Wisconsin

Release level was about 1800 according the to the friendly dam operators. The first rapid below the dam is a solid class III which can be tricky with no warm-up. Next rapid can be run either down the main center/left channel or the right channel. Most of the river was read and run class II-III with some decent eddy lines and surf waves.

We scouted the big ledge on river right the first run. The far right channel drops over two small ledges and would be an easy sneak if the current over first ledge wasn't pushing immediately into a slightly undercut boulder with wood. Nobody ran the right line. Scouting on river left immediately above the drop is much easier. Running tight left is a bit scrapy, but it avoids the big ugly hole. Then just deal with some squirrely waves/holes and punch the bottom hole. I ran this line, and the others in our group walked. Someone should run down the middle and tell me how it goes.

The last rapid before the powerhouse has a neat creeky line down the far left channel. At the bottom of this rapid on river left is a decent surf wave and ender spot with eddy access.

Overall, this stretch has a few lively rapids with OK play for a half-slice or full-slice. It was a bit scrapy in places; definitely some paddlesnakes in there to watch out for. Very pretty. Easy shuttle. Mosquitos plentiful. At 3.5 hours from the Twin Cities, it's a hike for me for such a short run, but it might be nice to try to schedule these releases on a Friday afternoon before a Wausau release.

Here is a video of the main drop at 3600 cfs per merril USGS gauge.
https://youtu.be/1jgnOFwzIiQ

Too low, very rocky.

There were many line available for this ledge drop at the levels of 1500,1800,2000,4000 cfs in the channel.

Helge Klockow and Bryan Foster begin their run at the base of Grandfather Falls Dam.

Grandfather Falls Dam, FERC P-1966.

This is the big ledge in the Grandfather Falls sequence, shot at low water (June 24, 2008).

Grandfather Falls dam releases only in early spring to release in this usually dewatered section of the Wisconsin river. What follows down from the dam is continous II-III water for nearly a mile.