Namekagon Canoe Trip

For years, I have been fascinated with the idea of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway (click here for information). The map below shows the full extent of this natural wonder, which is managed by the National Park Service. You can click on the map to see a larger image. Press your ESC key to come back here. A good portion of the St. Croix River defines much of the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Upper portions extend eastward into Wisconsin.

The Namekagon River, which is near us and which passes through Hayward Lake in town, is part of the riverway. Below is a more detailed map showing the portion of the Namekagon above Hayward. You can see that there are several canoe landing sites at points along the river.

Having driven along sections of the St. Croix and the Namekagon frequently during the years we have had our cabin, I have dreamt of doing a canoe trip on some portion of the riverway. Yesterday, the four of us decided (or maybe I decided for us) to attempt the section from Larsen Landing down to the Hayward Landing. This was advertised to be a 3+ hour paddle, depending on how much stopping you might do along the way. As the crow flies, the distance between the landings is about nine miles; with the meandering of the river taken into account, it is probably an 11 or 12 mile paddle. I checked about the water level of the river before we departed, and it was said to be normal with an approximate 3 mph current. The day was perfect, with mild autumn temperatures at about 72º, sunshine, and emerging fall colors.

We strapped our two canoes onto the small boat trailer we normally use for our little jon boat. Robert left their rental car at Hayward Landing, and we all drove north to Larsen Landing, where we unloaded the canoes and parked the pickup and trailer for the afternoon. (At the end of our trip, David drove me back to the landing to retrieve them.) This is us unloading the canoes.

Below is a view upstream from Larsen Landing. In most places, the river is nearly crystal clear. It is said to be a prime fishing river, with both native Rainbow and Brook Trout plus Bass, Walleye and some Musky. Kathie and I are going to have to try fishing this river next year. In fact, I may have to get my fly rod out and try for trout next year!

And we're off! The river moved along rapidly in most places, so usually the paddling was not difficult––mostly just navigating to find the deeper channels.

Unfortunately, the water level turned out to be a little low here and there, and particularly from Larsen Landing to Phipps Landing, we scraped on rocks frequently and got hung up from time to time. This then required getting out to push the canoes to deeper water. Part of the fun, but also a little tiring for our no-longer-so-young bodies.

Along the way, we enjoyed lots of bird sightings, including Bald Eagles, Herons, Kingfishers, and lots of ducks and geese. The section from Phipps Landing to Trout Run Landing passes through the Phipps Flowage, where the water is generally much deeper. Here we saw lots of fish below us, some quite large, although identifying the species was difficult. Phipps Flowage ends at a very small dam, and we chose to use the short portage there, which also gave us a chance for a little break. I was tempted to try paddling over the dam, because it really only created a rapids. One brochure says, "The white water chute is runable right into the small waves at the bottom or you can portage on the right." We'll save that for another day.

Some of the red leaves are starting to show, although it is still a bit early.

When it was all said and done, we were quite tired. Those of you who know me well know that I tend to bite off bigger chunks rather than work up to things. (So far, Robert and David have not threatened to disown me.) We probably should have started at a landing or two closer to Hayward and made the day a little shorter, since none of us had done any canoeing recently. Having to work over shallow areas added some work, and then the finish was across Hayward Lake, which required more serious paddling and dealing with some headwind. Still, it was very pretty out there, and now I can check off paddling part of this National Scenic Riverway from my so-called bucket list. For me, though, I intend for this not to have been a one-time experience. I definitely want to paddle some other parts of the river, maybe the section below Hayward, or to do this section again, and fishing the Namekagon sounds like good fun too.