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The St.Louis River lies just southwest of Duluth, with convenient access off I35. The 'upper' run is a very popular raft trip, and provides a number of surf and play opportunities at a fairly wide range of flows. Most of the rapids are wide open and straightforward. The exceptions are shown above. Electric Ledge (above left) occurs just beyond a powerline crossing high overhead. Best scouted from the rocky right shoreline, the sweetest line is generally just left of center. A large hole down the middle can be punched (or played?) at low-to-moderate water levels, but novice boaters or high water runs may require paddling with a strong left angle to steer clear of the maw and squirrely water which will be below it.
Not far downstream, an island splits the flow. To the left (the recommended route) is Little Kahuna, a class II bouldergarden type drop. Boaters should have no trouble boat-scouting a line, though there may be one or two holes which (at higher flows) you may wish to avoid. To the right of the island lies Big Kahuna (above right). Rather than spreading the gradient out (as on the left side of the island), the river loses all the gradient at once, dropping across a very irregular broken-face falls. While it has been run, there are few obvious clean lines. |
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The best drop on the run (for those who like 'air time') occurs as the river passes through a slight narrows. Steep rocky bluffs rise to either side. Take out river left toward the end of the bluff and carry back upriver a bit, to where a couple trees and a sloping pitch will act as a 'starting gate' for you to launch into the river below (as shown in the photos above). Depth is at least sufficient to bury a 9' boat vertically (I've done so without finding bottom). (OK, so this drop really isn't on the river, it's into it.)
The run pretty much ends with a wimper, as a few remaining minor rapids quickly bring you to the backwater from the dam at Thomson. Paddle across the reservoir to a pier off to the left of the dam. A brief carry through the woods (and poison ivy!) will bring you to the paddling center parking area. |
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A few boat-scoutable rock-garden and short-ledge/drop rapids follow, until you get to Octopus. Large, obvious shoreline dikes of rock precede a steep, sliding entrance drop. A narrow, twisting sluice to the left (Twisted Sister) has been run, but most will opt for the 'chicken route', humping your boat over shallow rock well to river right, to grunge down the steep sloping face and into a pool below (shown above left).
Coming out of the intial drop, jagged transverse splines of bedrock channel the flow diagonally to the left. Numerous routes may be possible, but the most popular are either well to the left, or tight to the right (as in the photo above right). |
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| The story I've heard behind the name is that the first boaters to run this supposedly saw eight holes in this drop (the 'tentacles'), all feeding into one larger one (the 'body'). I'm not certain that I see anything like that, but the drop is technical and can be scary enough at certain waterlevels. And, the portage (for those inclined to do so) is not an easy one, as both shores boast very irregular splines of rock as well. |
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The highlight of the run comes as you reach Jay Cooke State Park. A large island divides the river. To the left, halfway down the island, irregular bedrock intrusions create a wild drop. The usual boater line is tight to the left shore, over a pourover into a boiling hanging pool, then paddling to the right to drop into the center flow below (seen in the distance, center-right, in the photo above left). The center slide is very irregular, contains apparent piton potential, and mostly lands quite shallow. I have theorized some runnable lines, though have heard of no one who has run this route. Some flow also threads through splines of rock to the right of the main channel, but I have yet to see it a flow which suggests a runnable line over there.
To the right of the island, the river loses almost no gradient until it swings around the end of the island. Boaters generally stay well to river-right, and beach to scout the big falls which awaits (shown above right; Look closely top left of photo to see people on the rock overlooking the falls, to give some perspective on size). A fairly simple approach allows a sweet drop into the pool below. Not visible in the photo (off to the right of the frame) another part of the flow drops down a series of ledges and holes which look intimidating at most levels which make the the rest of the run worthwhile. Boaters can either get out at the Swinging Bridge (which lends its name to the drops either side of the island, as just described), or continue to optionally include Fin Falls and/or the final mile of river (described below). |
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| The entrance to Fin Falls (shown above left) is an interesting ledge (with an odd 'hump' before its lip), after which the flow is diverted sharply to the left down a corridor of waves and generally barely submerged 'stealth rocks' to screw-up your line (shown above right). |
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At the end of the corridor lies a hole (photo above left) which can get very nasty looking at higher water levels. Generally boaters will attempt to stay river left, to avoid 'melt-down' in the worst of the hole tight against the rockwall river-right.
The photo above right shows the view looking upstream at this drop. The normal runnable channel is tight to the left of the frame. At some higher waterlevels, some sneak-routes have been run through rocks and slides seen in center-frame. |
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The subsequent stretch of river is impossible to detail. The wide river trips over an amazing assorting of tranverse bedrock, forming waves, holes, chutes, and slides. Scouting from shore is generally fruitless, though occasionally a rock or island mid-river provides an opportunity to reconnoiter. Generally, boaters tend to stay in the right-side of the river as they work their way down this virtual maze of water and rock.
One of the more interesting drops (shown above left) is a short, blind leap-of-faith into an eddy behind a rockwall/ledge. Action increases to a peak as you reach the bottom of the gradient at a drop called The Wall. While some boaters will take the plunge down the steep pitch mid-river (left-center-background in photo above right), most will prefer a series of chutes and slides which angles toward river-right, then crosses back river-left below The Wall. |