TOPIC: Wolf & Fox Rivers, WI

Part 1...
Back in May there were new wheel bearing/seals and an impeller along with a few local runs. Then, after cleaning, buffing with 2 different 3M compounds and wax with 3M ultra performance wax we loaded the camping gear & hit the road Friday. Built in fuel tank full of 12 gallons non-ethanol pre-mix, and 2 each 5 gallons tanks full also, we launched in New London, WI (the upstream end of navigation on the Wolf River) with a final destination of Berlin, WI (the upstream end of navigation of the Fox River). Water was down about a foot, so that makes it a bit more precarious. Several no wake zones and the water slowly getting closer to "normal" as we headed downstream. Just above Fremont water levels are normal & we make it to the county line, so from this point on down to Lake Poygan, the no wakes zones are only in force "weekends & holidays". Take the Boom Bay cut and head across Poygan & Winneconne stopping at the Other Place for lunch & to meet up with my old friend Joan (here on vacation from FL). She & her husband Frank bought the boat new in 1966 at the Milwaukee boat show.

After lunch, we load Joan in the boat (a bit of a task as she is now 88 years old) and head downstream again and out onto L. Butte Des Morts to the junction with the Upper Fox River and make the big right turn and start up river again. At this point we are about 41 miles from New London and still have 20 plus miles to go. Fuel gauge is bouncing off empty when we get to Omro, so I stop & pour one 5 gallon tank into the built in, walk up the hill & buy 5 more gallons for later. On the way again, the sign says "Berlin 14.8 miles". We cruise up to & thru Eureka and up to the Eureka Lock, lock tender says we are #2 boat (look here for more data berlinboatclub.com/ ) thru the lock we continue on our way to Riverside park in Berlin for the annual Berlin Boat Club corn roast. Joan gets picked up in Berlin and heads back to Winneconne by car. Total distance about 62.5 miles and 6 hours including lunch stop.

Part 2....

Have to pitch a tent, so we dock at the downstream end of the park, away from the bigger & noisier crowds. We run into all sorts of old friends at the corn roast. Haven't seen some in over 10 years. Lots of food available & bought some loosing raffle tickets also.

Saturday we see more old timers & exchange some stories. Heard that Merlin & Barb Grosnick stopped by but I had walked into town. So I plan to stop at Hidden Harbor on the return trip to visit them. More food, music and of course the winning raffle tickets were pulled. I got to watch everyone else claim "my" prizes. Up early Sunday for the return trip. Take the boat 1 mile into town (up stream) for breakfast at the Berlin Family Restaurant then back to the park. Of course the tent is still wet with dew, we pack everything up & load the boat. I pour 5 gallons into the built in tank again & off we go.

Down stream on the Fox back thru the Eureka lock (we are boat #1) and we stop again in Omro, pour another 5 gallons in and refill both 5 gallons tanks for later. Continue down stream to Butte Des Morts and then make the left turn up stream on the Wolf. Thru Winneconne, and head west then turn left again into Hidden Harbor to visit Merlin & Barb. Leave about 45 minutes later, this time electing to head west on Poygan and enter the river thru the "mouth" instead of Boom Bay. Longer distance but it is Sunday and the no wake is enforced, so less no wake. Just past Orihula and Party Doll (now Anchor Marine) the fuel gauge is on empty and then things get quiet. I quick pour a few gallons into the built in tank to get going again and out of the heavier traffic. Up thru Fremont and a right turn into Templeton Bayou for lunch at Pine Grove Resort ( www.pinegrovefremont.com/ ). I finish pouring the portable tanks into the built in and as a precaution, I buy 5 more gallons. Back to New London about 5:30. Didn't need the last 5 gallons but of course if I hadn't bought it.... I think with my side trips and all, the trip was 130 miles give or take. Never damaged the prop or needed any spare parts or tools.

Part 3....

Checked the gear oil today & all is OK, top & bottom. Here are some pictures. parked at the "Other Place" in Winneconne
map, New London top center, Berlin lower left Joan & I

More pictures.... Deb & William parked in Eureka lock looking downstream parked in Eureka lock

Neat, thanks for sharing. do you do this trip every year?

Very cool Jim!

Bob

Love this post and great story! Thank you so much for sharing. I my have to look into this route one day...and great looking boat as well.
Mark - I am only an hour from Freemont.

Nice trip. You could have gone on the Fox river and headed towards Green Bay and up the Suamico river. I would have put you up for the evening.

Shake wrote:

Neat, thanks for sharing. do you do this trip every year?

I boated the area regularly every year from '74 thru '04 & then due to various reasons I didn't make it back again until '13.

Just a bit of history:

1951 and earlier, you could boat the Lower Fox from Green Bay to L. Winnebago (17 locks) and then the Upper Fox from Butte Des Morts to Portage and into the WI river (7 locks? and the Portage Canal). The Corps of Engineers or what ever they were called back then abandoned the Upper Fox due to lack of commercial traffic in 1951 & turned all land holdings over to the state at that time. The state filled in all the locks except for Eureka. Navigational aids were maintained by the Coast Guard.

The Eureka Lock was closed from 1951 until 1958 when the Berlin Boat Club negotiated a lease & reopened it. It operated until about 2003 and then was closed until 2012. They managed to rebuild it in 1976 & again in 2010-2011 with cash donations lots of volunteer labor.

The Lower Fox locks were operated thru the 1987 season then that section of the river was abandoned by the COE. This was the Coast Guard's out, and they abandoned the navigational aids. Local governments have contracted out the buoys for 30 years now.

There is now a push to reopen navigation on the Lower Fox www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=fox+river+navigational+authority
But there was a new "snag" last year when Round Goby were discovered below the Menasha Lock.

Love the history - thanks. My ancestor used to paddle up the Fox (starting in Green Bay), then Portage over to the Wisconsin River in Portage, Wi...paddle down to Prairie du Chien where the Wisconsin meets the Mississippi. Paddle up the Miss and then up the St.Croix River to encamp and trap for furs through the winter back in the late 1700's/early 1800's and then paddle all the way back to his fur trade post in Green Bay. I cannot imagine the patience, efforts, skills, and determination it must have taken (no bug spray, no sun screen, no gps, no ice, no Smart phones, no pod casts, no weather forecast...you get the picture). Of course this was not new to him as he left his home in Montreal and paddled his way down to "la Bay" via the Great Lakes as a young man. And Wisconsin was not even a state until 1848. When I think of all he did back then, I kind of wonder "what the heck have I been doing that is such a big deal"...not much compared to him.

Hello Jim,

Great looking boat and the cruise sounds like lots of fun.

Have fished for White Bass on the Fox and stayed at the fish camp at Eureka but never boated up there.

Want to try this for sure but now running out of time as the lock closes after Labor Day.

This would be a nice route to organize an overnight classic boat cruise up there for next year.

I did a Tennessee River cruise years back from Kentucky down to Alabama. It was 700 miles round trip and ten days on the water and an awesome experience. I planned the trip to meet the original owner of Mama Mia! and took him out for a cruise on his old boat.




Jim posing his Jolly Roger on the 58 Lido he bought new.


He was in his 90’s when he passed last year so I feel fortunate to have spent some time with him.


There is nothing like traveling on America’s great inland waterways.







Thanks,
Terry

Very nice gesture and a nice trip. Thanks for sharing and might I add I don't think I've ever seen that far through a boat windshield. It must be real glass. P.S. Is that a ufo hovering in the top right hand corner of the bottom picture or what's left of a sandfly ?

Terry,

I'm sure Jim got a thrill out of seeing & riding in his boat.

