Lower St Louis River - Minnesota

dflath · Post by **dflath** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:42 pm

An OC1, C1 and two kayaks enjoy one of the last warm water runs of the 2009 season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLLTFuOEjAU

Enjoy,

Dan

Paddle Power · Post by **Paddle Power** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:02 pm

Thanks for posting. Lots of drops and fun.

JayDavis · Post by **JayDavis** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:02 pm

Cool. The geology looks really different from here in the SE.

Which Mohawk is that yeller boat?

Paddle Power · Post by **Paddle Power** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:56 pm

Viper 11

And, wow, look at the that shield rock!

milkman · Post by **milkman** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:18 pm

Excellent job of filming and editing. Very fun looking run.

dflath · Post by **dflath** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:13 pm

The "look" of the river is somewhat unique not only because of the Canadian Shield rock but the fact that it seems to point upstream giving everything the extra jagged flavor.

The level shown in this video is about 350cfs. This is referred to as the Fish Flow or the minimum the power company is required to let through the dam until October 1st. This is good for paddlers looking for whitewater when everything else in the area is dry. I guess it is good for the fish too.

dafriend · Post by **dafriend** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:20 pm

And, wow, look at the that shield rock!

The exciting thing about the rock on this run is that instead of getting smoothed out by the water it tends to shear off creating razor sharp edges. Things are made even more exciting by the orientation of these edges relative to the current. Sometimes the edges are perpendicular to the current - facing up stream, sometimes they run with the current. So... would you rather run straight into the blade's edge or slide down the length of it? My scars ache just thinking about it.

This run may have the record for generating the highest suture count of any in North America.

Sure is fun though.