Rock River – Wisconsin [April 2021]

Here is information on stream gauge readings around the date of this paddle (Note: Gauge located in Watertown, a short distance downriver of the dam and upriver of the Schaller Park.):

Watertown - Johnson Creek

The Rock is a river in southern Wisconsin that flows southwest into Illinois before reaching the Mississippi River.  Over the last two years, I have paddled on two other sections of the Rock River, both upriver of this one, which I found in Mike Svob’s book Paddling Southern Wisconsin.  The section was Watertown to Johnson Creek, a 14 mile route of the Rock.  A few years ago I ended my Rock River trip in Watertown, but this year’s put in was a few miles down river from there, thanks to two dams in the short stretch to the town.

With my route set, I parked my car at the Rock River Park and Landing in Johnson Creek just off County Road B and got ready to hike up to Watertown.  After about three hours of walking along county roads I reached my put in of Schaller Park in Watertown.  Parking was nonexistent here, but could be done on the side of a nearby neighborhood street.  The park had a big open grass area that led to the water’s edge where rocks separated the two.  So I had plenty of room to set up, inflating my packraft and strapping down my backpack, while actually getting on the water required more improvising, putting in off the rocks.  Once on, I experienced a few riffles, which would be the first and last of them to this section.  The river remained pretty wide, yet had a decent current thanks to the wind at my back most of the way.  The water had a light brown color to it without much clarity, which would be useful in spotting down trees, though it was pretty clear of them, and just getting a sense of how shallow the water was to avoid scraping or getting stuck.  This river is notorious for fluctuating in water level with flooding more common than it being too shallow, but this time around it was a good in-between.  Bays still occasionally occurred, with a big one named Hahn’s Lake around the halfway point of this trip.  Islands were less common but here and there.  Beyond the water, the banks were typically lined with trees, with some open grassy spots in there as well.  Houses were pretty common, as were a couple bridges, in the first couple miles but both of these became scarce over the next ten miles.  With this lack of development came an abundance of wildlife.  There were a handful of fish spotted jumping out of the water, along with a deer on a wooded bank that headed farther into the trees and what I believe was a weasel crawling around on some rocks.  Then there were all the birds, from ducks, geese, and hawks, to blue herons, sandhill cranes, and a big group of pelicans.  The bird encounters just kept coming.  People on the other hand were less common of a sight as I was the only paddler, but did come across two boats around Cappie’s Landing just down river of the highway 26 bridge early in the trip.

After a little over four hours I passed the interstate 94 then County B bridge, taking out on the right where both a landing and dock are available.  There is also plenty of parking and a restroom here as well.  To keep my packraft as clean as possible I made use of the convenient dock when deflating and packing it away.  This ended my third outing on the Rock River.  Looking back on this section of it, the wildlife was the obvious highlight for not just the amount that I spotted but the variety in birds and a few less common sightings of a deer and a weasel.  At this point I’ve paddled about 47 miles of the Rock and I look forward to adding to this total with another section next year, most likely up river of here.

Here are some pictures from this trip: