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One of the most amazing runs on the North Shore, the Split Rock contains some of the biggest, most fun and generally forgiving drops of any river I've run. It's hard not to have a great day when you catch this river at runnable levels. Access can be somewhat problematic. The property around the upper put-ins (where either branch of the river crosses the road) is all posted private property, and the owner of the land around the east branch has chased people off (reportedly at gunpoint). As a result, some boaters have taken to making a long carry-in from Hwy.61, using a trail system, to avoid such confrontations. Doing so generally results in the 'loss' of the first somewhat significant drop (shown above left). Overall, this is not a great loss, since it is dwarfed by the drops which follow.
The first 'major' drop occurs where the Superior Hiking Trail crosses the river (shown above right). (The footbridge shown in this photo was washed away by a flood and replaced by a new bridge about a half-mile further upstream.) |
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The next drop (shown above left) is a steep broken slide. While the flow right-of-center is greater, it appears to drop into a potential piton rock. As a result, we generally grunge down the river-left side into a good pool.
Flowing out of that pool the river snakes right, then back left before tripping over shallow rock into the pool below. |
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The biggest drop on the river slides down steep sloping bedrock (shown in the background of the photo above left). Our usual route is tight left against the wall, though runs more to center or right are also possible. A brief bit of a pool precedes the lower part of this pitch (being negotiated in the photo).
Just downstream, a large rock-island splits the flow. The left channel is fairly wide, and slides around the island and eases into the waves below. The right side is a wild ride, as the flow there is funnelled into a narrow channel, drops over a short slide, and encounters a wall of rock (the right bank). Accelerating left along the wall, it jumps again down a short slide into the flow from the other channel (previously described). Not that a boater has much control how they come out of here, but try not to end up angled too much to the left, because a major piton rock exists in the left side of the drop 'out' of this channel. |
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The next couple of drops are quite similar -- big sloping bedrock slides, generally best run fairly tight to the left. While scouting is advised for those unfamiliar with the run, these slides are generally so straightforward and 'clean' that (in spite of their size) we often run them 'on-the-fly'.
After a minor drop which swings around a bend and through a couple wide, potentially sticky holes, the next 'larger' drop is encountered. I refer to this one as Bumblebee, because it dips and rises and dips again (like a bee in flight), and then finishes with a 'stinger', a bit of a rooster-tail into the pool at its base. |
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The next major drop is Ski Jump (shown above left). It looks like the best route would be to try to get to river right to slide down the longer, more gently sloping slide. Unfortunately, it is very tough to get there, since very little water goes that way, and you will more likely be swept down the center of the river, dropping off rather abruptly into the smooth bedrock there before being swept across the lower part of the drop (hopefully still upright) and into the outwash below.
An alternate route is to hug tight to the left shore to plummet (generally slightly more controlled) down the steep face (as shown above right) and ride out the bedrock rollercoaster which follows. |
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What follows is 'small stuff' (above left) where a couple deceptively tricky holes (which like to back-ender boats) exist along the left wall (best flow).
The final drop (above right) is probably the most scary of all. A steep slide (mostly hidden behind the rock/shore to the right of the frame) leads to a short hanging pool where the flow is diverted 90-degrees left to pour out a frothy slot (across shallow splines of rock) and into a boney pool below. At most flows I would not even want to think about being upside-down or out of my boat coming down this lower part of the drop. About a half-mile of generally flatwater (with good current) brings you to the mouth of the river where you can carry back up to a wayside parking area. |