The North Shore Rains April 16th-April 21st

The north shore was fueled with 2" of rain by a strong storm on April 15th. The entire North Shore from Duluth up to Grand Portage received enough rain to make the rivers flow for the entire week. Boaters rallied to the, Lester, Sucker, French, and a Split Rock solo run by Pete Noren on Monday April 16th.

On Tuesday April 17th, crews hit up the East fork of the Beaver, Silver, Sucker, and a three man crew ticked off a memorable run on forbidden fruit.

Nate Heydt on the East Fork of Beaver River 1st drop

Nate Heydt on East Fork of Beaver River 2nd drop

On Wednesday April 18th,  The two man crew of Techno and Justin took advantage of the rains and ventured into the Devils Track River. This was the first time in anybody had run the DT in 2012. What they found were many of trees down and many portages. There were about 5 trees in hazardous locations. Portage down the middle has a tree in the base of the falls on river left center. It is avoidable on the standard line, but if you get typewritered across the base of the falls you are in trouble. They also found that it is best to gauge the water level from the put in. Since the new culvert was installed at the take out, and the river flow has widened significantly there, it is very difficult to get a good grasp on flows from the take out.

On Friday April 19th, many boaters took a half day off and rallied to the Cascade River. Levels were at -7 inches. Some of the North Shore regulars like, Joerg, Alt, Decker, Heydt, Holton, Scheidel, Justin, and Noren were there. Along with new North Shore boater Tony Vavrica. They ran two laps. There is a new tree at the bottom of Hidden Falls. It's 30 feet downstream of the hole right in the out wash flow. All of the crew portaged it except on boater accidentally slipped out of his eddy and was forced to run it. He flipped in the hole at the bottom of Hidden and stayed upside down under the tree. It was a scary moment but all was good. There is a tree down below Long John on river left that is easily avoidable by running down the middle. There are two trees down in the river right line in Cheese Grader Rapid. The river left line works fine. And one last tree down across the entire river as you exit the canyon after Cheese Grader rapid.

On Saturday April 21st, twelve boaters put on the Brule River at enjoyed the last of the good rain fed water flows


Below are pictures of 30 foot "BTL" waterfall on the Forbidden Fruit river. From top to bottom are boaters Ryan Zimny, Justin, and Joel Decker. This was a memorable first personal descent for all three of them. It took them 3 hours to run with a few portages.

North Shore Mini-Adventure March 31st-April 1st

McConville, Schidel, Decker, and T2 at the entrance of Black Canyon of the Cross River

Everyone knew the water levels on the North Shore were low so what else to do. In the spirit of adventure, Japs, Decker, Schidel, T2, Pexa, and McConville all rendezvous at the mysterious Black Canyon on the Cross River near Schroeder, Minnesota. Nobody had any set plans for the weekend but to have a good time, camp at paradise beach, and check out new rivers, canyons, and potential new waterfalls to run. Everyone agreed to check out the Black Canyon. The Black Canyon stands for near death experiences and a frightening kayak tales in Minnesota North Shore Kayaking history.

Back in the 1980's Paul Douglas used to fire up Class V regularly. He had a near death experience in that canyon. He lost his paddling group and found himself trying to figure out where the portage around Black Canyon was. By the time he realized where he was, he accidentally paddled into its depths. He stayed in his boat over the first 2 drops which is a 8ft ledge and a deathly 40ft cascading waterfall. His worse injury was a popped ear drum from swimming over a waterfall and going really deep. Next he swam 4 drops. A runnable clean 20 foot drop, a quick 6foot ledge, right into a gnarly 20 foot reconnect waterfall with a 6foot exit slot, and finally a clean runnable 12-14 footer to exit Black Canyon. After seeing this drop in person it's amazing Paul Douglas lived.  The rest of the story can be found in the guide book Northwoods Whitewater by Jim Rada.

These are the first two drops Paul ran in his boat. The second drop a lot steeper than video shows and very gnarly

After two days of Class VI scouting missions with ropes and climbing gear, a plan was made. Fire up some waterfalls! They all wanted to at least put on a river that weekend and run some drops. So on Sunday April Fools Day 2012 they hiked their boats down to the river below the canyon then hiked into the canyon at river level as far as they could go upstream. It was tough roping boats over class 3 rapids while standing in the river. It took a lot of climbing and serious team work to get upstream.  On one occasion Justin had to quick release his waist throw bag because a boat flipped over while he was pulling boats. The boat filled up with water and was pulling him downstream. Everything turned out OK, only a scull cap was lost from the boat.

When they hiked as far upstream as they could, they were looking at a perfectly looking runnable waterfall which no one has ever run to their knowledge. The crew talked amongst themselves as to who would run it first. Japs got the nod from the crew and fired it up. He had a decent line and found it deep in the pool below. Decker, Schidel, and McConville all fired it up after with good lines. Video Footage will be up at www.fluidgrooveproductions.com soon.

This is the drop the crew ran after hiking boats upstream

About a week after, one of the crew members ran into a former KCI boater by the name of Jim Morrison. He is 67 years old and living near Grand Marais, MN. Jim had tales of paddling every drop in the Black Canyon of the Cross River in 2003 with Two Harbors boater Greg Williams. That was a really impressive feat. What's even more impressive is that Jim was 58 years old paddling that very serious of a canyon at any water level. Jim and Greg used to paddle alone all the time and didn't paddle with people outside their group. He also mentioned that he and Greg got first descents on the 3rd and 4th drops on the main section Beaver River back in the mid 90's. (The drop with the giant sieve rock and the manky drop with pyramid rock at the end)

Early Season Midwest: March 18th -March 25th

Midwest river flows have been a shocker so far this season. Flows came a month early than normal. It threw off a lot of boaters plans of and made boaters flock to runnable whitewater this past week.

Decker Auto Boof on Manabezo Falls

The north shore river didn't have much of a chance to run. With minimal snow levels and 70 degree weather the snow melted fast.  Last fall we had drought conditions on the North Shore so when winter came, the ice built up on the bottom of the river beds. The snow melted fast and we were left with ice to deal with.

Camp set up at Porcupine State Park over looking Lake Superior, U.P. Michigan

The Lester River in Duluth, Minnesota was a great example of this. Zimny, Heydt, Decker, and Japs paddled the Lester on March 18th. Flows were low but runnable. It was a pretty odd paddling experience though. In the flatwater sections, the entire river bed had a foot of ice pinned to the bottom. The guys were paddling on water above a giant sheet of ice. All the drops were clear of ice, but different rapids had different water levels from the massive sheets of ice pinned to the bottom in spots. You had to run the river like it was your first time. Scouting everything with high caution in the constantly changing river conditions.

Sisley boofing Manabezo Falls

On Monday March 19th, a second group lead by put on the Lester in low water and paddled the last of the water in the Lester.

Things were drastically different on the South Shore of Lake Superior in the U.P. Michigan. The L'anse, Michigan area had excellent whitewater the entire week of March 18th-March 25th. The falls river flowed for a few days, the Silver flowed for a week, and the Sturgeon never came down to boatable levels during that week. Bletch, Crimmins, Japs, Smits, and Sisley enjoyed three days of paddling the Upper and Lower Silver. The first day the level was around 8.6ft. The river dropped about a foot a day after that. There is a new take out for the lower silver thanks to a local. It's a great new take out because it saves you miles and miles of flatwater and you still get the best of the lower silver. Off Dynamite Hill Road go North on Piney, when you see the large Y which is actually a 4 way intersection. Take that right. It turns into a tight one lane road. 4x4 is required all the way to the river. Follow that as far as your vehicle will allow. There is a steep downhill with a deep stream crossing so a scout might be needed. Be prepared for your vehicle to get scratched up.

 Steve Bletch and Steve Smits finding firewood after Paddling the Falls River



Ryan Zimny and Jason Stingl portaging

On the weekend of March 24th-25th the Presque Isle was the river to be at. Boater flocked from all over the Midwest and PNW to get some water.

Upper Peninsula Michigan

Photo: Jonathon Sisley

On Friday Bletch, Sisley, and Japs ran the entire 15 mile section. They pretty much floated/slow paddled the whole way. We put in at 10am and finished at 5pm. The level was 7.25ft which was awesome padding in the class 3 and 4 boogy water in between the large rapids. The long 1/4 mile rapid battleship was a favorite rapid of the day. Just read and run around big holes. They took a 1/2 hour lunch at Stiger Bridge then scouted Nokomis and Triple Drop extensively. Nokomis and Triple Drop looked very stout from shore and intimidating. But flushy at the same time at 7.25ft. They all had decent lines all day with no swims or any major beat downs. After the trip, Bletch said  "That run of the full Presque Isle was a personal highlight of my paddling career."


On Saturday, 3 groups paddled 3 sections of the Presque Isle.

