Free as a bird,
it’s the next best thing to be.
Free as a bird.
– beatles

It’s almost New Year’s Day again.  That means it’s time for the annual Fog Bowl at Lake Columbia in Portage, Wisconsin.  The fog bowl is the day when ice locked kayakers around Wisconsin finally crack and  decide to take  any open water they can get.  This is it. Lake Columbia is actually a large cooling pond for the big Columbia coal fired power plant that serves much of the area.  The horseshoe shaped pond is about a mile long and about half as wide.  Water exits the plant on one side at nearly 90f and cools as it flows around the “U” to the intake on the other side.  From the launch point the water is generally in the 50s.  Some of us head straight toward the power plant and the bathtub warm water for a bit of rolling, while others try to get the most distance they can out of the day.  You’ll see sea kayaks, canoes, rec boats and just about anything else that floats.  Yep, we’re desperate!

In truth most folks only spend about an hour on the water if it’s really cold before dragging their wet, frozen hides off to the local pub for a few brews.  I’ll post more details in a couple days for those of you who are near by. I’ve posted some 80 photos from past events over at Flickr.  Just click here for those.

Good Times!

Related Posts:

1. Fog bowl 2008
2. Fog Bowl 06
3. Frozen Assets
4. Shadows
5. dark skies, march wind