Who we are:
The MadCity Paddlers, with a home base of Madison, Wisconsin, is a club devoted to pursuing paddlesports of every sort. Members organize a wide variety of club trips for flatwater canoeing and canoe touring, sea kayaking, and whitewater paddling in open and closed boats.

Our club runs over 20 Wednesday night paddling trips, open to just about all skill levels. We rotate the location of these evening trips between Cherokee Marsh, Starkweather Creek, Lake Mendota, Lake Wingra, Six Mile Creek, Token Creek, Maunesha River and various locations on the Yahara River. Our typical paddling season has over 50 destinations for weekend trips, ranging from sea kayaking in the Apostle Islands, to whitewater paddling on the Bois Brule, to quietwater trips on rivers such as the Wisconsin, Mecan and Sugar. See our Calendar page for details.

What's Going On!

2008 Paddle Season Is In The Works
We still have a few dates open for the summer weekend paddles, especially in July and September. Please contact our trip planning coordinator Bruce Nelson if you can lead a trip; most of the trips already have all the details, we just need you to volunteer to lead one.

Capital Water Trails Work Days

Saturday, May 10, 9am
Six Mile Creek, Meet at Woodland
Drive bridge off HWY. M

Sunday, May 18, 9am
Token Creek, Meet at Dantl Rd. bridge
off US.51 at HWY.CV

Get your copy of the Yahara Waterways Water Trail Guide
Individual maps can be downloaded from http://www.capitolwatertrails.org/maps.php. To purchase for a cost of $5.00, contact Steve Falter at cwt@capitolwatertrails.org or check with local paddle stores. The 44 page book includes maps for a trail that starts at Cherokee Lake and Marsh in the north, continues south around the perimeters of lakes Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa and Kegonsa, as well as Upper and Lower Mud lakes. Learn more about the project at http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=7575

MadCity Paddlers is conscientious about keeping our waterways clean. In this regard, many of our members volunteer on the "Take a Stake in the Lake" cleanup day, usually working to clear Starkweather or Wingra Creek. A smaller group within the club keeps Token Creek navigable for all paddlers.

Members receive The Paddler, the newsletter of the MadCity Paddlers. Each issue contains stories about paddling trips, news about upcoming events, classified ads (free to club members) and more. Any MadCity Paddlers member with an e-mail account may also sign up to receive weekly updates.

The club meets monthly — usually on the first Thursday of the month — at 6:30 pm, and are a gourmet's delight. Everyone brings interesting foods to the potlucks, and after the meal we usually have a program on some facet of paddling. During the winter months, meetings are held at Middleton Public Library. In warmer months we meet outside at Mendota County Park; some members elect to paddle on Lake Mendota following the meal and meeting, See our Meetings page for details.