Name: -- Lee Butler

Date: -- Sunday, Sep 11, 2005

Weather: -- sunny, 90 degrees, breezy 5-10 mph

Body of water: -- Pecatonica River

Pecatonica River Depth: -- 2.3 feet at Freeport

Location: -- Brewster Landing to McConnell Road Bridge

Leader: -- Lee Butler

Co-Leader: -- Joe Ginger

Water level: medium

Time on water: -- 2 hrs 30 mins

Length of trip: -- 6.81 miles

Number of craft: -- 5 kayaks

Number of people: -- 5 – Jamie, Diana, Joe, Rod, and Lee

Water rating: -- beginner

Put-in directions: -- 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 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: --- 20 minutes, we did the car shift at 9:30, as scheduled

Names of carshifters: -- Joe Ginger and Jamie

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

None -The land next to the river at Brewster Landing and West McConnell Road Bridge is owned by Stephenson County and open for public ‘day’ use.

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

A Freeport couple stopped by Brewster Landing to watch us launch. They recently bought a used aluminum canoe. He has been pounding out the dents and would be ready for a test paddle soon. They are anxious to join one of our paddles. Not much wildlife on the trip. Jamie’s LiquidLogic Kayak is only 2 weeks old. She enjoyed putting a few more miles on it. We talked a lot and shared paddling stories. My, how time flies when you’re having fun.

The remnants of the 2 old Fisher Dams caused a few ripples and some fast water for about 5 seconds each.

Even tho I have paddled this river segment a few times, it is rewarding and fun to share the trip with new paddlers.

IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!