It was a rare warm and sunny day a couple weeks ago and Luther High School physical education teacher Kari Rosenberg was unloading a trailer full of kayaks at the Black River waterfront area in Onalaska long known as Sias Isles.

Normally, the only way to get access to the former campground is by boat, but Rosenberg had a key to the locked gate at the west end of Irvin Street.

“This is just perfect down here,” Rosenberg said as she lined up the kayaks on the banks of the swollen river, preparing them for a session on the water with members of her life fitness PE class.

A year ago, Rosenberg and her students had no kayaks and no occasion for a trip to Sias Isles, the area the city plans to develop into a park with a tourism/cultural center just up the hill on Second Avenue.

But last summer, Rosenberg received a grant from the Future Fisherman Foundation to help her buy kayaks. She only got half the amount she was hoping for, but thanks to some creative pricing from Current Designs, a kayak maker in Winona, Minn., she managed to acquire eight kayaks for last fall’s section of her class.

She had to borrow life jackets and a trailer for last fall’s trip to Sias Isles, but over the winter some additional donations enabled her to buy three additional kayaks and paddling vests. Not only that, her father and his friend built a trailer to haul all the kayaks.

“It was a rewarding winter,” Rosenberg said.

Just as Rosenberg’s students were arriving, the clang of the railroad-crossing alarm pierced the air and a slow moving southbound train began rolling by, trapping the students on the wrong side of the tracks. As the last car went by, a faster northbound train went through the crossing.

Rosenberg laughed. For her, the train was just part of the charm of the future park.

The students had six days of classroom kayak training before their session at Sias Isles, including time in kayaks set on wheeled platforms. They learned five strokes in the classroom, and Rosenberg had the students put their learning to the test by having them play ball tag.

Some of the students had a little trouble remembering some of their paddling skills, but it was apparent that they were all having a good time.

“It’s neat, some of the comments they make about being outside.” Also, she said, “the faculty get a little jealous when they see the temperature and see we’re out paddling.”

Rosenberg said one group that had come down the week before put their paddling skills to work along the shoreline, picking up trash and debris.

Rosenberg said she’s pretty sure Luther has the area’s only kayaking instruction program, but she doesn’t necessarily want to see the school hang on to that distinction.

Kayaking offers a fun way to get exercise and experience nature’s beauty up close in an unobtrusive way. It’s also a good way to sneak up on fish, and Rosenberg hopes to incorporate fishing into the curriculum in future years.

“The growth of kayaking is just phenomenal,” Rosenberg said. “We’re on the cutting edge of something.”

This summer, Rosenberg will spend a good deal of time kayaking. For fun, she’s going up to Door County (last year it was the Apostle Islands), but she also has volunteered to teach kayaking classes for the Onalaska Recreation Department, using the fleet she acquired for Luther High School.

Contact Randy Erickson at randy.erickson@lee.net or (608) 786-6812.

FUN ON THE WATER: The Onalaska Recreation Department will have two activities on the Black River waterfront this summer. In addition to kayaking classes for kids and adults, log rolling lessons also are planned for all ages. Both kayaking and log rolling are open to all area residents. For more information, pick up a summer recreation catalog at the recreation department office at Onalaska City Hall or check out a downloadable version of the catalog on the city’s Web site.