Paddling Southern Wisconsin

Mike Svob’s Paddling Southern Wisconsin is known in Wisconsin paddling circles as “the bible.” For anyone paddling rivers in southern Wisconsin, this guidebook is an important resource. Excellent maps include enough road details to understand shuttle routes. One thing the reader should be aware of is that Svob’s mileage information tends to be anywhere from 10 to 20% low compared to what most paddlers get on their GPS tracks. We assume that is because that information was walked off with map dividers in the pre-GPS era. The straighter the river, the more accurate the mileage tends to be. One example is the Ontario to Rockton section of the Kickapoo River – Svob’s map shows that to be 11.5 miles, but most GPS tracks we’ve seen show that as 13.75 miles. However, the Pine Island to Dekorra stretch of the Wisconsin River is more or less dead on. The Kickapoo is about as crooked as a river gets, while that section of the Wisconsin has very gradual curves and turns.