Big

The name is almost certainly one of the most significant oxymorons I've encountered -- this is barely a river, and is anything but 'big'. In fact, it may test the limits of how small a watershed might be boatable in this area! Drainage at our listed put-in is about 12.8 square miles. By Hwy.35 (Great River Road) it has increased to 18 square miles, and by the take-out, about 20.5 square miles.

Anything this small is extremely likely to have regular and repeated problems with wood (deadfall, snags, strainers) blocking progress downriver, necessitating creative boating (to get under, around, through, or over) blockages, or to be ready to catch (what may be small-to-non-existent) eddies in order to portage. As a result, this will not be a good place for casual boaters with no proven whitewater skills! If you can't spin 180-degrees with a single paddle-stroke, if you can't do an upstream ferry, if you can't catch a one-boat eddy (and certainly if you don't know what each of those means!) then you should not even think about trying this run! Wood is the most common and the most dangerous thing you will regularly encounter in rivers. Unless you know and have practiced strategies for dealing with it, you are likely to lose equipment (paddles, boats). Unless you have learned and practiced swiftwater safety and rescue techniques, and have proper safety equipment, you may be risking your life (or that of others in your paddling group).

A further complication may be logistics of access for take-out. It appears there are housing/subdivisions flanking the river (but well-back from the river) near the end of the listed run. It appears (on satellite/aerial views) there may be a lane on river-right coming near water's edge as the gradient runs out. This is very likely to be private property (possibly marked against trespass), which would necessitate getting permission to use. On river-left, there may be a cul-de-sac one could use, if it is not all private lots and if

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