Back in 2003 I met with Cy Atkinson (designed a lot of the Shell Lakes) & his wife Janet. She died last year, I think he is still alive. www.fiberglassics.com/wiki/images/2/21/Shell2.gif

In 2004, I met up with Bob Switzer & his wife Carol & the 3 of us went out in my Switzer, with Bob driving. There is a story to that boat but I'll skip it here.

So' I know what it's like to meet up with the builders too.

The Eureka Dam Campsite is still there, but they (the Edingers) are dead & I heard their daughter owns the place. Looks pretty quiet when I went by. I never knew them.

The Berlin Boat Club meet next year is Aug 11 & 12. There is adequate depth for all our old outboards and typically for I/Os too. I ran a 23' SeaRay with a MerCruiser 454 Alpha 1 drive on the same route many times without event. But I must stress that I've boated there for over 40 years, some local knowledge wouldn't hurt.

I'll try to remember to post reminders about this next season. It would be nice to see a large presence of old boats considering the boat club's history goes back into the 50s.

That would be a nice site to see some classics cruising together like that. I would be nervous unless I could follow an experienced "guide" like you with much experience on your local waterways.

Nice boat history stories - thanks for sharing!

Great stories, I live on a channel on Poygan just off the Boom Bay Cut. I don't venture much farther than Winneconne or Fremont with my '60 Lexington. The fuel capacity is my main issue. The Dorsett has long since lost it's original fuel tank, and I'm stuck with 2 6.6 gallon portables that aren't very well suited for the boat. The fuel pick-ups in the tanks are on the high side. To make it all the way to Berlin seems like going to the Moon!

You can tie up in Omro on the seawall behind the gas station and its only about 100' to walk to the pumps. Premium no ethanol is available. Round trip Omro-Berlin-Omro is 30 miles, so your 2 six gallon tanks should be fine.

Hello Mark aka Dr Go!

You certainly have a very interesting family history. Those French Canadian trappers were a cut of a different cloth compared to us folks today.

Before I took this Tennessee River trip I invested in a good hand held GPS and was it was worth every cent paid. I loaded it with all the charts needed and quickly learned its value. And could not help but think what did they do before this technology was available. The GPS, depth finder, VHF and a cell phone is all required equipment today.

The second day out on the way down to Alabama I needed a rest and decided to go up a branch off the main navigation channel. I dropped anchor to have some lunch and looked at a USACE chart book I had and saw the area that I was in was marked as hazardous with submerged trees. OOPs!

I was able to get in there without hitting anything so rather than continuing up the channel I simply backtracked and followed my breadcrumbs back to where I left the main channel. Lost some time for sure but kept my prop. WHEW!

The third day out I had to lock through from Kentucky Lake up to Pickwick Lake and hit some barge traffic and did not get through until after dark.

Now I’m really scared as my nighttime boating experience is limited at best. But luckily I was near the Pickwick Landing State Park Marina and was able to see the buoys on the GPS and it took me right into the harbor.

But as I got closer to shore big ole Tennessean skeeters started attacking me. OMG these were the biggest fattest and meanest skeeters I ever saw. First went to the gas dock to fill up and doused myself in deet right quick. The good ole boy at the pump was laughing and he says “Yeah these skeeters'll like to tote ya away”

Mama Mia! the next morning at Pickwick Landing Marina. Also stowed a folding bicycle on board for transportation when in harbor.

Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge at Pickwick Lake Alabama.

Thanks,
Terry

I should one day look into a good GPS and also good advice from people like you and those on this thread (and others on this site) long before I start getting more adventurous than just doing circles in a pond. Your adventure really sounds amazing. Do you overnight in your cruiser?

Hello Mark,aka, Firstglassproject,

One feature of the Glasspar Seafair Sedan was safety glass in both the cabin and on the flybridge.

Never noticed the bug in that shot before although what can be clearly seen are cloudy skies and raindrops on the windshield. This was the first rain after 10 days on the water and here I am only about 30 miles from Kentucky Dam where we launched. A huge high pressure system lingered in the mid-south for the duration of the excursion, and now, the rain as I neared the finish was a blessing after a week of near 100 degree days with high humidity.



