- Joined
- Mar 12, 2010
- Messages
- 975
I spent this Sunday doing one of my favorite things... Kayaking the many waterways of WI. This Sunday I decided to check out one of my favorite spots, which is the Vernon Marsh area of the Fox River. This is an area where the fox river fans out over miles and miles, and it creates a very unique and diverse ecosystem. Most of the places I go in the marsh are not very accessible at all, and sometimes I wonder who else would be crazy enough to try and kayak where I do.
One of the things that I had wanted to try in this area was finally possible due to the really high water levels on the Fox river lately. The river was flood stage just a week ago, and it is still very swollen and wide. In many areas of the river, there are entire forests almost that are covered in 2 feet of water, and they are incredible to kayak through. I always wanted to try stringing up my hammock between two trees, or an overhanging branch in one of these areas. This last Sunday I gave it a shot.
First I had to find a branch or group of trees that would work. This is my first time attempting this, so I was searching from the more accessible spots on the river in case something happened. A few trees looked ok, and then this one turned up...
The water was slightly stagnant underneath, but it was generally bug free, had a sturdy branch going right down to the water and had some brush underneath where I could easily store my kayak. The branches looked solid, and there was plenty of space to string up the hammock. I decided to give it a shot.
The first thing I had to do was get the kayak stored and safely GET OUT of the boat. This is actually a little trickier than it sounds when you are trying to get on an over hanging branch above a river. Once I pulled that off, I had to climb up the branch to the spots where I was going to secure the hammock from. While climbing up the big branch, I had to clear away some of the smaller branches to make my life easier on the way up and down. This was a task for my Fehrman Last Chance...
Once I had the hammock secured on both ends, it was time to test it out... Sliding into it was tricky, but once I got it, it was definitely worth it.
Once I get settled, I spent many hours just like this...
And this is lunch. A freeze dried meal made with boiling water from my jet boil. Not bad!
Here is a view of the setup from above.
And one from the side.
This is an image of some storm damage I was exploring later in the day. These trees were fully uprooted during some tornado's a few weeks back. The storm changed this place.
Kayaking through the green goo. This stuff is thicker off the edge of the river.
And then one self portrait for fun. People keep telling me I don't look happy, but trust me, I am.
One of the things that I had wanted to try in this area was finally possible due to the really high water levels on the Fox river lately. The river was flood stage just a week ago, and it is still very swollen and wide. In many areas of the river, there are entire forests almost that are covered in 2 feet of water, and they are incredible to kayak through. I always wanted to try stringing up my hammock between two trees, or an overhanging branch in one of these areas. This last Sunday I gave it a shot.
First I had to find a branch or group of trees that would work. This is my first time attempting this, so I was searching from the more accessible spots on the river in case something happened. A few trees looked ok, and then this one turned up...
The water was slightly stagnant underneath, but it was generally bug free, had a sturdy branch going right down to the water and had some brush underneath where I could easily store my kayak. The branches looked solid, and there was plenty of space to string up the hammock. I decided to give it a shot.
The first thing I had to do was get the kayak stored and safely GET OUT of the boat. This is actually a little trickier than it sounds when you are trying to get on an over hanging branch above a river. Once I pulled that off, I had to climb up the branch to the spots where I was going to secure the hammock from. While climbing up the big branch, I had to clear away some of the smaller branches to make my life easier on the way up and down. This was a task for my Fehrman Last Chance...
Once I had the hammock secured on both ends, it was time to test it out... Sliding into it was tricky, but once I got it, it was definitely worth it.
Once I get settled, I spent many hours just like this...
And this is lunch. A freeze dried meal made with boiling water from my jet boil. Not bad!
Here is a view of the setup from above.
And one from the side.
This is an image of some storm damage I was exploring later in the day. These trees were fully uprooted during some tornado's a few weeks back. The storm changed this place.
Kayaking through the green goo. This stuff is thicker off the edge of the river.
And then one self portrait for fun. People keep telling me I don't look happy, but trust me, I am.
