, there are some sandbars that can't be reached by motorboat. We happened to camp on one last summer, right where the creek exits Tower Hill State Park. I think this may have frustrated the local conservation officer as the next morning he made a point to get to us as soon as we were off the sandbar and in an area where he could reach us. He checked everyone over (we were all legal, and he checked 2 of us the day before) and told us he "was watching us last night" (all still legal). Not out of the ordinary I guess, but a little creepy. Don't these people work in shifts?

Anyway, the Wisconsin is a fun trip. I know there are big cats and sturgeon in there, but we generally don't fish for them. Sorry for the poor photo quality.

What do you mean "legal"? I am aware of the glass ban and I believe you need a trash bag. Of course you need a fishing license if fishing. Are there other regulations/rules? It's been awhile for me, but I don't remember there being any other rules.

I see you mention bringing firewood. Is collecting firewood prohibited? Is there a place where the rules are listed?

I second Bannock's questions, also any outfitter/canoe rental recommendations. The group I go to the BW with want to do a weekend trip on the Wisconsin, and I had very little luck finding any info on camping on the river. I even talked to the Wisconsin DNR and they just sent me a bunch of various unhelpful links. When I asked where you can camp, her response was "there are some places that you can camp and some that you cannot", not very helpful.

Bannock--yes, by legal I mean we all had fishing licenses (we're all from out of state) and were not engaging in any illegal fishing activities. And yes, true about the glass ban. The DNR officer that I mentioned was watching us at night to see if we had any unattended lines (illegal in WI) i.e. sleeping in the tent with lines in the water (we didn't). We are generally too lazy/sunburnt/impaired/etc. to fish late at night, although that's the prime time to catch a big catfish.

About the firewood--I don't think there is any rule against collecting firewood--just the rule of supply and demand . . . it's just not a wood-rich environment, and most wood that you see for the taking is waterlogged. The sandbars generally don't have wood on them at all. We love a roaring fire, even in the middle of summer. We bring as much as the canoes will hold (yes, we look totally ridiculous on departure), and we never bring any back. For the past 2-3 years we've been buying the wood in Wisconsin because of the Emerald Ash Borer problem, making it illegal to bring in firewood from out of state.

firftr911--When camping on the river you are supposed to be able to set up camp on any sandbar or island-type structure. You are not supposed to camp on either shore, as it is all either privately or state owned. Some sandbars are huge and can comfortably hold 3 or 4 large-ish groups without infringing on space, i.e. 70-100 yards apart. One night a few years ago, we found ourselves having to camp on shore (poor planning on our part, there are some areas of the river that don't have sandbars). It was on private property, and the owners came down there to let us know (nicely) that it was ok that we stayed there (it was almost dark) but they wanted us to know that we were on private property, and weren't supposed to be camping there (we already knew that). We thanked them, and cleaned up *especially* well before we left.

This is the link that inspired our first trip:
http://www.iit.edu/~travel/wisriv.html
Note the info here is dated, but mostly relevant.

The canoe rental place we've been using lately is here:
http://www.tradersbarandgrill.biz/

Another popular place:
http://www.spcanoerentals.com/

I don't really consider these places "outfitters" in the bwca sense of the word--they are canoe rental places that specialize in sending large and sometimes enormous groups of canoeists and inner tubers down the river for day trips. They can handle your canoe (as long as you like aluminum) and transportation needs, but I don't think I'd depend on them for gear, not sure if any of them even offer that. Camping on the river is somewhat easier lately because there's cell phone coverage almost everywhere (cell coverage was almost nonexistent when we first started canoeing the Wisconsin) so you don't really have to have a set-in-stone plan. You just get off the river at any of the usual landings and then call the canoe place to come pick you up. Your mileage may vary, but that's how we did it last year.

I think he was talking about fishing, Bannock firewood is to be collected within 50 miles of campsite to prevent invasive species. Camping is allowed on Islands and sandbars only, no camping on the shore. And like Bannock said, no glass. I can't help you with an outfitter as we outfit ourselves. The "Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board" has the rules and regs. T-wolf

There's a stretch of the Wisconsin Rivera that's good for a lazy weekend trip, it goes from the lower Dells to Portage. It's about 20 miles total, easy in and out.



The cliffs quickly give way to some remote Forests and Grasslands, with sandy beach islands that are perfect for camp set up for a night.