[Rhodes22-list] Lake Winnebago, WI Cruise In The Summer of 2024

[ROGER PIHLAJA]

Hi All,

Has anybody done any cruising on Lake Winnebago, WI?

Next summer, I'm planning to take my son, Gary, and two grandchildren, Kaley and Fred, on a cruise on Lake Winnebago, WI.  Kaley will be 9 years and Fred will be 7 years old.  This will be their first overnight boating experience.  Lake Winnebago is in NE Wisconsin and at nearly 118,000 acres, is the largest inland lake in the state.  We plan to launch and retrieve from High Cliff State Park in the NE corner of the lake.  High Cliff State Park has several miles of easy hiking and biking trails along the Niagara Escarpment, the same rock cliff that forms Niagara Falls in NY state.  Besides the cliffs with their stunning views of Lake Winnebago, there are ruins from lime quarrying and calcining operations to explore.  High Cliff State Park has its own full service marina with reservable transient dockage and we plan to stay on the boat.  Besides staying at the dock at High Cliff, I'm thinking I'd like to spend a night on the hook.  There are special anchorages identified on the charts at Miller Bay in Oshkosh, WI and in the Lower Fox River on the S side of Doty Island, near the hospital in Neenah, WI.  Does anyone have any local knowledge re either of these 2 anchorages?  All else being equal, I would prefer anchoring off Doty Island because I want to take S/V Dynamic Equilibrium thru at least the Menasha Lock on the Lower Fox River and would really prefer to sail the length of Little Lake Butte Des Morts (Literally: Little Lake Cliff Of Death!) and lock thru Locks 1-4 in Appleton, WI.  If I were to anchor in Miller Bay, I would have to sail several miles to get to the entrance to the Lower Fox River.  In this scenario, there would probably only be time to do the Menasha Lock before turning around and sailing back to High Cliffs.  Does anyone know of any other anchorages, especially near the N end of Lake Winnebago?  Does anyone have any suggestions for kid friendly activities in Oshkosh, Neenah, &/or Appleton, WI?  If we get to Appleton, I would especially appreciate a suggestion for a boat-up restaurant for lunch or dinner.

If Kaley and Fred like this cruise, in future years, we may attempt to cruise all 39 miles of the Lower Fox River from Lake Winnebago to Green Bay thru all 19 locks (a drop of ~170 ft!) and then do some cruising on Lower Green Bay.  Just transiting the Lower Fox River with all the locks will require a whole day.  Many of these locks are unusual in that they are hand operated, just like they were when originally installed in the 1850's.  These locks are old school, no floating bollards like on the big US Army Corps Of Engineers locks on the western rivers.  You have to have someone handling a line at each bollard as well as someone to fend off the walls and good fenders.  The Lower Fox River lock system was actually the first public works project for the, then new, state of Wisconsin (admitted to the union in 1848).  For a while, the Lower Fox River lock system greatly expanded economic activity in cities like Green Bay, Appleton, Neenah, and Oshkosh, WI.  But, with the coming of trains and trucks to move cargo, the system fell into disuse and then disrepair.  It has only recently been restored and reopened for recreational boating.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium