Rain, a canoe and a random brewery

First it rained. It rained so much during the last week of May and the first week of June, that I almost had to cancel my canoe trip. Glad I didn't though. The Wisconsin River in southwest Wisconsin is usually a slow river, providing many sand bars to camp. The water was so high our three day, two night trip turned into a one night, two day trip due to lack of campsites.

Nick and I rented a canoe from Wisconsin River Outings in Boscobel, WI and they provided us with transportation upriver to our starting point. We started in Lone Rock and ended in Boscobel which was nice because our car was there and we did not have to have a shuttle back to our car. Our route was about 30 miles.

We camped up on this large sand dune which was the only spot to camp for miles. We caught a few fish, ate one of them for our afternoon snack and made camp. Of course we had some Oscar Blues Dale's Pale Ale to make our trip a little more enjoyable. This was the first time using my hammock and it was much more comfortable than the ground, though it did get quite a bit cooler than a the tent would have been. We cooked up some Chicken Breasts with Sauted Spring vegetables and inevitably a little sand to add to the texture.

On the way home, we stopped just west of Madison in Mt. Horeb. We were both getting hungry and you know those blue attractions signs on the highway that say 'Food'/ 'Gas' / 'Lodging'. Well one of them said The Grumpy Troll Brewery. Usually I do not get excited about these types of places along the highway, but this was different - it was really good. I highly recommend this brew pub and their beer battered fires.