KAW 173 – Day 7

KAW 173 – Day 7

River Mile 67 and kayaked 24 miles to River Mile 43 on the Kansas River Water Trail.


We woke up this morning at Beaver Hollow about 4 miles upstream from Lecompton. When we went to bed the night before, it was muggy and hot and the mosquitoes were in full force. Somewhere in the middle of the night things cooled off and this morning was perfectly beautiful. We affectionately call this spot Beaver Hollow because we’ve stayed here before, and there is great beaver activity. All night long, you can hear the splashing in the water. And in the morning you can see that they’ve been there.


We knew we had an early morning, because we had scheduled an early morning public paddle. So we were all up before the sun and on the river by 7 AM. The paddle in the early morning as some of the most perfect times on the Kansas River. The river is still, often there’s mist and the sun is slowly rising. This is the time of the day that you can see the most wildlife activity if you quietly paddle along the banks. We’ve seen so many beavers that we’ve lost track of the count. This morning was no different between beavers and deer… what a glorious place we live in!


We paddled just a few miles before we reached Lecompton and met a great group of people for a public paddle. It was great to see so many of our friends and members, what a wonderful way to come into this part of the watershed and to see the folks that really helped us make this organization what it is today. It was great to see so many friends. We departed and headed towards Lawrence, with a quick stop on the sandbar to cool off. We went ahead and left and some folks stayed back and enjoyed the river for a little while longer. When we arrived at Riverfront Park in Lawrence, we had arranged for a group of our volunteers to come and help us unload all of our gear so that we could portage our boats empty through Bowersock dam. We got back on the river after unloading, and paddled another 2 miles to Bowersock portage. This portage was put in by Bowersock Power and Mill Company and we are so grateful. And it addition to that, Sarah and her crew at Bowersock all came and met us at the portage and helped us get all of our boats to the other side. It’s great to have so many wonderful partners up and down the river. I think one of the things that’s really made me proud and happy about this experience is all of the help along the way. We have so many people that love the river and so many people that want to help and make it so much sweeter.


After portaging the dam, we paddled another 2 miles down to 8th Street boat ramp. When we arrived, there was a great group of people there to meet us including two city commissioners, folks from the Kansas Water Office and the Chair of the Kansas Water Authority. These are people that we have worked with regularly on connections to the city and on solutions to water issues. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me to have the support of all of these people that we’ve worked with over the years. We talked about Lawrence and the connection to the Kansas River Water Trail and about future projects below Bowersock that can give even more opportunity for Kansans to enjoy their river.
It has been an incredibly busy day with lots of community visits and interaction.

Special visits from my parents and in-laws as today was my 52nd birthday. What a great way to spend it…and I’m so grateful that I am physically able to do this journey!

Once we got done at 8th Street with the community visit, we all needed some time to rearrange our gear and get loaded up with water for the next leg of the journey. We spent some time getting settled and we also enjoyed lunch courtesy of Free State Brewing Company in Lawrence! We have been so spoiled on this journey but we are so grateful for all of the local connections to the water trail. Next time you’re in Lawrence… you can get off the river and simply walk over the bridge and go to Free State and have a beer and dinner. And this is really at the heart of this entire advocacy for the river trail. How are these communities connected to the Kansas River? Do people just simply drive over the bridge and never think about the connection? We are trying to highlight that you can enjoy the river trail, and stop in these communities along the way and enjoy the local flavors. There are so many wonderful things and all of these little river towns that people often don’t even know about. If you love to kayak, canoe, paddle board, fish, boat, or whatever you can think of to enjoy the river trail…there is a town along the way that can also offer wonderful places to stay along the way and great food to eat to refuel.

Friends of the Kaw started in the basement of a house in North Lawrence and this is our home. It was great to bring the water trail journey back to Lawrence. Thank you to all the people that joined us for the public paddle, the community visit, and just to cheer us on! We are grateful to everyone who has joined us on this journey.

On the note of wildlife, today was spectacular. In between all of this visiting, we did see tons of wildlife. We saw at least seven Bald eagle‘s between Lawrence and our camp spot west of Eudora. Of course we’re not sure if it’s the same bald eagle or different ones, but we spotted them seven times. We also found lots of tracks on the sandbar, and many birds including red headed woodpeckers, indigo buntings, and cuckoo. Early this morning as we paddled towards Lecompton, we saw a deer run across the river and another deer off in the distance.


