Name: -- Lee Butler

Date: -- Sunday Oct 2, 2005

Weather: -- partly cloudy, 70-74 degrees, slight breeze from south

Body of water: -- Pecatonica River

Water Temperature: -- 60 degrees

Location: -- Brewster Landing to McConnell Road Bridge

Leader: -- Lee Butler

Co-Leader: -- Joe Ginger

Water level: medium

Time on water: -- 2 hr 45 min

Length of trip: -- 6.89 miles

Number of craft: -- 7 - 6 kayaks, 1 canoe

Number of people: -- 10

Water rating: -- beginner

Put-in directions: -- Brewster Landing – Stephenson County Property - Brewster Landing is 1 mile east of Winslow on Winslow Road. Or, 5 miles west of Rte 26 on Winslow Road. Look for the small Shelter House Roof on the south side of the road. A small "Brewster Landing" road sign marks the site. There is a cement boat ramp at this location.

Takeout directions: -- McConnell Road Bridge – Stephenson County Property - McConnell Road Bridge is located ¼ mile west of McConnell on McConnell Road Bridge. The lane and grassland on the southeast side of this bridge is public and owned by Stephenson County. The take-out site is a piece of carpet 300 feet beyond the bridge, river left.

Difficulty of carshift: -- easy

From Brewster Landing-PUT-IN to West McConnell Road Bridge-TAKE-OUT

1. Turn right onto Winslow Road, go about 1 ½ mile to North Hulbert Road.

2. Turn right onto North Hulbert Road, go about 5 miles to West McConnell Road.

3. Turn right onto West McConnell Road, go about ½ mile to West McConnell Road Bridge.

4. Turn left before the Bridge to the Parking Area and ‘carpeted!’ boat ramp

5. The ‘carpeted!’ boat ramp is about 300 feet downstream from the bridge on the left.

From West McConnell Road Bridge Parking Area-TAKE-OUT to Brewster Landing-PUT-IN

1. Turn right onto West McConnell Road, go about ½ mile to North Hulbert Road.
2. Turn left onto North Hulbert Road, go about 5 miles to Winslow Road.
3. Turn left onto Winslow Road, go about 1 ½ miles to Brewster Landing on the left.

Time for carshift: --- 45 minutes, we did the car shift at 9:30, as scheduled

Names of carshifters: -- Lee Butler & Judy Hook

Special contacts: campgrounds, permission, names, addresses, phone numbers

 None required.

Report: Scenery, wildlife, side-trips, obstacles, points of interest, lunch stop details;

One of our paddlers was a GP Doctor. One paddler came from Bloomingdale, 115 miles.

Two of our canoe paddlers were 77 years old. There were 4 in that canoe; parents, daughter, and grand-daughter.

The aluminum canoe hit bottom at the old Fischer Mill Dam but slid over the rocks easily.

We got to view the very old stone Fischer Mill House(thru the trees, from the river). We got rained on very, slightly.

All paddlers launched their boats without getting wet!!

All paddlers exited their boats without getting wet!!

We met new paddlers and exchanged a lot of paddling stories, paddling tips, and past & future paddling trips.

Lee, Rod, Joe, John Hook, Dr Terry Miller, Steve Kirchen,(Bloomingdale)

Richard Koester, JoAnn Koester, Misty Witt, Marissa Schmidt