So I’m pretty sure that’s not a UFO you see. But speaking of extraterrestrials I was able to give myself a good scare the night before out on the river. And Mark aka Dr Go!, You asked about over nighting.

I had hoped to get off the boat to have shower and a bed but didn’t make it in to a port that night. So I consulted my charts and found an isolated creek not far off the main channel. Went up the creek a bit, dropped anchor, and faked a bath from the 2.5 gallons of fresh water I stowed. Wet the lines some but nothing bit so I dined on King Oscar sardines and Country Boy pickled eggs watching the sunset over the river. Life is good!

Once the sun was out of sight it got real dark up that isolated creek and it started to get real scary.

The trees literally lit up like it was Christmastime on Michigan Avenue in Chicago with millions of fire flies flashing and softly lighting the surrounding woods as I have never seen before.

And the sky was alight with billions of star. It seemed as though some of the stars were moving across the sky and leaving the others behind. I have seen satellites and comets up in the North Woods and the Northern Lights too but out there that night it was truly an incredible sight. Then I noticed two very bright objects moving in unison across the whole sky before disappearing over the horizon. I was out of beer by then so it was time to retire to the cuddy and sleep with the fishes.

I learned a couple days later when I got back to civilization what I witnessed out there was the Space Shuttle Discovery and International Space Station in orbit together moving at 18,000 mph over 250 miles above earth.


Headed back down to the main channel the next morning.


Not scary enough?

The shot above with the bug and raindrops on the windshield also shows the Eggners Ferry Bridge in the distance at "Land between the Lakes" in Kentucky.



The bridge was opened in March 1932. In January of 2012 the MV Delta Mariner hit the bridge as it attempted to pass under the east side through the recreational channel which is to the right in this image. She should have been centered in the main channel where she would have cleared without incident. The MV Delta Mariner was transporting rocket parts from the Space Center at Decatur Alabama to Cape Canaveral in Florida.




Who said river travel is not rocket science?

MV Delta Mariner offloading at Cape Canaveral

Mark, I see in your profile you live near Hamilton. I spent some time up working there at the Case plant and really liked that little city. But I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I was in a foreign country.

Thanks,
Terry

Great story Terry and I do remember that Bridge collision...Yikes. Good times out on that amazing Glaspar of yours!! Thanks for sharing!

And,...Several of your pictures show the top hat of an 800FGS Merc, with the rare but generic replacement face plate.
An 800DR top hat would not have a rewind with a manual rope to start, nor a manual choke to lift.
Mercury trivia!!!

Very cool pixs and story!
Thanks for posting!!
doc F

And thanks for the trivia...I like to learn and it also helps when searching Craigslist, etc. as some adds do not offer much information and often way incorrect on the model year information.

Thanks Dr.Go!,

Yikes is right.

The NTBS determined dual responsibility for the accident.
See:
www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/PR20130514b.aspx


Thanks for your comments Dr_Frankenmerc,

You are only the second person to mention that face plate being the Mercury generic replacement part. It's aluminum and I believe the originals were chrome plated brass, and the 800 number is a decal rather than the being stamped in.

Shaken not stirred.

61 700 Full Shift with original style cover.

Sure would be interested in the original 800 plate if anyone has one to offer.

When I show Mama Mia! folks ask if I can actually start it by pulling the rope. I say “oh yeah” and then demonstrate how with one tug she is purring. What they don’t know is the motor was just running and is still warm. I never tried pull starting it cold and hope I never have the need.


The 800 was first introduced in 1960 and was only available as Direct-Reversing (DR) which is better known as a “Dock Buster”. The 1961 800 was the first year for Full Gear Shift which meant it had a running neutral. Although it was still available with DR, “preferred by many experienced out-boarders”, as the original print ad read.

Thanks,
Terry