There is never a shortage of wildlife on the Kansas River. This is their home and we’re just dropping in for a visit.

Tonight, we’ve settled in at the sandbar just near Eudora. Tomorrow we will do a public Paddle from Eudora to De Soto and again from De Soto to Cedar Creek. We also have a Community visit at De Soto, which is my hometown. I was born and raised on the banks of the Kansas River in De Soto and graduated from De Soto High and I’m proud to say that I am forever a Wildcat! I look forward to seeing you all in my hometown tomorrow!


Dawn, Your Kansas Riverkeeper

KAW 173 – Day 6

KAW 173 – Day 6


River Mile 92 and kayaked 25 miles to River Mile 67 on the Kansas River Water Trail.

We departed the cabin early this morning. We knew this was a big day with a community visit in Topeka and we wanted to be on the river early and be well prepared. We had spent the night before discussing all of our strategies for portaging Topeka and making it past the diversion wall at Tecumseh. We knew we had a big day ahead, as we were planning on a 25 mile track. Today was a busy day on the river.


When we left the cabin, there was a fine fog all across the river valley. Spectacular colors bouncing off the sky, colors of pink in between the sun shining through the fog. It looks like mist rising off the river. We enjoyed a very beautiful and slow paddle into Kaw River State Park where we would meet with Secretary Loveless of Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks and Tourism, as well as Dr. Ted Daughty, the husband of Governor Kelly.


We were so surprised to see so many of you at the boat ramp in Topeka. What a wonderful way to arrive, with all of you there on the boat ramp cheering us on! I cannot begin to tell you how much it meant to everyone on our team. We have two people on our team that hail from Topeka and I think it was really wonderful for them to see such a great showing from their hometown.

We enjoyed a few minutes there, discussing the water trail and talking to local media. But the real fun was paddling down to the Topeka weir with Secretary Loveless and Dr. Daughety.
When we arrived at the Topeka weir, we were once again greeted by a great group. Many of our volunteers came to help us unload our kayaks and port them. We also had friends that brought us food from a local Topeka eatery, which includes wonderful breakfast burritos that were bigger than you could ever imagine! Along with our friends, we got settled and we’re ready to takeoff once again.

The biggest challenge on the river remained ahead. There is a diversion wall at Tecumseh that has been in the river since the 1920s due to a power plant that is owned by Evergy. The plant has recently been decommissioned, but the wall remains. It is a challenging area not only due to the wall, but there is also a granite bar, boulders in the river and a lime stone ledge. Between all of these forces in the water, it can be difficult at any water level. It takes a little bit of skill to figure out the best route and it’s an area that we constantly advocate for change. We all celebrated when we made it past this point in the river, because from here it is pretty much smooth sailing. We still need to port Bowersock in Lawrence, but we have many friends that will be waiting for us to help. There is also one more portage it in Johnson County, but again it’s not a difficult one.

We made it to our favorite sandbar, just upstream of Lecompton. We have affectionately called the sandbar Beaver Hollow. This is one of the best little hidden gems on the river. Tons of wildlife, a great little sandbar tucked away on the backside of an island, shade for sitting, and plenty of room for our tents.


We are all grateful to be back on the sandbar and on the river. I’m pretty certain each of us will sleep well tonight. Tomorrow, we will meet you all at Lecompton for a paddle to Lawrence. We look forward to also having a community visit in Lawrence at the 8th Street boat ramp. I hope you all can join us, can’t wait to see you on the river!


For the river,

Dawn, Your Kansas Riverkeeper

KAW 173 – Day 5

KAW 173 – Day 5

River Mile 92 on the Kansas River Water Trail Day off river due to high flows.

We woke up refreshed this morning at Sach’s cabin. We made a big pot of coffee, sat on the front porch and watched it rain and rain and rain. We were really thankful that we were able to stay in the cabin. We spent our morning discussing logistics for the rest of the trip, looking at hydrographs of the river flows, looking at weather forecasts and strategizing for the next half of the river. A couple of folks in the group fixed breakfast and what a feast! All with food that was provided by the owners of the cabin, just for us. We enjoyed bacon, scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, hashbrowns, juice and coffee! We truly didn’t feel like we deserved all that but are very thankful.