Decker, Zimny, Schidel, Bletch, McConville, Sisley, Hooper, Holton did two laps on the lower.

Everson, Monski, and Charles did the full 15 mile section.

Zimny setting up the boof on the Presque Isle River

Japs, Peter, Techno, Schidel and Stingl hiked into triple drop at 6.75ft water level. They found a new way to hike into to triple drop. They hiked their boats uphill about 3 miles and it took us 1 hour. It's hard to describe the hike but when you get to the confluence of Copper Creek and the Presque Isle you keep following the dirt road alongside the Presque Isle going east (30min) until you get to a deep ravine and a new clear cut area. Follow that ravine towards the Presque Isle and you will arrive just above Triple Drop. And 5 minutes later Midwest Vetrans Everson, Monski, and Charles arrived in the eddy above triple drop. They did the 15 mile section and the timing was impeccable. The two groups paddled a few rapids together and had a good time.

Action on Manabezo Falls on the Presque Isle River near Bessemer, Michigan

The lines were less distinct and the holes at Triple Drop and Nokomis were munchy than the day before at 7.25ft. I found that the lines were harder with less water. And the river way more bony in the class 3 and 4 boogy water.

On Sunday the Black River was the destination.  Zimny, Decker, Bletch, McConville, Sisley, Holton, Hooper, Kehn, Melissa, Jorgenson all put on the Black. The level was 550. Many boaters hucked Patowatomi and walked Gorge Falls. Johnny McConville fired up the whole river. He ran all drops with two runs down Rainbow Falls.

Jason Stingl running Gorge Falls on Black River at 550cfs

Photo: Peter Noren

Patawatomi Falls on Black River: Bessemer, Michigan USA

Photo: Peter Noren

McConville, Sisley, Hooper, Holton running Patawatomi Falls on the Black River, U.P. Michigan 

Jason Stingl solo run of Patawatomi Falls Black River, U.P. Michigan

Minnesota's Hidden Falls, Double Drop, and Manitou Canyon Falls

Video of Chris Bear(green boat), John Kiffmeyer(blue boat), Justin Japs (orange boat) running Hidden Falls on the Cascade River - Minnesota, USA. And rare footage of Scotty Baker running Canyon Falls on the Manitou River into Lake Superior. Video Footage shot by Scott White.

History of Minnesota River Names

History of Minnesota River Names

http://books.google.com/books?id=ho23eS5qjNgC&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq=devils+track+river+get+its+name&source=bl&ots=j6lFZZaDEw&sig=D4TRdo21O35L4ht8qptcbUJjJng&hl=en&ei=QjO6TcPsKo26tge7p9ixAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

Devils Track River Lines...

The rapids and lines on the Devils Track river are so often forgot year after year it seems. Mostly because people only paddle it once a year, and sometimes it doesn't flow every year.   


Devil’s Track River Lines.


The run starts off with class II boogie water. You go through 2 narrow cliff walled canyons with class III drops. Next the canyon opens up and makes a large sweeping right hand curve and a horizon line with mist spraying up. Triple Drop rapid. You can take out on river left or river right. River left is to scout both drops and pick your line. River right take out is where you portage the rapid.

More walled in meandering class II following the portage Admiral falls. The river picks up pace and there is a distinct green water hump in the middle of the river signaling serpent slide rapid. Follow the flow and enjoy the ride.

The canyon walls open up with some long straight sections and easy paddling. After one of these long straight sections the river makes a left turn. This signals the 10 foot drop. The line is right of center down the green tongue.

Then you go under the superior hiking trail bridge. There is one more 10 foot drop. Run down the center. Be prepared to get sent towards the river right wall.

The river meanders through tall canyon walls until you come to the next horizon line. Portage down the middle. Eddy service is on river left or right. PDM is best scouted on river left. The line is to run 5 feet off the river right shore. Take a strong boof stroke and point the nose a little right. Land. Then take another boof stroke if you need too.

The easier take out which is starting to become the norm, is 100 yards downstream of PDM on river left before the canyon narrows up again. Hike straight up until you hit the superior hiking trail. Hike downstream maybe ½ mile until you see the walking bridge. Do not cross this bridge. The easy route down to the river is hike down through the woods on trail right before the bridge on trail right. Hike down and go towards that creek bed. Climb down onto the creek bed and follow to river. Very slippery and sharp on creek bed. Sometimes it’s best to just walk down the creek bed in water to get the most grip if it's icy on the sides of the creek.

