Ranger Review- COAST headlamp on the Wisconsin River

Spend another amazing weekend on the Lower Wisconsin Riverway! We did 15 miles this trip- put in at Lone Rock (Otter Creek) Friday and canoed about 6 miles until we found a nice high sandbar near Gotham Jack Pines Burren State Natural Area. We spend Saturday just hanging out and fishing, then paddled out 9 miles on Sunday to the Muscoda boat launch, where Wi River Outings gave us a shuttle back to our truck. Water was very high this trip- not many sandbars out there, but also not as many people. Fishing wasn’t too great either due to the high water, but we did get a bunch of catfish. Beautiful scenery, very few houses until we got closer to Muscoda. The Riverway goes 92 miles from the Sauk City Dam all the way to the Mississippi River and sandbar camping is free the entire way! Make sure to keep an eye on water levels for the area you will be on, and also the weather. (Shout out to the Midland weather radio that I’ve reviewed for the Dryt before that alerted us to the severe weather when it blew up out of nowhere!) I use the Wisconsin Canoe Company’s website for a lot of information for planning trips. They have detailed maps and guides for the entire Riverway. Remember that no glass is allowed on the river because the fine is pretty steep and no one wants to step barefoot on broken glass! You need to pack in everything you need, including water. The river is very sandy and eats through water filters quick. This is wilderness camping, yet close to town if you need supplies or assistance. Some firewood can be scrounged from the islands, or you can get some from many roadside stands or an outfitter. It was pretty hot this trip so we didn’t do a big fire, just a little one in the stick stove for some ambiance. The nice thing about being right on the river is being able to take a dip in the cool water any time it was too hot! Be careful of drop offs, especially on the downstream side of islands and make sure kids and people that aren’t strong swimmers always have a life jacket on when wading- the currents can get very strong. There are many loaner life jackets at many of the landings as part of a DNR program. Also be sure to bring lots of sunscreen and something to make some shade- it’s very sunny out there! As a Ranger for the Dyrt, I occasionally get gear to review. This trip I had the FL1R headlamp from Coast. Right out of the box I was surprised by how light it was- about 1 oz! I’m not too worried about weight on the canoe, but the small size meant I could shove it in my bag with no worries and not taking up a ton of space. The 200 lumen light really lit up a huge area. I wish I could have gotten better pictures, but it doesn’t really show up as good as it looked in real life. The battery lasted the entire weekend with no problem. Before the trip I tested it out at home and it lasted at continuous high power for over 3 hours. The red light feature was my favorite. It allowed me to do all kinds of tasks while keeping the bugs away. I also appreciated that it came with a hat clip if I preferred to use that instead of the included band. The splash resistance was also a must for on the water or in bad weather. Overall a very good headlamp and I would definitely order from Coast again.

