We did this very same trip, including the kayaking, in July 2024. Can’t say enough about Decorah and the Driftless region. Wonderful people. Awesome 11 mile bike trail around the town.
Just found your channel and wanted to say thanks. I live 30 min north of that area and never found any of this stuff. I’m going exploring. I moved to the driftless area from the Twin Cities 20 years ago and went right to work farming. Absorbed by the landscape I love this spot and the people. Nice job.
Thanks for watching! We love visiting Northeast Iowa for its hospitality, laid-back atmosphere, and beautiful natural landscape. You chose a wonderful area to settle down in.
It exceeded our expectations. You have to kayak or canoe the river to really appreciate it. There were no entrance fees to the parks and the people were friendly. We missed the height of fall colors but still had some left. We enjoyed the area. Thanks for the comment!
Great video! Well done sir. Couple of questions. Do you happen to know the USGS readings for the river that day. And is the Iowa River a trout stream or a warm water stream?? Thanks
The Upper Iowa River is a coldwater trout stream. The Iowa River is a different river, which runs through north central Iowa, through Iowa Falls, then down through Iowa City. It is warm water. The Upper Iowa is running high right now due to the recent heavy rains in Iowa/Minnesota but is coming down to high, navigable level. Stream levels in the fall are typically lower.
The river was low. The USGS reading was 1.5ft. Several areas we looked for the deepest channel to pass and one area my son and I pulled the kayaks thru. The UIR watershed has 152 miles of coldwater streams. Fourteen streams with catchable size rainbow, brown, and brook trout. Thanks for watching!
Was recently trying to plan this float for a week day(Monday orTuesday) the last two weeks of Sept. Not finding any outfitters available during the week right now it seems. I presume you did this float on a weekend?? Did you use an outfitter, or were you able to shuttle yourselves? Thanks.
We did the float on a Saturday. We rented our kayaks from the Bluffton Resort and Bar in Bluffton Iowa and they shuttled us to the launch. This is their website. www.blufftonresort.com I hope you get to do the float, beautiful in the fall.
I've done this in a Canoe with friends renting the canoe at Bluffton CAMPGROUND (I think they call it a "resort" because it is a private campground that is not run by the state or federal govenment). It was incredible. Too bad it was so HOT during the July4 weekend. These folks had better (fewer other people) in their early fall river float. And it IS a 'Float' with almost no rapid sections, and many cold water springs (during HOT weather, you can feel the cold coming from the spring). Toppling Goliath (the modern version) is OK. But I would drive further south to Calmar and visit PIVO Brewery. A MUCH wider variety of beers that are both historic, and historically accurate. Not the (IMO) fairly terrible, monotheistically (OK, what does theism have to do with beer) IPA stuff based on their Pseudo Sue is what is available from Pulpit Rock (not very good stuff in MHO, but if you are a hop head, maybe this is for you.. for the more sophisticated Beer drinker, PIVO is the place to go). OMG! Those prices for the Pulpit Rock campground! Perhaps better at the Bluffton Camp site/"resort" (though it has been a while since I camped there)? Certainly BETTER if you go to the nearby Yellow River Forrest campsites. Book a while there if you're into river floats, because a river float on the Yellow river is great: A river float on the English River south of there is very nice. I mean, you really can't go wrong in the spring, summer, fall months.
I was born and raised in Cresco, Iowa. In my high school class there was a girl named Carol Haight. Anyone know what happened to her. I would like to call her if I had her phone number.
So glad we found your channel. We loved this episode so much, thank you!
Thanks for watching.
We did this very same trip, including the kayaking, in July 2024. Can’t say enough about Decorah and the Driftless region. Wonderful people. Awesome 11 mile bike trail around the town.
Agree. The area and the people are great. We need to do the bike trail the next time we pass thru. Thanks for watching!
Very nice video and the Fall colors are beautiful. I live south of Decorah and can't wait to go and do these hikes. Thanks!!
Decorah was recommended to us as a stop and we were not disappointed. We will definitely be back. Thanks for watching!
Cool adventure! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
Just found your channel and wanted to say thanks. I live 30 min north of that area and never found any of this stuff. I’m going exploring. I moved to the driftless area from the Twin Cities 20 years ago and went right to work farming. Absorbed by the landscape I love this spot and the people. Nice job.
Thanks for watching! We love visiting Northeast Iowa for its hospitality, laid-back atmosphere, and beautiful natural landscape. You chose a wonderful area to settle down in.
The Volga River and Upper Iowa River below Bluffton have high Mercury warnings against eating the fish.
The UIR was a beautiful area to kayak. We didn't fish it. But definitely good info to know. Thanks for watching.
I have no idea if it was ever discussed, but I am so happy that the river was never dammed.
Agreed, it would be a shame to alter this river! Thanks for watching!
What a lovely spot!
It exceeded our expectations. You have to kayak or canoe the river to really appreciate it. There were no entrance fees to the parks and the people were friendly. We missed the height of fall colors but still had some left. We enjoyed the area. Thanks for the comment!
Great video! Well done sir. Couple of questions. Do you happen to know the USGS readings for the river that day. And is the Iowa River a trout stream or a warm water stream?? Thanks
The Upper Iowa River is a coldwater trout stream. The Iowa River is a different river, which runs through north central Iowa, through Iowa Falls, then down through Iowa City. It is warm water. The Upper Iowa is running high right now due to the recent heavy rains in Iowa/Minnesota but is coming down to high, navigable level. Stream levels in the fall are typically lower.
The river was low. The USGS reading was 1.5ft. Several areas we looked for the deepest channel to pass and one area my son and I pulled the kayaks thru. The UIR watershed has 152 miles of coldwater streams. Fourteen streams with catchable size rainbow, brown, and brook trout. Thanks for watching!
One more question, do you recall when in October you did this ?? Thanks
It was a beautiful day on the 20th of October. Thanks for watching!
Was recently trying to plan this float for a week day(Monday orTuesday) the last two weeks of Sept. Not finding any outfitters available during the week right now it seems. I presume you did this float on a weekend?? Did you use an outfitter, or were you able to shuttle yourselves? Thanks.
We did the float on a Saturday. We rented our kayaks from the Bluffton Resort and Bar in Bluffton Iowa and they shuttled us to the launch. This is their website. www.blufftonresort.com
I hope you get to do the float, beautiful in the fall.
Did David Whipple do your guitar music?
Dan Lebowitz did most of it on this video. Thanks for watching!
Did you stop at Mabe's for pizza?
We did not. We will stop there our next time thru. Thanks for watching!
I've done this in a Canoe with friends renting the canoe at Bluffton CAMPGROUND (I think they call it a "resort" because it is a private campground that is not run by the state or federal govenment). It was incredible. Too bad it was so HOT during the July4 weekend. These folks had better (fewer other people) in their early fall river float. And it IS a 'Float' with almost no rapid sections, and many cold water springs (during HOT weather, you can feel the cold coming from the spring). Toppling Goliath (the modern version) is OK. But I would drive further south to Calmar and visit PIVO Brewery. A MUCH wider variety of beers that are both historic, and historically accurate. Not the (IMO) fairly terrible, monotheistically (OK, what does theism have to do with beer) IPA stuff based on their Pseudo Sue is what is available from Pulpit Rock (not very good stuff in MHO, but if you are a hop head, maybe this is for you.. for the more sophisticated Beer drinker, PIVO is the place to go). OMG! Those prices for the Pulpit Rock campground! Perhaps better at the Bluffton Camp site/"resort" (though it has been a while since I camped there)? Certainly BETTER if you go to the nearby Yellow River Forrest campsites. Book a while there if you're into river floats, because a river float on the Yellow river is great: A river float on the English River south of there is very nice. I mean, you really can't go wrong in the spring, summer, fall months.
Thanks for watching, and the information.
You don't pronounce the s in Illinois.
Didn't realize I did. Thanks
I was born and raised in Cresco, Iowa. In my high school class there was a girl named Carol Haight. Anyone know what happened to her. I would like to call her if I had her phone number.
Happy retirement from Jesse Jungbluth!
Thank you, and thanks for all your efforts, you turned that shift around. It was a pleasure working with you.