With the Peshtigo River running at a high level of 28 inches (about 1700 cfs), paddlers enjoyed excellent conditions this past weekend for the 4th annual Peshtigo River Festival, AKA “Pesh Fest.” Hosted by Kosir’s Rapid Rafts, the event is a mashup of paddling, music, food and partying with various imbibing and ingesting also taking place.
I paddled the four-mile Roaring Rapids section of the Pesh three times Saturday: first a practice run in my Jackson Zen before the race, then the race, and then a third time in a raft piloted by Jeff Jensen and six other kayakers.
I’ve kayaked the Pesh many times over the years but this was my first time entering the Pesh Fest race. It’s a rush at this high water! I capsized at the first rapid (named “First Drop”) but quickly rolled up and navigated the five other class III and III+ rapids without incident. I didn’t win. That honor went to Jesse Credille with a time of 5:44. CORRECTION: After further review, on May 4 race officials posted corrected times for the long boat division. The winner was actually Chris Keller. I finished with a respectable time of just over 7 minutes. Not bad considering some racers did not finish and considering I was probably 20 years older than the next oldest competitor. I told them they need to establish a “super masters” age group next year.
By the way, no one told me ahead of time where the finish line would be. I assumed I would spot someone with a watch and know I had arrived. But I never saw the timer so I kept paddling hard all the way to the bridge at Kosir’s. Arriving there out of breath, I learned the finish line was two miles back, at the bottom of Horserace Rapids. Oh well, it made for a good workout and a funny story. And I guarantee I had the fastest overall time to Kosir’s!
Here’s video from our raft ride later that same day.