After the Pitchfork portage, the river canyons up and meanders quite a bit until you see a big notch in the canyon and distinct horizon line. On a sunny day, It's probably the darkest spot on the river from lack of sunlight into the narrow gorge. There is a small eddy on river right if you want to scout Ski Jump and Up Against the Wall.  Run ski jump right down the center. Bank right on the pillow. Try and get river right as much as possible for the most water under your boat. Left is ok too but scrappy. Ride into the big curler off river right wall at UAW. After Up Against the Wall, Get river left and run this drop river left into the hole at the bottom. And that's it for the big stuff. Enjoy the class II into Lake Superior.

Illgen Falls - Baptism River

Here's a short clip of Scott White running Illgen Falls on the Baptism River. Illgen Falls is a a park and huck waterfall. It's as classic a waterfall as you will find anywhere in the world. The baptism river is located on the North Shore of Lake Superior, Minnesota USA.

Here is another North Shore video made by Minnesota Boater's Cliff Langley and Joel Decker

Lester River, Duluth Minnesota

Lester River located just north of the city limits of Duluth, MN, is the river that signals the start of the North Shore whitewater kayaking season. Here is a video from April, 9-10 2011 

Southwestern Minnesota Boating

Ramsey Falls nicknamed Little Yellowstone

Located on the edge of the great plains, Redwood Falls, Minnesota is a Midwest whitewater destination during early spring runoff. Granite rock riverbeds and steep topography from the Minnesota River Valley create whitewater.  It's 2 hours west of the Minneapolis and 1.5 hours from Mankato. Rivers in this area start running about 3 weeks before the more popular Minnesota whitewater destinations. They run about the same time as the Vermilion in Hastings usually around March 15th. And there is free camping at Beaver Creek Park. Camping is 5 miles north of Redwood Falls on county road 71, then go east on county road 2 for three miles and you see it after you cross the river on your right.



There are 3 primary whitewater rivers in the Redwood Falls area. The Redwood River, Ramsey Creek, and Beaver Creek. Plus a few other unexplored runs.

Here is a short video of Beaver Creek on April 2, 2011. Paddlers are Brian, Jade, Chris Baer, Scott White, and Justin Japs.

There is lots of information about the Redwood river and Beaver creek that can be found on americanwhitewater.org. However, Ramsey Creek and particularly Ramsey Falls (nicknamed Little Yellowstone), is fairly new to the whitewater world. The river consists of canyon wall class II whitewater and one big waterfall, Ramsey Falls. 


Video 1 shows the visual water level on the first descent.

On March 19, 2011, Justin went back for another look at Little Yellostone.  It was approximately double the flow of the first descent.  A small rock outcrop was visual in the middle and two separate waterfalls on river right and left. It looked good to run.

On March 27, 2011, Scott White and Justin Japs returned to the falls with intentions to run it if water levels were the same or a little higher than the week before.  The level was good and they both ran the falls.  Video 2 shows Scott White's awesome descent.

On April 2, 2011, Scott White, Chris Baer, and Justin Japs returned to see the water level had risen higher than the previous week.  Video 3 shows Chris and Justin's rides

So far what we have learned is this. This falls was measured with a throw rope on the 1st D at 32 vertical feet with an 60 degree 8 foot lead in. With higher flows, the cauldrom fills up a few more feet. There is no online gauge for Ramsey creek which makes it difficult to predict when it's running. At the base of the falls there is a small cave behind the river left that locals frequently swim into. One paddler has swam after running the falls. He flushed away from the base, and flushed out of the couldron with the rest of his gear. It was a non eventful swim and a typical yardsale of gear.The best safety is set up by repel from the river left cliff with throw ropes and with paddlers in the water within the cauldron at the base. The first descent of Ramsey Falls occured during the fall of the year after a major rain event. The ground was pretty dry prior. Redwood Falls got approximately 5 inches of rain over a 2 day period of time. The online gauge for the redwood maxed out somewhere around 7000cfs on or about September 27th, 2010. A week later, the Redwood gauge dropped to 2000cfs. This is when Ramsey Falls was run for the first time October 6th.

Ramsey falls is a high quality waterfall. It ran at good levels for 5 straight weeks during this years spring runoff.  It's a straight forward waterfall and a relatively safe waterfall to run. The first picture above shows low water Ramsey falls and the exposed rock ledge throughout base of the falls except river left. This ledge is what made people afraid to run it for all these years, when in reality, when the flows are at runnable levels you so far out from any underwater ledges.  To compare it to other Midwestern waterfalls, the cauldron setting and rolling lip is similar to Gorge falls, it's size is similar to Illgen falls, and the boof is like second drop on the east fork of the north shore Beaver river.  Big soft aerated boils at the bottom provide great landing pads for flat landings. Ramsey Falls has been run 8 times to date, since it's discovery to kayakers in 2010. There is much more to learn.

