Black (Nemadji Trib.)

This really should be viewed as two individual runs: the 'upper' from Little Manitou Falls to Interfalls Lake, and the 'lower' from below (Big) Manitou Falls to the railroad trestle off of Station Road.

DO NOT paddle the section immediately below dam (and Hwy.35) as this is the lead in to Big Manitou Falls (165', not included in gradient figures). Portage on park trails to base of falls (perhaps a quarter-mile, but likely requiring significant scouting/reconnoitering in order to determine where to descent and resume river travel). And, by the way, while numerous sites list the height of Manitou Falls as 165', that figure (best I can tell from topo maps) seems to represent total drop from about the highway bridge to the end of the falls sequence, thus does NOT appear to be the actual height of any (the tallest) single vertical plunge.

SO ... breaking it into two runs:

The 'upper' is somewhat less than a mile of gradient (0.93 mile at something near 110 FPM) before the roughly half-mile paddle-out on Interfalls Lake. OR ... if you do NOT run Little Manitou, but put in below it, the remainder is about 45 FPM before the half-mile paddle-out.

The 'lower' is is about 3 miles at about 49 FPM, rather 'front loaded', with mile-by-mile gradients being 63, 48, and 35 FPM.

FROM NORTHWOODS WHITEWATER BY JIM RADA:

'The tiny Black, fifteen miles south of Superior, boasts the tallest waterfall in Wisconsin, Big Manitou Falls. Big Manitou drops 165 feet into a short, enchanting gorge, the centerpiece of Pattison State Park. An interesting run can be done by putting in about a mile upstream of Big Manitou Falls at the base of Little Manitou Falls, a twenty footer also in Pattison State Park.

A trail coming in to Little Manitou from WI Hwy 35 allows easy access. The half mile from Little Manitou to Interfalls Lake contains some class II and a class III ledge. Paddle across Interfalls Lake a half mile to the Hwy 35 bridge, take out on the le

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