The Driftless 250 has no route and few rules: canoe the Wisconsin River and bike back to Madison

Jake and Larissa Gafner have traveled around the world, but it was a canoe trip down the Wisconsin River that inspired their latest adventure: the Driftless 250, a weeklong choose-your-own-route bike and canoe trip through the Driftless Area. 

Six people took part in the first Driftless 250 in September 2018. The trip involved biking 25 miles from Madison to Sauk City, canoeing 100 miles down the Lower Wisconsin River to the Mississippi, then biking 125 miles back to Madison. 

After a successful inaugural trip, two more Driftless 250 trips are scheduled for 2019, the first one May 11-18. 

Jake, an engineer, and Larissa, a nurse, facilitate the trips through Lost Travel Co., which they launched as a side project last year. 

The couple lives in Chicago but grew up in Monticello, south of New Glarus in Green County. Jake, 31, said they’ve shared a love of travel since they took a camping trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula when they were dating in high school. Since then they’ve been around the globe, from the islands of Tanzania to the sand dunes of Morocco. But it was that trip down the Wisconsin River that drove home how beautiful their backyard is.

“I had actually never really thought about how amazing and beautiful it was over there, and you kind of appreciate it more the farther you go from home,” Gafner said. “We had this idea to canoe all the way to the Mississippi and then bike back, and it would be a nice triangle.” 

The Driftless 250 website describes the trip as "a triathlon, kinda. There is some biking, but no running. There’s camping, there's no route, and you only have to swim if you fall out of your boat. So, nothing like a triathlon.” 

Although there is a start and finish line, the trip "definitely isn’t a race," Gafner said. Participants are given coordinates for the start and finish line and check-in points for each leg, but everyone chooses their own route — which is more discretionary on the bike portions, of course.  

“We want people to spend time out there,” Gafner said. He added that they built extra time into the adventure so people could probably spend an entire day relaxing if they want to.  

“Whoever spends the most time out there is going to end up with the best stories,” he said.  

Gafner said the first year had six participants, what he dubbed “the Board,” a group that signed up not really knowing what to expect but willing to try.  

What they got were memories of biking and canoeing through some of Wisconsin’s most beautiful landscapes and meeting the people who live there.  

Gafner said his friend Brent Arsenault from Canada, who has traveled a lot in the United States and has parents who live in Arizona, got a big dose of Wisconsin culture while biking near the Mississippi River. There he passed a man mowing his large lawn with a push mower. When the Canadian shouted that he should get a riding mower, the Wisconsinite shouted back that he had one but didn’t need to rush because the Packers played a night game that day.  

“(Brent) said this trip gave him the best feeling of real American culture that he’s ever gotten, because you’re actually out there, interacting with people,” Gafner said.

On your own

Aside from logistical support for getting canoes and bikes to the right places for the various legs, everyone is on their own for gear and lodging, whether that be camping or bed and breakfasts. 

“If you get lost, get a flat tire, fall out of your canoe, or run out of rum, it's on you to figure it out,” the event’s website says. “You carry your own gear, plan your own pace, forage for your own food, dig your own toilets, etc. Things might go wrong. That's the whole point.” 

Some things did go wrong on the first trip, from getting lost to high water levels on the Wisconsin River that made finding sandbars to camp on a challenge.  

But like most trips, those challenges are what made it an adventure, Gafner said. Arsenault and another friend from Canada had not biked more than 20 miles and never on a tandem bicycle, but they conquered the 125 miles of Driftless hills on a heavy Trek tandem together. 

The word adventure "is almost overused a bit, but it’s this thing where you have to have all your gear, and you don’t know what’s going to happen and every time you do that, it teaches you something about yourself,” Gafner said.

By the end of the trip strangers had become friends, and they were already planning their next trip together. 

“It captures the spirit of what we wanted,” Gafner said. “It captured this feeling where you’re out there, and you forget about life, you forget about work." 

It’s not just about having a good time, though. Lost Travel Co. donates 5% of its top-line revenue to organizations working to protect the environments their trips travel through. So even though the company isn’t making a profit yet, it's still giving back. Participants also have the option to donate more when they register for trips. For the Driftless 250, the money goes to the River Alliance of Wisconsin.

Last year about half of the trip’s participants were from Wisconsin, and Gafner said this year they have some people coming in from California to experience America’s true dairyland. 

“People that are on the coasts tend to overlook the Midwest,” he said. “It’s exciting to expose people to this and show them this part of the world. Because to me, it’s in my backyard and it’s so comfortable. But for other people this is a trip for them, and they haven’t been here before.” 

If you go

The Driftless 250 begins with a kickoff party in Madison on May 11. There, everyone will get basic instructions, including rules for camping on sandbars on the Wisconsin River, why they shouldn’t follow GPS and bike on busy Highway 18, and an overview of leave-no-trace principles.

The trip officially begins May 12 with a 25-mile bike ride to Sauk City. From there, Lost Travel collects bikes and provides canoes, two paddles per team and life jackets for everyone for the 100-mile paddle down the Wisconsin River to Wyalusing State Park outside Prairie du Chien. This leg takes four to five days. From there, participants bike whichever route they choose back to Madison, about 125 miles over the course of two days. The adventure wraps up with another party on May 18. 

The trip is open to anyone age 18 and older. People can register as individuals ($235) or teams of two ($440) or three ($599); the company can help solo travelers find partners if they want one. Registration closes May 1.  

Registration includes a canoe rental and all necessary accessories; a week’s worth of RXBARs, nut butters and AlpineAire backpacking meals and snacks; transportation and storage for bikes; a medal at the finish line; and kickoff and finish-line parties with food and drinks.  

Participants must provide their own bikes and camping gear, if they’re camping, or arrange their own lodging. Lost Travel Co. can help with bike rentals and provide camping gear for an additional cost ($150).  

Lost Travel Co. will host another Driftless 250 Sept. 7-14.

For more information and to register, see lost.travel. 

Contact Chelsey Lewis at (414) 224-2144 or clewis@journalsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter at @chelseylew and @TravelMJS and Facebook at Journal Sentinel Travel.