Wednesday June 30th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

Wow what a week it has been. More work came in in the last three days than the last three months. I apologize for missing yesterday’s report and being late on this one. You know you are late when you are three hours late for being a day late.

Anyway, the big news last time that we visited was the incredible turnaround on the drought for the whitewater rivers. Seven or eight inches of rain in a month will do that, even in a D-3 bordering on D-4 drought.

The Peshtigo River has peaked, but is not falling very hard. The last that I saw we were still running a glorious +9″, down from the peak of +12 Sunday night. The river should still be great for the weekend. It will still go down more, but it will be well into the fun zone for water levels.

The next question on people’s minds is the weather forecast for the holiday weekend. That too still looks great. I checked the various sources, and the next chance for rain comes Sunday night on the GFS, and that doesn’t look like much. The NWS has rain chances at 30% for Sunday and 50% for Sunday night.

The next item up for discussion was the news that someone was shot while riding on their boat where the Peshtigo goes into High Falls Flowage. According to news reports, a 60 year old man from Union Grove caught a .22 in the shoulder as he boated by.

The Marinette County Sheriff’s Department responded in force, sealing the area, checking over 150 cabins, talking to people, and taking license plate numbers. They have not followed up with any info other than to say that they believe that it was an accident. With tourism being our #1 or #2 industry around here they did respond in force and detail.

I tend to agree that it was an accident. Chances are someone was popping a chippy and didn’t pay attention to what was behind it. The chipmunks are thick this year.

The next news item is that it got cold last night. The TV weather guy entered the possibility of frost last night, but Athelstane Weather only marked a low of 40. Chris said that there was a big fog bank over the pond this morning, and I can sure attest to the fact that it got cold.

News item #4 is the Wisconsin statewide smoking ban. As of Monday there is not supposed to be any smoking in WI bars, restaurants, and workplaces. I have some very strong opinions on that, but I am not going to share them because it would start a huge fight. We are all friends here, and that is going to stay above politics. Let us settle out of court saying that it is a very emotionally invested issue on both sides.

Personally I have been trying out the E-cigs, which are personal vaporizers. The nicotine is in a water based solution and it is turned into steam, which you inhale. It has a lot of appeal between a lot cheaper cost, supposedly much healthier than smoking, and you can do it in a bar or even on an airplane.

So far the e-cigs have brought mixed results. The disposable one that I got from the Carter Casino ($14) worked, but had meager vapor production and horrible Chinese propylene glycol (anti-freeze) based juice. A little research found a better vaporizer, but the juice was still that horrible stuff. Within two days I had lung problems and quit them.

Today I got my last hope for the e-cigs, some premium vegetable based juice from Johnson Creek, WI. So far the flavor is good, and the lungs are happier. Will this be the answer to a 33 year addiction that I absolutely loathe but haven’t been able to beat, and the smoking ban?  We will see in the long term.

The last item on my outline is some events for the weekend..

In addition to Chris’s list..

Mountain is having an Independance day celebration at the community center Saturday & Sunday (3rd & 4th) with the foreworks Saturday night. There is also a softball tournament, breakfast, and bands Saturday afternoon and night.

The Crooked Lake Sportsman’s Club is having their annual picnic on Saturday July 3rd with food and drink, raffles and games, and music by a feller named Whitey.

The annual 4th of July boat parade on Townsend Flowage is on Saturday July 3rd this year. Due to the Eurasian Milfoil, they are starting at a new spot.

Crivitz is having a lot of events with their 4th of July celebration this year, starting with a softball tournament on Friday night. Saturday there are some events, and Sunday is the parade and fireworks. Here is a link.

Wausaukee is also having a celebration and parade this weekend. Click here for details.

One last thought, if weekend cabin owners haven’t cut the grass lately don’t be surprised to see a little bit has grown. It has been a wet month.

That is about it from here for now. I will return in a day or two with any new information.

Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Monday June 28th, 2010

What a truly amazing recovery for the Peshtigo River. It was so low that the rafting season looked almost hopeless in late May, and here we are in late June with outstanding whitewater a full 18″ higher.

It continued to rise today, and is very close to breaking the magical 800cfs +12″ barrier. It will peak and be falling this week, but likely will still be in good shape for the weekend. It will probably peak tonight or tomorrow.

The weather this week looks nice. There is an area of high pressure that will influence our weather, keeping the rian somewhere else, and us pleasant and in the mid-70s.

Friday through Sunday the back of the high pressure will bring warmer more humid air, and temps in the 80s. Sunday ( the 4th) there is a 40% chance of rain according to the NWS. The GFS has us in the 0.01-0.1″ band per 6 hours from Sunday noon on into Monday. That isn’t much rain. The week following the 4th looks very wet again, starting Monday.

We have a lot of events coming up this weekend and next weekend. I will try to sort them all out and get them listed tomorrow. I really filled up the weekend and am taking a little break today.

Have a good Monday and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Sunday June 27th, 2010

Greetings and welcome!

There are a lot of happy people around Kosir’s this weekend. The Peshtigo has continued to rise, and is about +9 right now. With the rain last night it will go up a little more, and already has risen some. The Menominee River is high too, running at 2,470cfs. Whitewater people should be in heaven.

Yesterday turned out pretty decent for weather. It was overcast, but I was in shorts and without my umbrella all day. About 1am you could see some lightning in the distant sky. It must have been some pretty good thunderheads, the storm was still 100 miles west over by Wausau. I filled up the day pretty good, so I was fast asleep when the rain came. It must have rained pretty decent, there were puddles and a new rise in the river.

So far today has been hit and miss. The morning was overcast with some mist falling. After noon it has stopped misting and the clouds are letting a little more sunlight through. There is some minor rain showing up over toward Vilas County, but it isn’t much, supporting the NWS estimate of a 20% rain chance today.

Well I have to zoom and take pictures of another rafting trip. Have a good Sunday and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Saturday June 26th, 2010

Paddler’s Alert!

5pm

The river got big this afternoon. We are up to +8 and 600CFS, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing the rise. People are having huge fun. Tomorrow’s water levels are a big question mark. Plus 9? Plus 12? It will be very fun.

These are so fresh that the people in them are still on the river..

RJB

12:22pm

Live From Rapids Resort…

I only have a minute before the noon trip with Kosir’s goes out, but I wanted to update and let y’all know that the Peshtigo River is great and rising fast. The river is now past +6 and climbing fast. Check out the slope of the graph, and compare it to this morning’s below.

The rafters on the 9am trip had a good time and there were some good flips, swims, and people disappearing into waves. Not much getting stuck tho.

The weather is overcast but there is no rain between here and Minnesota. There might be some tonight. When I watched the noon weather forecast they said that there were equal chances of it coming north by us, staying mid-state, and hitting south. I wouldn’t rule out rain tonight, and if it hits, an inch or so.

Sunday holds prominse in the forecast. They think that the rain will clear out mid-morning and leave us with a decent day. We shall see.

Anyway, the Pesh is the best that it has been all year, and it is rising fast. They are using some rafts.  Come raft at 3 today or 10 or 1 Sunday with Kosir’s.

Gotta run!

RJB

830 am

If you are interested in rafting or paddling this weekend you should do so. The Peshtigo River shot straight up last night from 350cfs to 500 in a couple of hours. That tells me that there is a lot more coming.

We also dodged the rain last night, but the watershed got an estimated inch.

If you are into the whitewater and aren’t here, you probably should be.

Gotta run!

RJB