|
It's funny, as I've mentioned, I work with a youth group with kids between the ages of 8-15. Our oldest kids go out on a nine day Quetico trip. The youngest go out on a one night Nam. trip.
The link above gives good maps of the Nam. We've never started our trips at Hayward. Now we start at Springbrook and in the past we've started at Groat. Like I said, we're paddling with eight year-olds (usually about eight of them and four staffers) so they don't paddle all that well and we take it slow. We always camp at Earl Park then canoe the next day to Trego. Springbrook to Earl takes about five or six hours. Earl to Trego takes about an hour or an hour and a half. Adults could easily do this stretch in four hours or less. If you've got young kids with you, this is a nice days paddle but if it's a stronger group, you may want to do a bit more.
There is little in the way of rapids. More ripples then anything else. It's a nice, leasurely paddle. There are lots of turtles and some deer as well as various birds (herons, crains, etc). As for campsites, like I said, we always stay at Earl park which is more or less a Holiday Inn. There is tons of areas for several large groups (we did a staff outing one year there and had at least 15-20 tents and there was still lots of room). There is also a smaller, secluded site. Earl has two pit toilets (male and female) and a solar powered water pump. There are several fire pits and picnic tables, too.
If you want any shred of remoteness, don't stay at Earl Park. The park is a few minute walk from the town of Earl (which now has a gentleman's club, which may be a bonus, I guess) and on most trips we get locals coming into the campsite, either to dump trash, camp out, or just check out whats going on. I've never been concerned for safety but you always get some auto traffic. There is also a bridge a few yards upstream from Earl Park. There is a new campsite that's opened within the last few years, the map calling it Big Bend Landing. I've canoed past but never been to itt but I imagine that it's a nice alternative to Earl (it looks nice from the water). The map also shows several smaller sites, all with picnic tables, lots of tent space, and a pit toilet w/o a structure (the one at Earl is a huge cinder block out house that is quite nice).
At Trego, there is a visitor/ranger station. Often we get the ranger coming around to make sure everything is okay.
I've also canoed various sections of the Nam after Trego, basically having covered the length from the County K landing all the way down to Riverside on the St. Croix. We now do County K to Fritz Landing for our ten-year olds. We used to do Howell to Riverside. Both were two night trips.
It's been a while since I've done these parts of the river, but, like the other stretch of the Nam, it's a nice leasurely paddle. It may be a touch more challanging than the part before Trego but not much. I remember years ago camping on top of some sand dunes that are now closed off. This is a very diverse stretch of the river with some very sandy areas (nice for swimming). There is a little more fast water, but certainly not white water.
All the sites on this river are good sites. They are well cared for and easy to use. The only downside is that some are often used so it's not as easy to find firewood if building a fire. If camping down by Riverside, Big Island garnered the nickname "bug island" and Riverside is wide open and right next to a highway so there is a lot of traffic. The maps quite accurately show where sites are so there are few secrets.
General impressions of the river. First off, it's funny to compare this to Quetico because there just isn't a comparison. This is an easy recreational river but it's a nice family experience. During the weekends of the summer months, there is a lot of activity. Lots of groups, families, etc, but if you don't want to camp at Earl and can go to other sites, this really isn't an issue. You do get the tube groups who can be interesting. I recall once seeing two guys tubing with their tubes tied together with a tube between them and a small keg of beer rigged into the tube. So just know that there isn't always solitude. You can always get away from the various groups but they are there.
Occasionally you'll find a group that just doesn't comprehend etiquette. We were taking a lunch break last year at one site and a group pulled right up to the small site that we were at, set up camp and didn't really give a care that we were trying to enjoy our lunch. There are these people because it's an easy river but you can always get away from them. If you are out there and run into our groups, I am sure that our trip leaders will keep everyone in check.
I guess to sum it all up, we've had a lot great experiences on the Nam. Between the trips we do from Springbrook to Earl and on the other part, we do about 15-20 trips over the course of the summer (mid-June thru mid August). It's a great first experience for younger people and novice canoers. For the more experenced, it may disapoint if you expect too much.
Let me know if you've got more questions, I'm sure that I'm missing stuff.
|
Quote