Here along the river in Silver Lake, it rained until early afternoon. A few people took time to go for a long walk, others read a book, some took a nap, we organized gear… but most of us spent time figuring out how to get all of our gear dry. Finally, the sun came out and we found all the sunny spots we could find to lay everything out. I think we can say that by the end of the day everything is dry… for the moment!


This evening we have enjoyed each other’s company on the porch again. We feel like we are prepared for the second half of the trip. We even made a few adjustments to our gear and our plans for then next three portages as well as well as the Tecumseh diversion wall. Late this afternoon in the sun, we also got out our rescue ropes and practiced our throwing skills. It’s never a bad idea to practice those techniques.

We feel rested, and ready for the next half of the journey. We are so very grateful to the Sach family for the roof over our head for two nights, all of the food that they provided, and their sincere hospitality. Do us a favor and look up Kaw River Adventures and send them some Facebook Love!

We are on to Kaw State Park tomorrow morning for our community visit. We will be greeted by Secretary Loveless of Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks and Tourism, as well as potentially Governor Kelly for a brief part of the tour. We are delighted that all of these people see the value of the Kansas River Water Trail. We will be there at 8:30 AM tomorrow, we hope to see you there!

For the river,

Dawn, Your Kansas Riverkeeper

KAW 173 – Day 4

KAW 173 – Day 4

River Mile 123 and kayaked 31 miles to River Mile 92 on the Kansas River Water Trail

We were welcomed around 5:30 this morning to the sound of thunder and lightning. We had anticipated this, so it was no surprise although we had expected it to happen earlier in the night. As I’m writing this, I am in my tent completely dry listening to the sound of the rain, thunder and lightening.


Morning rain is a quiet and contemplative place. I often think of my childhood and years spent camping and boating in the rain. My parents led by example and never let a little rain stop them.

We pushed off the sandbar by 9am and made a slight change to our plans. I was watching the hydrograph and I could see that the river was still stable for the moment and would be for the rest of the day, but the surge of rain would hit the river on Tuesday.

Our original plan was to supply up at Belvue and then find a sandbar for the night. We were then planning to stay at Sach’s Cabin (Kaw River Adventures) on Tuesday night to get a much-needed shower and rest before our big Community Visit at Topeka. Well, the best laid plans often and get changed by mother nature…So I contacted Robby at Kaw River Adventures home of the Sach’s Cabin and asked if we could camp in our tents for the night, a day early. We decided it was best to sit out on Tuesday and let the wall of water get past us for a safer adventure.

Robby and his family have been so good to us over the years, and today was no different. They told us to come on out and they’d have the cabin ready for us. We stopped off at Belvue around 11 AM after an interview with KSNT News. We paddled a total of 31 miles today and feel good about our progress. We did see lots of wildlife, but to be honest we were on a mission to get to the cabin by the end of the day.

We arrive at the cabin at 5:30 pm and were warmly greeted by Robby, Bob, Suzy, and Everett. They helped us get our gear unloaded, boats secure and everything up to the cabin. Once we got to the cabin, we were surprised by Suzy with fried chicken, cheese potatoes, corn, close slaw, biscuits and baked beans! Can you imagine our delight? What a wonderful family, they truly make you feel welcome and so at home in their cabin. I still can’t believe the food spread that awaited us!

At this point in the day, we are all taking turns for the shower! It feels so good… and tonight we will all get a good nights sleep off the river in a safe spot.

Tomorrow, on Tuesday, we will wait the day out off the river and let the higher flows from the rains pass us. On Wednesday morning, we will push off from the cabin and arrive at Kaw State Park as planned to meet with Secretary Loveless of KDWPT and others from the Topeka Riverfront Advisory Committee. We hope that many of our members will join us in celebration on Wednesday morning in celebration of the Kansas River Water Trail in Topeka!

On top of this change of plans, my son had made plans to come and join us for the 30 miles between Belvue and Topeka, as a birthday gift. Our family has a tradition of giving each other our time in leu of gifts. I am very grateful for this day with my son on the river that I love and grateful for this KAW 173 team!


For the river,
Dawn, Your Kansas Riverkeeper

KAW 173 – Day 3

KAW 173 – Day 3

River Mile 141 and kayaked 18 miles to River mile 123 on the Kansas River Water Trail

We made it another day and we are grateful!

