Flambeau, S.Fk.

E) CTH.W to Skinner Creek Landing (11.2 miles)

Difficulty	II(III)
Length	11.2 mi
Avg Gradient	7 fpm
Gauge	South Fork Flambeau River Near Phillips, Wi
Flow Rate as of 16 minutes	413 cfslow runnable
Reach Info Last Updated	July 31, 2021

River Description

Put-in is at CTH.W, at roughly 1370' elevation.

Take-out is at Skinner Creek Landing, at roughly 1293' elevation.

Rapids include Carpenters, Cornsheller, Big Bull, Bergeron, Little Falls, Scratch, and Otter Slide.

Many paddlers opt for a short trip, putting in at CTH.M, to focus on the 'main event', Little Falls.

Click the following link to see some beautiful drone footage of Little Falls/Slough Gundy:

https://youtu.be/oHyLE_nhQt8

River Features

Put In

Distance: 0 mi

Carpenters

Distance: 1.75 mi (approx.)

Cornsheller

Distance: 4.45 mi (approx.)

Big Bull

Distance: 5.4 mi

Rapid

Bergeron

Distance: 7 mi (approx.)

Rapid

Little Falls

Distance: 8.54 mi (approx.)

Portage

Hazard

Waterfall / Large Drop

Cut/Paste this link to see a YouTube video of some folks running each side of this falls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LalpcG4UGWY

Scratch

Distance: 9.75 mi (approx.)

Rapid

Take Out

Distance: 10.4 mi

Take Out

Otter Slide

Distance: 11 mi (approx.)

Rapid

Trip Reports

Bobby Brown

Dec 17, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LalpcG4UGWY

Bobby Brown

Dec 17, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2En5VF1WqCU

This is our local run, most put-in at Co M. We use the stairs at the put-in for an idea of flow. Highest I've run is with 3.5 steps showing in June of '10 and Sept of '10, this is a very high flow. Slough Gundy is a solid III with huge wave trains, 6' and higher nonstop from the first pitch above the cliff to the fifth and last pitch above the big pool. The only play would be for advanced boaters. The left side of the falls was runnable, but looked very pushy, the right side was unscoutable with the island mostly flooded and a far river right channel in the woods. Scratch (below Little Falls) was mostly washed out with less features than at lower levels. The Flambeau gauge was reading 13000+ cfs in during the June event. Based on where the greatest amount of rain fell, 6' in Phillips area and the N. Fork's very large reservoir (Turtle Flambeau) being over 5 feet below normal pool and not releasing any water, the So Fork at M likely had higher flows at the confluence, likely 6000+ cfs.

I believe there are 9-10 steps including the 4'x4' landing step at the bottom. As levels drop Slough Gundy changes dramatically, at some levels there are playspots everywhere and others they seem to disappear. The Falls also changes, the left side becomes more difficult and dangerous, with the right line (pourover slot next to island) looking very keepy and the left line near trail access pushing into the big rock on left that has sieve and often wood trapped underneath. The river right falls remains unscoutable, however the left line (slide) is probably runnable IV. As level drops further both lines of the river left falls open up and as do both on the river right side. The right line of the right (5' drop) is very sticky. As the river drops even further the left side becomes bony and the right side far more tame. Below the falls, Scratch, (named further downstream on the topo) at most levels is the most fun rapids to run, with a nice hole on far river left.

At high levels we use the skinner creek rd takeout, at moderate levels or only a bike or legs for a shuttle, we takeout below scratch and walk up using a decent trail along the river up to little falls. At low levels we may just run down to little falls and take-out or carry into the falls and run laps.

For flows watch for rain in Price County, watch the Jump gauge and the Flambeau gauge.