Here is the Redwood River C.F.S. levels and dates from this spring.

      s

2011 Jackson Villian Review

I picked up my new Villain Elite Large a few weeks back and have paddled approximately 100 miles of class IV and V rivers in the last two weeks. I went with the Large because I wanted a larger volume boat and the Elite model has cross link plastic. (i am 5'11, 195lbs) Cross-link plastic was the biggest factor when choosing my new creek boat. I have paddled two different cross-link Wavesport Y boats very hard over 10 years and I have never broken a cross link boat. I will add  more material to this review with more water time.

Pros:

The first thing that stood out was it's comfort. This boat is very roomy and the outfitting is very adjustable to your likings. You can easily navigate your way through the outfitting to make it your own.

The boat is very forgiving and easy to paddle. Anyone from a beginner to well seasoned veteran running Class V will enjoy this boat. 

It is quite nimble for being an 8'8". This boat is designed to carve with the smallest leans and you have plenty of time to react to where it takes you. You may want to adjust the seat forward or backwards to find your optimal balance point.

This boat has great performance. I have never been in a kayak that boofs better than the Villain. It wants to boof you every chance it gets. You timing can be slightly off and you can still make your boof stroke. When your timing is perfect, be prepared for a great ride and a soft landing. I was very impressed by the soft landings the Villain gives you. There is not a flat surface on the bottom of this boat which helps hard impacts while running waterfalls. After running waterfalls the Villian has great resurfacing to keep you in control. This boat creates amazing amounts of speed in whitewater. This speed combined with a well thought out bow design punches through holes while remaining in control.



The Villain is very stable. The way I see it, the Villain has three dimensions of stability. The first is the semi flat bottom, the second is the bottom chine, and the third is the chine on the sidewall. It takes some effort to make it flip over. You will notice immediately that shape of the boat creates a stable platform. The secondary chines work very well for balance support. The third chine on the side wall  adds another dimension of stability. This third chine works very well when you want to make a fast hard turn. Even in the pool practicing hand rolls, I had to lean over to nearly 90 degrees to fall over.


Cons:(may not be cons for you)


The cockpit rim is huge. The cockpit was designed big for good safety reasons, to help with exiting easily in dire situations. When putting your spray skirt on, you really have to work hard to get the back of your skirt around the rim. It takes a lot of effort to stretch to the front rim even with a wet skirt. You can unlock the backband and that helps to get the back of the skirt started, but if you liked the backband position the last time you paddled, you will have to readjust it to get back to where you like the backband.



The performance is so good on this boat that sometimes it's difficult to control your speed after a big boof. The Villain is no slouch in the weight category. The Villain L ranges from 48lbs to 50lbs. This weight plus it's ability to create great speed on the river can be a hand full at times. After you get a big boof be ready to put on the brakes if the situation calls for it.



Rolling this boat takes some effort. It is not difficult to roll, but there are easier creek boats to roll than the Villain. Hand rolling the Villain takes pretty precise technique.

2010 Season

In 2010, the spring season had limited boating opportunites during the average peak flows between April 1st and May 15th. Inner city Duluth creeks and the Split rock were all that ran.

Paddlemania was a big hit once again in 2010. It keeps growing every year.  This year's paddlemania saw an increase from 6 paddlers to 11 paddlers doing the Slot Machine Showdown, a first and second descent of the Beak on Octopus rapid in the Dynamic Duo tandem kayak, a midnight run down the lower, and lots of laughs around the fire.

2010 did see a great fall season all across the Midwest in late September for two weeks. The Brule, Devils Track, Cascade, Lester in Minnesota and the Presque Isle, Black, Falls, Slate, Silver rivers in Michigan all recieved enough rain for fun runs. It was my first trip to paddle the L'ance area rivers and they were pretty good quality rivers.

Memorial Weekend

Many paddlers enjoyed the last of Minnesota's spring run off on the North Shore. On Friday people boated the Cascade river, Saturday a crew got on the Devils Track river, and spent Sunday on the Cascade. The water levels were: Cascade -7", DT 1.25'. Unless there is more rain this could be the end of a long season lasting nine weeks on the North Shore. Let's hope for a fall season!

