St. Louis

C) Hwy.53 to Hwy.33 (Cloquet) (95 miles)

Reach banner
DifficultyI-II
Length94.5 mi
Avg Gradient1 fpm
Reach Info Last UpdatedNovember 18, 2009

River Description

Put-in: ~1315'

Take-out: 1179'

Total Drop: 136'

(Pre-existing listing.) This is a long (95 miles!) reach of canoe tripping water with relatively little whitewater. Many options for shorter trips exist. Listed trip starts at Hwy 53 (where you'll probably use Lion Springs Wayside Park to access the river upstream of Hwy.53) and ends at Dunlap Island in Cloquet (where there is camping).

Scanning the topo maps, we are able to identify only one marked 'rapids', which appears to be road accessable (carry-up, boat down), a bit northeast of Toivola. (See Rapids tab and Map tab.) This rapids is not far from a stretch of marked rapids on the Whitefish River, which could make a reasonable pair of 'hits' for someone in the area.

Don't take this wrong . . . we are not saying this is the only rapids on the whole stretch, but that it is the only one marked on the topos! There are a number of other areas which appear (on the Google Satellite view) to have rapids.

River Features

1350'

Distance: -25.3 mi
Other
1350'

Put In

Distance: 0 mi
Access Point

Rapids (marked on MNDNR map)

Class: IDistance: 0 mi
Other
Rapids (marked on MNDNR map)

Minnesota DNR map of river shows a rapids at this location. Nothing is apparent on Satellite view on Google.

Drainage: ~691 sq.mi.

Distance: 0 mi
Other
Drainage: ~691 sq.mi.

Drainage area at our listed put-in is about 691 square miles (per USGS StreamStats Beta software).

Rapids (marked on MNDNR map)

Class: IIDistance: 0 mi
Other
Rapids (marked on MNDNR map)

The MN DNR map of the river shows a 2.5 mile stretch of class I-II rapids beginning at this location.

apparent dam?

Distance: 5 mi
Other
apparent dam?

It appears there may be a dam at/under this road crossing. Scout, and be prepared to portage.

1300'

Distance: 6.87 mi
Other
1300'

0.1 mile portage or 3.6 mile paddle!

Distance: 14.03 mi
Portage
0.1 mile portage or 3.6 mile paddle!

Having passed one big oxbow already, the river at this point begins a wild looping series. A short carry across 0.1 mile of land here would save 3.6 miles of paddling these various loops of river!

1250' contour; beginning of marked 'rapds' on USGS quads

Distance: 33.65 mi
1250' contour; beginning of marked 'rapds' on USGS quads

Scanning the topo maps for this entire reach, the only 'marked' rapids occurs at this location. Certainly there may be other rapids (unmarked) on this reach, but lack of gradient or marked rapids would suggest no reason to paddle this whole (85 mile) reach looking for whitewater. This location appears to be road accessible (with a carry in/out).

end of marked 'rapids' on USGS quads

Distance: 34.33 mi
Other
end of marked 'rapids' on USGS quads

1200'

Distance: 86.25 mi
Other
1200'

1180'

Distance: 90.65 mi
Other
1180'

Take Out

Distance: 95.35 mi
Access Point

Trip Reports

Log in to add a report

No trip reports yet.