Four Lakes (Dejope) Sea Kayak Paddling Weekend

Are you interested in exploring all four lakes of Madison - Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, and Kegonsa - and camping out of a sea kayak? The Ho-Chunk people (Indigenous tribes) lived here for nearly 12,000 years before the arrival of white settlers and named this beautiful area “Dejope”, which translates to “Four Lakes”.

We are organizing a two-day paddling trip over the weekend with an overnight stay at a campsite at Lake Kegonsa. We plan to start early on Saturday and paddle with sea kayaks from the Terrace down the Yahara River to explore and paddle through the beautiful four lakes region.

It is almost exactly 18 miles (a full day of paddling and approximately 9 hours each day) from the Terrace to Kegonsa and the route will take us through Lake Mendota, the Tenney Locks, the Yahara River, Lake Monona, Upper Mud Lake, Lake Waubesa, Lower Mud Lake, and then Lake Kegnonsa. We will join the group camp at Lake Kegonsa State Park, have an awesome dinner together, and spend the night there with a wonderful campfire and smores. On Sunday, we will paddle the 18 miles back to the Terrace.

This sign-up will be for those who want to paddle a sea kayak from the terrace to the campsite. This trip will allow you to work on intermediate sea kayaking skills to add to your repertoire and contribute toward an SK2 or SK2P rating.

We will also have a pre-paddle day to prepare ourselves for the long paddle of the weekend, so please watch out for those. Since this trip will include two long days of kayaking while carrying gear, participants will need to complete a pre-paddle with at least one of the leaders.

P.S.: Another fun thing to note – the night of August 10th is one of the nights that the Perseid meteor shower will be happening so hopefully we will see some cool meteors! 

Rough Itinerary:

8/10 || 8 AM || Load boats

8/10 || 9 AM || Depart the Terrace

8/10 || 12 PM || Lunch at McDaniel Park (Lake Waubesa)

8/10 || ~5/6 PM || Arrive at camp (Will be roughly a ~8 hour paddle including snacks/lunch stops)

8/11 || 8 AM || Load boats

8/11 || 9 AM || Depart at Lake Kegonsa

8/11 || 12 PM || Lunch at McDaniel Park (Lake Waubesa)

8/11 ||  ~5/6 PM || Arrive at the Terrace

Link to the route:  https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=14.0/-89.3881/43.0813&pubLink=5VVHSTxccFv1bGTr2TthbtPp&trackId=150df88a-226a-4ab9-92ec-bd173a1801a3