River Paddled: Crawfish
Trip Date: August 27, 2021
Put In
Aztalan Park
Parking area with a path leading down to the left side of the water's edge where you're left with a fairly steep put in off the grass bank at this level.
Take Out
Riverview Dr Bridge
Parking area with a landing makes for an easy takeout on the right side of water as the Crawfish enters the Rock River.
Paddle Length: 7 miles
Paddle Duration: 3.5 hours
Gradient: ~1 foot per mile. There wasn't much of a current the whole way on this section.
Here is information on stream gauge readings around the date of this paddle (Note: located in Milford, WI, about two miles upstream of this trip's put in.):
| USGS Stream Gage Number | Discharge Rate | Gage Height | USGS Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05426000 | 105 CFS | 1.95 Feet | 05426000 Gage Info |
Our Experience Paddling This Segment of the Crawfish at These Levels
The water level could have been higher. It wasn't too much of an issue but there were some shallow portions to try and navigate around.
Aztalan Park - Riverview Dr
Planning: The Crawfish River is a small and fairly flat river in southeastern Wisconsin that flows southeast into the Rock River. Mike Svob has one trip of the Crawfish in his book Paddling Southern Wisconsin, which I used to plan for my trip. I chose for a put in a couple miles downstream of the one he had, with my seven mile section starting at Aztalan state park and ending at the county W bridge takeout.
Paddling: The river was pretty much flat and thankfully the strong wind wasn’t blowing directly into our paddling direction. Paddling was a slow process nonetheless, while some areas got noticeably shallow at times but not enough that we ever scraped or got stuck or had to portage. The river was fairly wide though too and didn’t have much for issues with downed trees or blockages of that nature.
Observations: The river had a light brown color and not much clarity to it. The banks were typically lined with tall grass and trees and remained undeveloped much of the way. One bridge occurred in the last couple miles as we were nearing the takeout right before the confluence with the Rock river. No other paddlers were out there at the time, but some wildlife were spotted, with ducks, geese, hawks, bald eagles, a blue heron, and a few turtles.
Reflecting: This wasn’t a thrilling paddling trip and the lower than ideal water level and subsequent lack of current didn’t help much there. But the scenery was nice and natural, providing some solitude while out there, so if you’re more about that type of paddling experience, then have at this trip on the Crawfish river.