Taking a cue from my paddle teammate and friend, David, I’m voice recording my thoughts along the way today down the river.

We shoved off from the sandbar on a crisp morning. Blue sky, puffs of clouds, cool water, and a beautiful start to the day. We only have 6 miles to go to St George, so we are taking our time and enjoying the river. And as I write this blog this morning, I literally just saw a beaver dive into the Kaw. A few minutes later, a bald eagle atop a dead tree branch. So much wildlife on the Kaw.

After a slow ride, we arrived at St George early, and that’s fine with our team. A little time to sit in the shade, take a nap, or walk into St George. We love St George, a beautiful river town and so close to the boat ramp. A few of my teammates walked into town for both a walk and to look around and brought back coffee. Later, our teammate Kim brought pizza from Willies Hideout, our treat for the day!

We had a great group join our Public Paddle from St George to Wamego. We enjoyed visiting with all of them, each one has a cool story about their experience with the Kaw. We enjoyed a very refreshing sit in the water at a sandbar, that we have dubbed the “Kaw Spa”, an original 173 Team term for our sand baths while soaking away the day’s sun.

Arriving in Wamego, an equally beautiful river town, also walking distance to the downtown deli or the coffee shop! Nestled in a beautiful park setting, the Wamego Ramp is a nice stop along the trail. We departed our friends – some old and some new – and headed down the river. We made it another 6 miles and found a perfect backside island with shade to share stories of the day and rest off the heat and fatigue. We are hoping for another miss with thunderstorms, but we are camped in a protected area for the night.

Today we saw beaver, bald eagles, ducks, blue jay, two owls and many tracks on the sandbar. Mostly, this was a day to enjoy our friends. Thanks for following along, we’ve made it exactly 50 miles total today!

For the river,

Dawn, Your Kansas Riverkeeper

KAW 173 Journey – Day 2

River Mile 167 and kayak 26 miles to River Mile 141 of the Kansas River Water Trail

We made it from just downstream of Junction City all the way to halfway between Manhattan and St. George… and boy was it hot! We’ve experienced many Kansas summers on the Kaw and we’ve learned how to be prepared. Four of us have shade umbrellas on our kayaks and before you make fun of that, know this…they work! We also take many breaks along the way to sit in the shade and sit in the river because the cooling water can actually cool you off really quickly. And lastly, we are really diligent about hydrating. Many many thanks to Kim, our program manager, who is meeting us along the way with freshwater and on days like today, cold watermelon! Big thanks also to one of our guides’ wife in Manhattan who brought us cold drinks which was such a fabulous treat!

Today we had a public paddle and a community event in Manhattan! We are so grateful to all of those that came and celebrated the trail with us. We enjoyed visiting with the mayor of Manhattan, and many other public servants that works so tireless for the community. Just think of all the possibilities along the river trail in this community, from kayak storage lockers to bike rentals to get you downtown. We look forward to developing these opportunities with Manhattan!

Today was another stellar day of wildlife and we saw many bald eagles and herons again, a few beavers and so many birds that it’s hard to remember them all.

I’m going to sign off for tonight and enjoy dinner on the sandbar and what I’m sure will be a beautiful sunset. We are looking forward to 85 degrees tomorrow! See you in St George!

For the river,

Dawn, Kansas Riverkeeper

KAW 173 – Day 1

KAW 173 Journey – Day 1

River Mile 173 and kayaked 6 miles to River Mile 167 of the Kansas River Water Trail

On this beautiful summer afternoon, we launched from Junction City onto the Republican River and paddled our kayaks to where it meets the Smoky Hill River and the Kansas River begins. Seven of us are making this journey together to raise awareness about the Kansas River Water Trail amd we are excited to see all of you either at the public paddles or the community events!

Along the way, we enjoyed the beauty that only this river can offer in our beautiful state of Kansas. We enjoyed the calm, cool waters of the river when we stopped for a break at a sandbar. We cooled off and then continued on our journey. It felt wonderful to be in no hurry, and just simply let our boats flow with the river… and immerse ourselves in nature.

Along the way we saw a ton of wildlife today. it is not uncommon to see many Blue heron on the Kansas River, and today we saw seven. We also saw three bald eagles, a kingfisher, fish crow, 20 Canada geese, and even quietly rolled up on a beaver sitting on the banks!