Ranger review- Midland Radio at Governor Dodge

What a fun weekend we had a Governor Dodge State Park! There were a total of 19 of us in our group, spread out over 8 sites in the Twin Valley Campground (240, 255, 256, 257, 261, 265, 266, & 267) We had a mixture of electric and non electric sites and all were very nice. The first weekend in October can sometimes be a little iffy weather wise, but we lucked out with pretty warm temperatures. We got quite a bit of rain on Saturday, but none of the sites had issues with flooding like we experienced in the spring at site 269. We walked down to that site and it looked like they had fixed the drainage pipe so the flooding there was not as bad as the previous trip. Bathrooms/showers were warm and clean, and the vault toilets were not bad although there were a few spiders. The Stevens Falls and Canyon Trails were the highlight of the trip- even in the rain! First you can explore the old spring house and read the informational signs about the family that used to farm there and other early settlers in the area. Once you continue down to the falls they have another informational plaque about the falls with old pictures, but unfortunately this plaque was not as well maintained so it’s difficult to see. The falls themselves are amazing. There is a slippery uneven staircase to go down, but there is a sturdy handrail. We spent quite a bit of time walking around and looking behind the falls, then continued down the canyon trail enjoying the beauty. Unfortunately the rain and wind picked up so we decided to turn around instead of completing the 3 mile loop. We also took a hike on the bluff trail that goes past campsite 271 that everyone enjoyed- awesome moss everywhere! Some members of our group took the trail to the amphitheater, but said while it was a pretty walk there wasn’t anything too special along the way. We went through a lot of firewood- the bags at the park office were $5 and were pretty decent. We also purchased wood from the trailer next to the Don Q inn for $5 an armful, but it was rather wet. We noticed when we drove past Jumping Jupiter General Store that they also had wood (covered by a tarp) but did not stop so I’m unsure of the prices. We stopped at Kate’s Bait and got a nice variety of worms for a reasonable price, although we never got out fishing! The ranger was very helpful in suggesting places to fish though. We had planned on doing a trail ride on horseback through the park at Doby Stables, but unfortunately it was cancelled by them due to the rain. As a ranger for The Dyrt, I sometimes receive products to test. This trip I had the Midland EX210VP E+Ready Bundle that includes 2 X-Talker two way radios and an Emergency Compact Crank Radio. https://midlandusa.com/product/ex210vp-eready-bundle/ I was impressed by both products right away. They are compact, yet sturdy- we’ve had them over a month now and my 4 year old and 6 year old have played with them a lot and they still look brand new! I’ve never really used a two way radio that wasn’t a toy, and the instructions from Midland were easy to understand. I appreciated that you could either use AAA batteries or the included USB rechargeable battery, which lasted the whole weekend. Midland states the range is 26 miles (obstruction free) but we didn’t try it that far- the farthest we tried was about a mile away through the trees but we were still able to hear each other clearly. There is also a weather radio feature that would come in handy if you didn’t have a separate weather radio. The emergency compact crank radio is a solid product as well. We used this all weekend, for weather alerts, listening to music, charging phones, and as a flashlight. It has a rechargeable 2000 mAh battery that can be charged via USB, solar, or hand crank. Battery seemed to last a long time, even when charging phones or playing the radio for a long stretch. The radio will not play when you are charging something, but that wasn’t a big deal to us. The weather alert was nice to have while in the woods during a storm- really reassured the less seasoned campers that we would be ok during the rainstorm. When there is severe weather the radio will make a noise and flash the light so you can be prepared. You can press any button on the radio to turn the noise off and turn on the radio to hear the weather. Overall we were very happy with this bundle.

pretty (and busy) park

If you want privacy, some spots are better than others. There are a lot of wide open sites with no trees or vegetation, so it’s like staying on someone’s yard with a bunch of strangers. That said, this is a beautiful park. Lots of cool trails and the lake is perfect for canoeing and kayaking. Showers were very nice and the warm water lasted a long time. Nice playground right next to the shower so the kids could play while we showered.

Love this park!

We’ve stayed here three times now- one last minute middle of summer spontaneous trip, one Memorial Day weekend trip, and an October fall trip. The park has beautiful trails and the lake is perfect for canoeing and fishing. We tried to go up to the supper club for dinner on our last trip, but the wait was too long. Appetizers and drinks on the patio were wonderful though!

Good campsite for Grant Pilgrimage

Stayed here on a wet and snowy weekend for the Boy Scouts Grant Pilgrimage. Campground was right next to Walmart, which was convenient, and a short walk down to the high school to get the shuttle into Galena itself. Port-a-potties were well maintained and the bathrooms up by the office were very nice (and warm on a chilly day!) Sites weren’t huge, but worked well for our group.

Great park, our site not so great...

Our group stayed at sites 268, 269, and 270 in the Twin Valley campground. Sites 268 and 270 were large, but our site on 269 was the smallest and half of it was unusable due to the river that flowed through it in the rain! Had to set our tent up right next to the fire ring, as that was the only spot that wasn’t muddy, so we couldn’t have a decent fire. During the rain the water was ankle deep under the picnic table. It appears that a water runoff pipe goes under the path that leads to 271 and flows into this site. 268 was electric, 269 and 270 were not and were walk to sites. Gravel trails leading from parking to the sites were well maintained. 270 also has a private trail leading out to a beautiful bluff area. We walked down and checked out 271, which is where we will stay next year! The park itself is huge. We walked to Steven’s Falls which is beautiful. There are a lot of slippery stone stairs up and down, but if you take your time it’s well worth the effort. We also took the Lakeview trail which was pretty. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate so we weren’t able to go out canoeing, but the lakes looked nice from the shore. Firewood is sold at the park for $5 a bundle, but there are also private sellers along the road who have better prices- we were very happy with the wood sold off the trailer next to the Don Q Inn.