Tres Rios Weekend

Belicks Surprise rapid - Poplar River

Friday had absolutely nasty weather conditions on the North Shore with heavy rains/snow and strong winds. Most of the crew spent the night in Duluth and headed north on Saturday.

Poplar River flows through Lutsen Ski Resort - Sliding down to the river

Saturday was much improved with sunny skies with winds and temps on the cooler side in the lower 40's. Beta was gathered on the Devils Track and Cascade and it was determined those rivers were still a bit to high to have fun on. The crew of Ryan Zimny, Joel Decker, Burgess Norrgard, Justin, Tommy Norton, and North Carolina paddler Chris Gallaway all put on the Poplar river at a fun medium flow. Everyone had a good time on Belieks Surprise and really enjoyed the canyon section.

After the Poplar river, the crew heard the Kadunce water levels were up from the day before. The level ended up being a perfect Medium flow. The same crew plus Tommy Meirerhoff geared up and made the mile hike to the put in admiring the narrow river some ninety feet below. The Kadunce river gorge is a special place on the North Shore. The gorge on average is ten feet wide with fast roller coaster ride type rapids. The waterway is 4-6 feet wide and steep. It is dark in the canyon with little light penetrating to river level. The walls are dark grey and they appear as black bricks. You feel like you are truly in a tubed water slide. Everyone had great runs except for one paddler didn't have a good day. He ran the big waterfall (in pic) and swam out of his boat in the pool below. Luckily he was able to swim to the river left shore and climb out. The rest of his gear washed down to the crew below and had everyone worried as to what happened. The crew gather up his boat and gear and anxiously waited for the swimmer to come down. He never did. From far above the top of the canyon we heard yelling and received the sign that all was good. The Kadunce rocks!

Disappearing deep into the enchanted gorge

On Sunday, the weather was near perfect for spring paddling the North Shore. It was sunny, temps in the 50's with no wind. The Devils Track river and the Cascade river were on the top of the list to paddle. The DT's water level gauge is all messed up with logs choking the left channel. It is difficult to get an accurate level. No one was completely sure the DT level so John Alt drove down to the Cascade to see what levels were.

The Cascade was at -1 and Tommy Norton, Chris Gallaway, John Alt, and Justin Japs were up for a high water run. The crew paddled down to Hidden Falls and scouted the falls. It looks pretty intimidating at -1. Justin, Tommy, and Chris all fired it up. Tommy went right to left at the top and hit the hole at the bottom and broke his paddle and other things. Chris went right to left at the top into the hole and surf out. Justin started left at the top, stayed left the entire rapid and caught the left eddy at the bottom.

Since Tommy broke his paddle and other things, he was done for the day and hiked out with others. John, Justin and Chris continued down the Cascade and ran all rapids except Hannah's Hole. The run went really well with no problems, just sick lines, lots of action, and good times.

A safety cautionary note: There is a large tree down 4 feet off the water level that spans the entire river at the bottom of cheese grader rapid.. It has thick branches protruding to the river bottom. This tree is where the river narrows and flows into the river left wall. Luckily there were a few branches missing and a 4 foot gap close to the river left wall and all paddlers got through safely. This tree definitely has to be cut out.

Jim Rada Race Weekend

You couldn't ask for a better paddling get together in the Midwest this weekend on the beautiful Presque Isle River near Ironwood, MI. The event doubled in participants and spectators from a year ago. The Jim Rada Memorial Race was formed by Midwest paddler John Kiffmeyer to show appreciation and respect to Jim Rada who pioneered many of the North and South rivers of Lake Superior many decades ago. His spirit lives on and will forever be remembered and honored.



The weather was great with temps in the upper 50's and sunny on Saturday. The race was a huge success and all paddlers and spectators had a great time. This years trophy went to Joerg Steinbach who used his 28 years of experience to use the river currents to his advantage to dominate the competition.



All competitors and friends camped in the State Park overlooking Lake Superior which was a spectacular experience. New stories were created and old stories were told around a huge campfire.



On Sunday some paddlers packed up and went home while a large crew put on the amazing Black River. The weather was perfect. Sunny and 65. Many paddlers ran the entire river from Patowatomi to Lake Superior. To be on the river that day was incredible. Everyone was stoked and going big. Many paddled all the big drops: Patowatomi falls, Gorge Falls, and Rainbow falls with great lines.

