An Earth Day Paddle
By Jeff Seering
The first paddle down the Baraboo River of 2026 got off to a slippery start. The goal was to check out river conditions between LaValle and Reedsburg and do a little fishing. It is Earth Day 2026 and it was earth, in the form of recently deposited silt, that made launching in LaValle a challenge.
The village has two launches, one by Fishy’s Bar and another a short distance downstream from where the dam used to be. The dam site is now a short, semi-steep rapids and every time I have shot it, I have ended up with a lap full of water at the bottom. Since it is April and water is cold, I chose the downstream landing. The Baraboo rose up to 13 feet on the LaValle river gauge in the previous two weeks, about seven feet higher than normal river levels. The flooding left a coating of sticky, muddy silt on shore I had to navigate while launching my kayak. The result was lifting wet, muddy water shoes into my boat at the very start.
The river was still about a foot higher than normal but I figured it would still give me the opportunity to assess new and old log jams. When the river floods, it is like a game of pick-up sticks. On this particular paddle I found three spots that have been troublesome to navigate the past few years were blown out by recent high water and were now just memories. One jam I had hoped would clear, got worse. A large tree was snapped off at the base last year by high winds. I was hoping the trunk end would be lifted up by the flood, opening a clear pathway so I would not have to navigate through the treetop. The broken trunk end did lift up from the bank, but plunked down into the river by the bank and the whole tree was deeper in the river than before.
There were new jams, including a nasty one just a short distance from the LaValle landing. There was no way to lift my boat over it, so I had to portage a muddy flat, up a steep bank and launch at another muddy flat below the jam. The good news is that it looks fairly cuttable when the river goes down to its normal level. The other jam, a couple miles downstream of the County V bridge, has two trees on opposite banks that fell down within 20 feet of each other. A bunch of stuff was lodged between them and I was able to rock my way over it with some difficulty. That jam might be more easily addressed when the water gets back to regular levels.
In between those two jams, I clunked my head. I ducked down under an overhead trunk and lifted my head after clearing it, only to smash my forehead on another branch I didn’t see on the approach. It rocked me for a second and for a moment I thought my kayak might roll, but I recovered my balance quickly. That’s why I always wear a lifejacket while paddling.
I am on the downhill slope of 71 years old and probably have paddled from LaValle to Reedsburg more than 70 times. I enjoy paddling during slightly high water in the spring because I can see better over the banks, plus there is less foliage so I view things I can’t see as well when trees and brush are fully leafed out. As an example, I could see the sandstone rock formations between LaValle and Lake Redstone outlet better than in the summer and fall. The LaValle-Reedsburg segment isn’t the most scenic part of the river as it mostly goes through floodplain forest. But it is very good for viewing wildlife. The April 22 paddle was not disappointing in that respect. I saw eagles, turkey vultures, dozens of wood ducks, mallards, kingfishers, catbirds, sandpipers, Canada geese, red-winged blackbirds and many small birds. I didn’t see any hawks, owls or herons this trip, which is unusual.. I also saw an otter, five deer and leatherback and painted turtles.
I also saw the reason the water in the Baraboo is usually murky. The high water this spring took its toll on the river banks as the force of the current knocked chunks of sod to slide down the banks into the river, exposing dirt banks. All together, I’d estimate there were two to three miles of eroded bank I passed, if not more. In the past, I’ve caught some decent sized northerns in the stretch but didn’t get a bit this trip. But then I just made a few casts at just a few spots.
A nice thing about the Baraboo is that you usually have the river to yourself. It’s like your own little world, pretty calm. But if you keep your eyes and ears open you’ll see and hear interesting things. There are only a couple of houses visible from the river on this stretch. In places you can hear nearby traffic on Highway 33. The main noises you’ll hear are wood duck calls, cranes that make sounds that I imagine flying dinosaurs would, honking geese, deer crashing through the woods, turtles splashing into the water off sand banks, an occasional eagle cry, and many, many bird songs.
I’ll probably go down river with my son in mid-May when the water is warmer and the river level is l closer to normal to attempt to clear the jams near LaValle. That portage was nasty and muddy and I’d advise launching at Douglas Landing until that jam is cleared. The two jams between Douglas Landing and Reedsburg are more manageable. The first one looks like it has a nice potential portage with sloping banks on both side of the jam. The second one, which is where you get to the open fields off to your right near Reedsburg, is one you will likely have to lift your boat over.
The Baraboo is not a wide river and you never know when another tree is going to fall into it. That’s one of the things that makes it interesting and sometimes challenging.