As I sit here on this beautiful sandbar, and reflect on the day… I can hear a bobwhite quail. We also were surprised when our KSU professor entomologist paddler discovered a tiger beetle larva on the sandbar! Let’s just say it’s been a great day for wildlife!

We are all set up for the night, believe me when I tell you that there is nothing better than camping on a Kansas River sandbar… Good night all. See you tomorrow out on the river!

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 3

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 3

By now, you may have seen or heard all of our noise around the KAW 173 Journey. Yep, that’s us. We are about to get really loud! We hope that all of our friends can join us along the way – either at the Community Visits at the boat ramp or on the river with one of our Public Paddles (please wear life jackets on the river and masks on the ramp). You can learn more here: https://kansasriver.org/kaw173-jc-to-kc-on-the-water-trail/

I’ve certainly learned a thing or two over the years about planning a river trip, but this takes it to a whole new level. Planning for the folks to meet us and the public outreach is one thing, but the really challenging part has been to set the river schedule, set a pace, and make sure we have enough water to drink. We think we’ve got it all planned out, but I’m smart enough to know we don’t have it all figured out. What I do know is that we have great people that have rogered up to help us along the way – and for that I am very grateful.

Speaking of grateful – let me share a little with you about the team that I am kayaking with for 173 miles and 8 days. These 6 people have been long time volunteers for Friends of the Kaw as well as one of our long time Board members. These are people that know the river, know kayaking, camping and outdoor survival. I am honored to be on this journey with them and I know that they’ve got my back – and I’ve got theirs. We’ve paddled many miles together, camped many nights together on sandbars – and we are ready. We depart this Friday, July 17 from Junction City and will arrive at Kaw Point Park on Saturday, July 25 – if all goes as “planned”.

I’ve decided that for me – this is a journey of myself as much as it is for Friends of the Kaw. I plan to immerse myself in the calling of the river, listen to the wildlife as I meander through their home, and enjoy my friends and their gifts to the journey. I plan to be “present over perfect” – and live in the moment. We would love for you to join us – be present – and immerse yourself in the beauty of the river.

I will be writing a blog, such as this, every evening to share my experience. It will be as much a gift to myself to write about it, but I do hope that you find some value in the words on the page.

So join us – either in person, through the writing of our blog, or on one of our social media channels – let us help you connect to the Kansas River. We could use your good thoughts, good vibes, prayers, energy – whatever the earth and universe can share – we could use it! See you – literally “on the river”!

Dawn, your Kansas Riverkeeper

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 2

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 2

It feels really good to be back on the Kansas River with the public. Last weekend, we took a group out on the Kansas River from Junction City to Ogden for one of our educational paddle trips. This was the first time that we had had the public on the river since April 2019 before the floods hit. We’ve had other events, and we’ve certainly been on the river doing river checks, but it had been a long time since we’ve had a public river event.

We also are in the process of working on a project on a piece of property along the Kansas River. We posted on our social media photos of a beautiful riparian buffer forest and we look forward to sharing more details soon. In other news, we continue to check the river and monitor for pollution. And as you can imagine, with COVID-19 cases increasing, we are making plans for a different version of Beers of the Kaw and will have an announcement soon.

By now, if you follow us on social media, you have seen that we are in full swing planning for the KAW 173…our journey to paddle all 173 miles of the Kansas River over a period of 7 to 10 days. Along the way, we will have community visits at several boat ramps as well as public paddles where the public can join us on a section of the river. All of these dates and times have been scheduled. To see the complete schedule to join us, go here: https://kansasriver.org/kaw173-jc-to-kc-on-the-water-trail/

We hope that many of you can join us on these public paddles, or if you’d rather meet us on land, come to one of our community visits. We’d love to see you and hear about your connections to the Kansas River Water Trail. I will also blog every day from the river about what I see…people, wildlife, community connections, and the beauty of it all!

Our journey will be challenging, but we’ve been planning this for over two years and feel ready. Initial plans were to do this trip in 2019 and those were canceled due to the flooding. So our team is certainly ready and we are prepared as best we can be. We look forward to seeing you all along the way.

My best to you all and wishes for good health.

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Your Kansas Riverkeeper

Cedar Creek Boat Ramp Closed for Holiday Weekend

Boat Ramp Alert for Holiday Weekend