My paddling partner Barry Babcock and I started our trip on May 26, 2010, at Hayward Wisconsin. We contacted the Park Service to check water levels; the report was a week old and they advised starting below County Road M. We put in at the landing across from the DNR office in Hayward.

DAY 1
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Before launching we asked at the DNR office for up-to-date information on the river levels but they were not able to give us any information. We were disappointed they did not even have the most basic information. We left the landing with week old information and shortly afterwards came to the first of many low water encounters. This is not a river to take your brand new Kevlar or Granddad’s restored wood canvas Penobscot; plastic is the material of choice.

The water level was low for the next 15 miles. We had to get out and line the canoe at least 10 times. On two occasions the canoe scraped the bottom with only our packs in the canoe. The numerous rapids were also very difficult to navigate due to the low water level. Most of the time we had only half the paddle blade in the water but were able to navigate the rapids even though we are not avid whitewater paddlers. The rapids on this river are Class 1 and 2 and with low water we had to line the canoe though some of the Class 1 sections. There is only one portage in this section of the river and it’s around a chute near Stinnett Landing.

However, we chose to paddle through, lined straight up with the chute, and ran down the middle. It was easy, with only a 2 foot drop.

We camped the first night at the site just before the Ear Landing as marked on our maps. This site is an old homestead that was purchased when the river was declared a National Wild and Scenic River. It was very roomy with numerous tent sites and a fire ring and picnic table. All the campsites on the river seemed to be located on high banks and in the pines. The river is lined with a beautiful mixed forest of oak, pine, maple and poplar. Under less than ideal conditions (low water) we managed to cover 25 miles starting at 10am and getting off the river at 5pm.

DAY 2
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We started our second day at 8:30am and found improved water levels but still had to line the canoe once before we reaching Trego. The Park Service has an office in Trego but it was closed when we arrived, the hours are 9am to 5pm on Saturday and Sundays. So we were not able to get any information on water levels but we were able to refill our water jugs there as planned.

We had only seen 5 people on the river the day before and they all came by our campsite for a visit; they were out for an evening paddle. Paddlers and use of the river in this section seemed to be dominated by day use clients of the numerous canoe outfitters near Trego.

When we got into the lake that is created by the Trego hydro dam Barry broke out his graphite paddle. There is a portage around the dam on the right hand side with the take out and put in very user friendly. A satellite toilet is also available.

When you start out below the dam you run a section of Class 1 rapids. Make sure you have your rock paddle out for this section of the river. It’s no place for a $200 graphite paddle as Barry found out. We caught up to a group of 3 canoes below the Trego dam. They were clients of one of the local outfitters.

By the time we reached McDowell Landing we finally had consistent water levels deep enough to follow the river channel but we had another encounter. There is a short section of the river lined with silver maple trees. These big old trees have a nasty habit of falling into the river creating an obstacle course. We were able to get around all of them without lining or portaging the canoe.

We were off the water at 6:00pm. We covered 30 miles on our second day at our leisurely pace. We camped at mile marker number 8. It was a nice pine covered site with log benches and a fire ring but without a picnic table.

We are paddlers not fisherman and if your idea of an ideal canoe trip requires wetting a line, we did see many fish in the clear waters of this river.

DAY 3
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On the 3^rd day we were on the water again by 8:30 am with only 14 miles to paddle to our destination, the St. Croix River take-out at Hwy 70. Along the St. Croix we encountered one section of low water and Class 2 rapids above the take out. Overall the water level was about 2-3 feet but the rocks, sometimes 2-2 1/2 feet in size, were a problem. We had to keep a watchful eye on the water to avoid these boulders making our destination without dumping our canoe or taking a dunking.

The wildlife along the river was as entertaining as the scenery. We saw numerous bald eagles, common mergansers, whitetail deer, otters, and four black bear. There were numerous songbirds vireos, blackburnian warblers, scarlet tanagers, king fishers and green herons. wood frogs, tree frogs, green frogs and wiper wills also serenaded us to sleep each night. If you are a light sleeper consider bring earplugs. We were fortunate that there were no mosquitoes or black flies.

The river this spring was low as you can see from the photo of my canoe. I had just refinished her last fall, so much for that ‘like new’ look. It looks worse than it really is with the surface scratches only and no deep gouges.

My canoe is a Souris River Wildness model. It handled the river and rapids well. My paddling partner Barry has a Minnesota II but says he liked the way mine handled the river over his. His only complaint was the Souris seats; he likes the tractor style seats in his Minnesota II better.

I would recommend this trip for early season in order to take advantage of the spring run off. Also, if you like to have the rivers to yourself go midweek before school is out. There are many outfitters on the river and it could be busy in the summer vacation season.