Red Cedar
Hwy.12 in Menomonie to CTH.D in Irvington (0.5 - 3.9 miles)
| Difficulty | I-II |
| Length | 3.8 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 9 fpm |
| Gauge | Red Cedar River at Menomonie, Wi |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 1410 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | September 7, 2020 |
River Description
This wide river has a few boulder-bed rapids in the first mile below a dam. Serious whitewater paddlers will likely just concentrate on that stretch, while canoists and recreational kayakers are likely to enjoy the full run as listed here. One of the best features of the run is a wonderful biking trail which parallels the river throughout the reach, thus can be done as a 'biathalon', paddling the river and biking your shuttle!
River Features
Put In
Railroad Rips
Leading under a railroad you'll find a rocky boulder-garden rapids. At some flows, you may find some playable features across the width of this area.
Con-Agra Wave
Named for the Con-Agra/Swiss-miss plant (river-left, on River Road and 1st Avenue West), a center-river wave may offer some play at certain flows. There may also be a ledge/wave to river-right.
Tainter Wave
The next wave (more to river-left) is named for a lumber-baron's family which features very prominently in the city's history. (Numerous buildings bear the names of family members.)
Stout Wave
This final potentially significant wave sits to river-right. The name is not to suggest that this is bigger nor more robust than the others. Rather, it is a tribute to James Huff Stout, another lumber baron (of the Knapp-Stout lumber company), founder of Stout University ('the only institution in the UW System named for an individual'), civic leader, and state legislator.
Serious whitewater boaters doing this stretch as a park-and-play (PnP) will likely take out as soon as convenient after this wave to carry back to their vehicle.
Hwy.29/Hudson Road
Since the only real whitewater is in the first half-mile, playboaters will probably shorten their trip by taking out here (or possibly even working out access points for shorter PnP opportunity as mentioned in the prior entry) and walking back to their vehicle.
Take Out
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportBeginner surfing, much better at 4000csf
Much larger standing wave. Great surf especially at higher water.
Walk up river on the trail to get to the waves. There are several nice spots to slide in.
This is the put in right next to the large bridge that goes over the Red
Down river view of the two surfing spots
If you are just looking for some play spots you can shorten the run that is listed here and take out at the Hwy 29 bridge. There is a park on both sides of the road and you can take out at either one. The run is approximately a half mile long and there is an asphalt path that follows the river up to the put-in making it easy to park at Hwy 29 and carry your boat up to the put-in. Below Hwy 29 there are some riffles but mostly flat water, nothing playable.
Ran section from just below the dam down to the Hwy 29 bridge (only about a half mile). The river is very high right now (~4800 cfs). There are several new strainers down with the high water. Most of the features that are present throughout the summer have been washed out and replaced with large standing waves. The water is moving very fast right now, usually during summer they have one gate on the dam barely open and right now two gates are letting a lot of water through.