Rock River Trip Near Watertown, Wisconsin

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This page describes an 8 mile trip from Pipersville, Wisconsin to Watertown, Wisconsin on the Rock River. With heavy current it is possible to do this trip in 2 hours, but 3 to 3.5 hours is more common. The scenery isn't always great and most of the trip takes place past developed riverfront, but this is a very family-friendly stretch (if you're careful of the dam), especially because the put-in is ten minutes from my house and I can carry my boat to my house from the take-out.

Directions

Put in on County P south-east of Watertown. There is a bridge that crosses the river there: park in the access point or on the road and put in on the north side of the bridge.

Take out in Fannie May Lewis Park in Watertown on Water Street north of Hwy. 16 (and parallel to Hwy. 26). There is a parking lot and plenty of street parking here. Food and beverages are available three blocks away.

Satellite View:

Terrain View:

May 10, 2008 Trip Diary

I arrived at the put in around 2:30 in the afternoon. The river was still a little fast, but was still down significantly from the minor flood stage it hit two weeks earlier.

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My #2 son and my smaller dog accompanied me on the trip. We decided to put in below the bridge because the current was fast and strong above the bridge. By the time we got to the water we were walking through inch-thick mud, but the vegetation allowed us to get situated in the boat before moving out into the flow.

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At lower water levels there are riffles in this part of the river and some interesting shore formations filled with fish of all kinds. However, all these features were washed out and we quickly headed downriver.

It took about an hour to get down to the abandoned bridge near the Watertown Conservation Club.

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Wildlife on the river varies. There are almost always ducks and geese, and I've seen nearly twenty blue herons on this stretch in past trips. However, on this trip the highlight was a pair of enormous Northern Goshawks (I think) that screeched at us from the air as we paddled past. The larger of the two (not pictured) carried off a squirrel as we watched.

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Just beyond the hawk's nest there is a railroad bridge that carries a great deal of train traffic (e.g. a train every 15-20 minutes). The boys always like to stop and watch a train or two cross the bridge and smell the scent of the railroad ties after one rumbles over.

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Soon after the railroad bridge we pass by a local restaurant called Settler's Bay. (The food's OK, but you can get better quality for the same price in other towns.)

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After that comes the slowest and least interesting part of the trip: a journey past neatly trimmed lawns and lots of unused pontoon boats tied up to empty docks. (Even on Saturdays, we've always had the river to ourselves.) However, when the Oconomowoc Street bridge appears, it's time to head to the right side of the river and prepare to portage around the dam.

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This dam is known as the "Rough and Ready" dam and can sneak up on unwary boaters. Don't wait to find the "Take Out" sign before aiming for the take-out; by the time you can read the sign you might almost be over the dam.

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I've never actually used the marked take-out: the ground there is marshy and I like to stay dry. Instead, I've always hopped out on the rocks with a rope attached to the boat and then pulled the boat and any remaining passengers up on the rocks. Don't bother looking for this tree-shrouded house as a landmark from the river: if you can see it you're either already at shore or on your way over the dam.

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The dam is really popular with my boys. Here are some more shots of the dam, the spillway and the powerhouse.

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Normally we would put in again right below the dam in a calm pool that forms right where the person in the next picture is fishing. However, there was too much flow to get a child and dog comfortably situated in the canoe before taking off and there was additional danger in a strainer that would greet up if we couldn't meet up with the main current of the river in a timely fashion.

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Fortunately, there is a paved road that runs next to the river so we walked a few hundred feet and put in at the edge of someone's flooded lawn.

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I've paddled up and down the Rock River when it's been a little higher, but that was in a whitewater kayak. At current levels, there were only about three or four feet of clearance left between the Main Street bridge below the portage and the water.

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After this bridge, we passed another with plenty of clearance before we reached Watertown's excellent Riverside Park. One of the features of the park is a significant island accessable from a single bridge. The canal separating the two pieces of land is always accessible to canoes and provides several spots to land safely and dry.

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After the park there are two more bridges. The second bridge (Second Street) is low but should pose no problems if you made it under the Main Street bridge below the dam. After you go under that bridge the take-out is soon visible. The obvious landmarks at this point are St. Bernard's church and the watertower.

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With a half-hour stop and portage at the "Rough and Ready" dam and another half-hour at Riverside Park, we completed our trip just after 5:30 (about three hours).