Reduced temperatures and a cooling wind gave the day a fall-like quality and the method of travel took it to another time.
The 17-lock system was built in the mid-1850s to provide for transportation between Green Bay and Lake Winnebago through what were raging rapids. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began in the mid-1980s it was going to decommission and fill in the locks, advocates and area boaters fought to save them.
After launching from Appleton’s Lutz Park, the kayak flotilla plus a few canoes, a stand-up board and a small dog packed between the towering wooden gates that hold back the Fox River. The modern day lock tender flips long levers to open the underwater valves allowing river water to escape, just as his predecessors did 150 years ago. Walking around and around the turnstile opens and closes the lock gates.
This section of river took participants through the urban center of Appleton. Even there, nature is present. During the trip, the group saw flyovers by a night heron, a pair of osprey and a bald eagle, as well as a white egret fishing near the bank.
After short segments separated by rests during the lockages, the final couple miles took the group into a wider section of river with strong headwinds stirring up waves on the surface. After that last bit of exertion, they landed at Sunset Park in Kimberly.