Kayaking a Surprising Suburban Wilderness

June 19, 2023  |  Topics: Stories

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By Eddee Daniel

It didn’t take long for my expectations to be swamped like a kayak in oncoming waves. There was never any danger of capsizing, mind you. The sensations were subtler than that, but the feeling of being submersed in nature was more profound than even I, with copious experience, had anticipated. The Milwaukee River, so familiar and still full of surprises.

It was a stretch of the river I had not been on before. Fifteen of us assembled in tiny Molyneaux Park—just large enough for a boat launch—in the middle of the Village of Thiensville. The thrum of traffic on the village’s main drag underscored the clamor of fifteen cheerful voices preparing for an adventure. Wilderness it was not. Not yet.

The group had been assembled due to the generosity of two of the participants. John Machulak, newly retired president of The Park People of Milwaukee County, explains how it came about:

“Over the years, I have been hosting kayak trips down the Milwaukee River for the Park People board and their families, followed by a barbeque at my house, which has been the destination point on the river. I donated this “kayak adventure” as an auction prize to raise money for the Park People. The kayaks and shuttle service were furnished by Ken Leinbach, executive director of the Urban Ecology Center, and he and others from the UEC joined the paddle.  

“What drew me to The Park People years ago was the importance of our parks. As little as ten minutes in a park, whether walking, riding a bike, or just sitting at a picnic table, is an incredible reset. To me, kayaking on the Milwaukee River takes that to the next level, and I like to open that door for others. There is nothing quite like the joy of drifting on a kayak through a wonderfully peaceful stretch of nature that he or she never before knew existed so close to everyday urban life.”

The first surprise, as I pushed off from the boat launch into the current, was temperate air. Right up until that moment the day had been oppressively hot. I breathed in slowly, deeply, soaking up the relatively coolness of the river. Slipping smoothly past the Mequon-Thiensville Riverwalk, I remembered my recent encounter here with a massive snapping turtle, sunning itself insouciantly on a log. A creature worthy of a wilderness adventure, I thought.

The wilderness began in earnest, against all expectation, shortly after passing under the Mequon Road bridge. I’ve kayaked other sections of the Milwaukee River that are lined with homes perched to achieve maximum advantage of their riverside locations, which means that a kayak’s view of the house matches their view of the water. But not here. The riparian fringe of woodland may have been narrow in places, but it was dense enough to create the illusion, so avidly sought (at least by me), of being far away indeed from the city, the suburb, and civilization. Balm for the soul.

Floating through this wonderland was conducive to observing the wildlife present all along the river corridor. A white-tailed deer was among the first to make an appearance. This one stood close to the water’s edge and watched imperturbably as the entire armada of kayaks paddled past. She even allowed me to get close enough with my cell phone for a decent shot. Tamed by her suburban lifestyle, no doubt. I wasn’t nearly so lucky with subsequent wildlife encounters. Most of the many birds we encountered, for instance.

In fact, I have to admit to being bird-challenged. Unless they are large, like the owl that swooped low in front of me, or obvious, like the mallards floating alongside our boats, I’m often at a loss to see them. I was particularly grateful, therefore, to be able to paddle alongside Ken Leinbach now and then because he not only has a keen eye for birds, he also knows what he’s seeing! Within moments of each other, he drew my attention to a spry kingfisher and the tiny flicker of a bright orange Northern Oriole in a riverside tree. After playing leapfrog with a characteristically coy great blue heron for quite a while, we were both thrilled to come upon a rare cluster of three of these normally solitary and majestic birds.

The most exotic (literally) bird we spotted was a Muscovy duck, which has striking black and white plumage. Wisconsin is way outside the normal range for this species. According to Leinbach, “it originates in south America and has a range that extends into south Texas. It was domesticated before the Spaniards arrived and remains a common domesticated bird, though it can still be found in the wild. The one we saw has the wild Muscovy Duck plumage but likely escaped from someone’s farm or home. Pretty cool!”

A muskrat paced our progress as we paddled for a bit before disappearing under the surface. Then there were the Canada geese. Common everywhere, we chased an especially enormous formation of them downstream for quite a while. It appeared to be several family groups commingling, with several pairs of adults shepherding their gaggles of goslings.

The border of Ozaukee and Milwaukee Counties is invisible on the river. When we reached the Brown Deer Road bridge, we knew we had crossed the line. But it soon became clear that we had also crossed into another realm entirely. The wilderness we had been enjoying gave way to the civility of upscale suburbia. Great houses perched high on the hills above the riverbank looked out over vast lawns that sloped smoothly down to the water’s edge.

The kayaking experience also changed. The river grew shallower and rockier. Our passage became a struggle to avoid scraping the bottoms of the boats. The surprise was that this hadn’t happened sooner. Rainless weeks had left the water level unusually low, especially so early in the season. I’d been expecting it all along. Just before reaching our destination at John’s home, we came to the shallowest stretch of the trip. Paddling became polling and I found it impossible to avoid scraping, but eventually managed to push on through to deeper water. Turning around, I saw that a number of people had gotten out to walk their kayaks down the shallows. I didn’t hear anyone complain, however. It was all just part of the adventure.

“When floating down the river, adults become kids and conversation flows easily. It’s what nature does for us, relaxes the body and the mind so our spirit is free to connect.” ~ Ken Leinbach

“I truly believe that a good time was had by all.” ~ John Machulak

Related stories

Downtown Milwaukee’s river of kayaks

The Milwaukee River Greenway: A Wealth of Nature in the Heart of the City

Photo essay: Kayaking Lincoln Park

An Historic Return to the Milwaukee River and Indigenous Roots

Eddee Daniel is a board member of Preserve Our Parks and a member of The Park People and Urban Ecology Center.

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