N. Chainsaw Weekend

Manitou River, North Shore

The weather was steller Friday and Saturday before turning to cold and rainy conditions on Sunday. The Split Rock, east fork of the Beaver, Manitou, and the Poplar all had healthy water levels. On Friday, groups hit the Split Rock and the East Fork Beaver with good weather conditions for North Shore paddling this time of year. Mid to upper 40's and partly cloudy. It rained briefly in the late afternoon.

The Split Rock was at a medium fun level on Friday. The group consisted of Justin Japs, Joel Decker, Nate Heydt, John Holtan, Chris Baer, Burgess Norrgard, and Joerg Steinbach. At this level the river is pure fun. Everyone paddled really well. After the Split Rock, this same group hit up the East Fork Beaver for some high water action. One member even fished his way down with an ice fishing spinning rod and a mepps spinner from the kayak. The water was a bit too high with limited eddy's to fish. Most of the group ran the big three and had sick lines.

Joel Decker, Joerg Steinbach, John Alt, John Holtan checking the water level of the Manitou River. 3.5 feet that day.

On Saturday, you couldn't have asked for a better day to paddle the North Shore this time of year. The sun was shinning bright, not a cloud in the sky, good water levels, and temps were in the mid 50's. Great temps for this time of year. The crew of Alt, Decker, Nate Dog, Joergy, Lucky Holtan, and Japs put on the Manitou river ready for the unexpected. Most of the crew had never been on this run and had no idea what to expect. John Alt was leading the way and knew this river well. That was all the crew needed to know. The water level was at 3.5 feet which correlates to a high water level. The first part of the run starts out with swift flat water winding through a high plateau on top of the "North Shore hill." It was quite scenic among the mature red pines and black spruce. From a far distance off, the crew could hear the thundering roar of a large rapid. Everyone eddied out on river right above the large horizon line and took a look at this rapid. Most paddlers glanced quickly and a couple looked at it hard to find a line. This first rapid had never been run before. Many paddlers have seen a line down it, but always passed on the opportunity to run it. A "line" refers to a route down a rapid.

Left to Right: Nate Heydt, Joel Decker, Justin Japs, Joerg Steinbach, John Alt

Joerg and Justin thoroughly looked at this large drop from top to bottom. At this water level it looked very runnable from their eyes. Nearly all the jagged rocks and ledges were covered by water and river right side of the river looked like to the place to run. There was plenty of water going over the falls to soften any hard landings. The lead in consisted of a hard left turn around an exposed rock on a four foot green water tongue. To stay left and straight on this tongue was the most critical aspect to have a successful descent. From the green tongue you drop 8 feet down to a ledge into a hole, immediately drop another 14 feet down off a second ledge, then drop onto a large ramp with a huge rooster tail spraying water vertically at the bottom. The water below rooster tail is highly aerated with many side currents flowing onto a large flat ledge. It would be described as intense chaos. The water channelizes and flows off the final ledge into a monster shallow hole at the bottom. Justin gave the thumbs up to the crew to set up safety and had a successful first descent of the "Imperializer."

1st D of the "Imperializer"-  Paddler Justin Japs 

Looking down stream after the Imperializer there was immediate class III/IV boogy water with many downed trees in the river. The crew knew they would have to watch out for trees in the river. In one instance, a member of the crew attempted to paddle over a tree, only to slide upstream and completely flip under the tree and re submerge down stream. This was a very scary moment for all. We were very happy there were no branches pointing down to the river bottom.

The crew came to their second horizon line with a tree across the top of the drop on river right side. John Alt quickly signaled the crew to run this 5 foot ledge on river left. Everyone had great lines and were greeted with a water smash to the face by the hole at the bottom. It put a smile on every ones face. The exciting Class III/IV boogy continued on for a while after and the river characteristics changed to winding small canyons. This was an indicator to take out on river right to portage Pinball rapid and a serious canyon deemed unrunable. Joerg and Justin missed the portage and eddied out just above Pinball on river river right. It was a good vantage point to see the rapid, but a terrible place to be downstream of the take out. They had to scale nearly vertical canyon walls in chest deep snow to get back on track. Joerg and Justin deemed the steep hole in Pinball at that water level, to be a 50/50 chance of punching through. And if a swim occurred at Pinball, it would most likely be the last. The real portage was quite extensive in two feet of snow with many downed trees in the woods from the recent ice storm. The crew put back on the river after the canyon and were greeted with more fun class IV boogy water.

