Welcome to the
Friendliest Paddle Club
in Wisconsin

Mad City Paddlers, based in Madison, Wisconsin, is a club devoted to pursuing paddle sports of every sort. Members organize a wide variety of club trips for flat water paddling, sea kayaking, and whitewater paddling.

Become a Member Today!

Membership in Mad City Paddlers is open to anyone interested in canoeing, kayaking, or paddleboarding. Go to the Become a Member page to apply and pay for your yearly membership. Benefits of membership include:

Dozens of organized paddling trips per year. Only members and their guests can join these outings. View our Sample Trip Calendar and Brochure to get a feel for the trips you can attend after you join.
Monthly PDF newsletter and periodic event email updates
Ability to post and reply to topics on the Members Only Discussion Board
Ability to upload your photos and view photos uploaded by other MCP members
Monthly club meetings featuring excellent picnic or potluck meal with paddling presentations by club members, authors, and other experts on paddling topics

Weekend Paddles

Our typical paddling season consists of over 50 destinations for weekend trips, ranging from sea kayaking in the Apostle Islands, to whitewater paddling on the Bois Brule, to quiet water trips on rivers such as the Wisconsin, Mecan, and Sugar.

Evening Summer Paddles

Our club runs over 20 evening paddling trips open to most 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 other locations close to Madison.

Monthly Meetings

The club meets monthly, usually on the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm. After a picnic or potluck dinner, we usually have a program consisting of a presentation on some topic related to paddling. During the winter months, meetings are held via Zoom and/or a local community center. In the warmer months we meet outside at Mendota County Park. Some members elect to paddle on Lake Mendota following the meeting. Check out the Events page for more details.

Keeping Our Waterways Clean & Clear

Many of our members volunteer to help keep our waterways clean and clear for paddling. We help organizations such as Take a Stake in The Lake and Capitol Water Trails. A group of our members helps keep Token Creek navigable for all paddlers.