Had turnout of 11 boats on Sat and 10 on Sun. Rivers were normal
according to the Turners. Lots of turning,and portaging on the Mecan.
  We put in at Dakota which is about 2 hours up stream from the upper most
point that the outfitters use.
      It was the best stretch even with all the obstacles across the river.
We were in the lead so we encountered a Barred owl and he allowed us to
drift right up to where he was perched. We got to within 10 feet of his tree
and he did not fly off until the boat touched the shore. When he flew off
the Kingfisher in the adjacent tree also flew off. They flew together and
landed about about a block down river. Same thing happened again, they did
not fly until the boat touched the shore. They both flew down river again.
This time we tried stopping the canoe by grabing a branch so we would not
float past or touch the shore. Branch broke with a loud crack, were
surprised that they did not fly off. Five seconds later boat gently touched
shore and they both flew off, this time away from the river. This owl,
kingfisher relationship really made our weekend. Especially since it was the
first time that we saw a Barred owl in the wild. Have heard them many times
but could never find them. This was a once in a lifetime experience.
     The Roche a Cri was nothing but work. There were trees across the
river,in the river,and 2 feet above the river,where you had to lay down to
pass under. Trip took 6 hours and we actually traveled 3 times the river
length as we constantly zig-zagged back and forth across the river around
the trees in order to make our way down river
really had a good workout as we could never stop turning to get around
obstacles or backing up because the boat in front of you got hung up.
     The DNR just created 3 canoe picnic areas along the river each with a
brand new barbecue grill and picnic teble. They will probably still be brand
new next year because only the die-hard buchwacker type canoeists will tour
the river. There were places where we had to cut a branch or two so we could
continue. Joan and the Turners ran the river last week with a chain saw and
did quite a bit of cutting, but you would never know it with all the trees
that were still in the way
not a trip for the inexperienced. But our group was all experienced so we
all had fun fine tuning our paddling techniques.
   Water was crystal clear, sand bottom and much deeper than the Mecan
and it made the upper Mecan seem like childs play.
   All in all a fun weekend for everyone.