John Alt and crew portaging on the Manitou River

They encountered one more horizon line which led to a fun left to right side curler move off a large boulder. They boogied down more small canyons in the bright sunshine until they arrived at "Rain Falling Up" falls which is a spectacular waterfall and one of the North Shore's hidden Jems. The crew made their last portage on river left and walked out to highway 61 feeling great after a exciting day on the river.

On Sunday the Upper Poplar was flowing high at 1000 cfs. The weather was soggy, windy, and mid 30's. The crew of Nate Heydt, Joel Decker, Andy Schidel, John Holtan, John Alt, and Joerg Steinbach all seal launched into the river off the walking bridge or from shore. The regular seal launch spot from the golf course wasn't doable due to high water levels under the bridge. The crew screamed down the class IV boogy water until they got to Beliek's Suprise rapid. They got out and scouted Beliek's and all fired down it with good lines. They could hear many boulders racing on the bottom of the river. They continued down through more class IV until they came to the canyon section. They all got out and scouted and half the crew ran it. It was described as extremely fast, many blind drops from big wave trains, and huge holes to punch through or go around.

Poplar River Crew - John Holtan, John Alt, Joerg Steibach, Joel Decker

High Splitty Weekend

 Justin Japs - Split Rock River - Under the Log rapid

The Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior rivers were cluttered full of paddlers this past weekend. Most rivers ran high throughout the weekend from the Split Rock south. A large contingent of Midwest paddlers and a few out of region paddlers of arrived to enjoy the spring run off. It was an interesting weekend to say the least from reports. There were many exciting new runs and waterfall drops for a some paddlers, however, there were numerous swims, injuries and broken boats as well. It almost seemed like the drastic change in weather brought a drastic change in luck.

On Friday, groups hit the Split Rock and wicked high levels, Lester at high flows, Amity at lower flows, and the French and Silver at high flows. It was beautiful and 70 degrees. There were many reports from the Silver and French that wood is present on many of the rapids. Some deemed not runnable.

The Friday Split Rock crew of Joel Decker, John McConville, Andy McMurray, John Kiffmeyer, Nate Heydt, and John Holton had lots of action. They recorded the highest water level descent in kayaks. The level was a few inches over the Mordor level gauge, which is painted on the walking bridge pylon. There were two swims resulting in two completely trashed kayaks. No one was seriously injured. Only a cut thumb needing some stitches. Midwest Mountaineering's Peter Noren shipped two new boats to those paddlers the next day. Way to go MM.


On Saturday, groups hit the Split Rock at high flows, the Lester at medium flows, and the French and Silver at medium flows. Weather was cloudy and mid 40's.

The Saturday Split Rock crew consisting of Ryan Zimny, John McConville, Chris Baer and Justin Japs had a successful decent with water levels a foot lower than Friday's insanity. It was still in the uber high category. One incident occurred resulting in a bruised shoulder from "Under the Log" rapid.

Justin  - Split Rock River - Winfrey's Rapid

By Sunday the weather turned for the nasty. By noon, snow was already accumulating around Beaver Bay northward with temps in the 30's. Groups put on the Knife at low flows, the Lester at low flows, and the east fork of the Beaver at high flows.

3rd drop on the East Beaver

Reports from the beaver were pretty epic. Chad Kehn, Melissa Grover, Justin, Joerg Steinbach, Nate Heydt, Burgess Norrgard, John McConville, Mike Manger, Mike Jorgenson, and Jeremiah Andresen all put on the east fork in a snow storm. Many first time runs for people. The water level was very high. The typical 1/2 mile class III boogy water was now pushy Class IV boogy water with many holes leading into the three perfect 12-20 foot waterfalls. The high flows gave a few paddlers a hard time. One paddler dislocated his shoulder. A few paddlers did the big three and had gigantic aired out boofs off the middle 20 foot drop. Was quite a sight to see.

Joerg - East Beaver - 1st drop

Reports from the Lester were really good. Even some first time runs down "Almost Always" for Burgess Norrgard and Chris Baer!

Justin  - 1st drop - East Beaver

Photos from The Lester

Top Left: Mike Manger at the brink

Top Right: Jeremiah Andresen at the lip

Left: Melissa Grover with a perfect line

Right: Chad Kehn in a froth of whitewater

Left: Tina Andresen catching some air time

Right: Justin running Almost Always falls

Left: John Kiffmeyer setting up for the tuck... Almost Always

Right: Joerg Steinbach free falling... Almost Aways

Peter Noren setting up to hit the flume... Almost Always