Canoeing the Duluth area
Entirely not enough PDD attention has been devoted to canoeing small rivers in the area. Yesterday, we canoed the Brule, a formidable opponent when the water is low, any other favorites? Has anyone put in at Jay Cooke and gone all the way to the mouth in an aluminum canoe?
Isn’t there another dam between Jay Cooke and highway 23?
Yeah … 1) where in Jay Cooke were you talking of putting in? and 2) there is a fairly big dam near the southern end of the park.
There are large sections of the river in Jay Cooke that are just not navigable. In fact the river near the upper dam is pretty damn tricky, they have kayak races there a few times in the summer, coordinated with water releases from the dam. I just would not do it in a canoe … unless you want to die. There is a canoe-able stretch, just above the lower dam, and a place to put in ~1/2 – 1 mile from said dam. You can paddle upstream a few miles until you hit the never ending rapids. It’s a nice paddle and worth a relaxing day trip, you’ll go right by the old MN Power Hydro plant, a few places to stop and eat lunch and swim if you want. Have seen otter in that area. The most traffic has been one or two small motor boats out fishing.
Try the Cloquet river from the Carroll Trail put-in down to Island Lake. It’s got a few runable rapids, goes through Alden Lake, with a final portage down into Island Lake.
The Carroll Trail is off Rice Lake Road (#4) about 6 miles north of Island Lake. It’s quite a drive in off Rice Lake to the canoe landing, but last time I was there the road was in good shape.
Did St Louis river from Little Swan to Floodwood once. You could start further up. After Floodwood, river gets bigger.
The Cloquet River to the St. Louis from HWY 53 put in (Independence Rest Stop) take out HWY 2 St. Louis River. Fun paddle and fishing is fun if you like catching smallies.
In low water be prepared to navigate some small (dare I say) rapids…
Either way it is a fun paddle. 11 miles – For more info and map click here https://tinyurl.com/3aw2axx .
Under no circumstance should anyone try and run any of the rapids on the lower section of the St. Louis River (below the hwy 210) in a canoe, kayak or boat of any sort unless you have class IV+ paddling skills and crew of experienced boaters with swift water safety knowledge. Potential for serious injury or worse is high.
This was sarcasm, but I’m glad you guys treated it as a serious threat to someone’s safety, just testing your response time, now everyone has been warned. We’ll try the Cloquet next then!
Or satire rather, I thought the aluminum part was a dead givaway.
Put in: Hwy 23 Bridge Fond Du Lac Campground
Take out: Boy Scout Landing, Morgan Park, Indian Point, Grass Point, Rice Point ect…
Choose your own adventure. Paddling up river creates very challenging navigation due to many river channels and hidden pond entrances. Nice and lazy but lots of fun. Fishing is alright for smallies where the river is braided. Watch out for other boats!