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| RIVER: | Root River, Racine North section |
| LOCATION: | Northern Racine County |
| AMENITIES: | Click for area amenities (food, lodging, etc.) |
| PUT-IN: | 5 Mile Road - small park with roadside parking |
| ALT.PUT-IN: | 27th Street at County Line Road/8 Mile Road (virtually in the shadow of I-43)
Near 43rd Street & County Line Road/8 Mile Road 13th Street (CTH.V) - good shoulders for parking Howell Ave. (Hwy.38) - wide parking area Nicholson Road- no convenient shoulders Note: Some of the above choices may not be technically legal put-ins with respect to Milwaukee County rules, as per Note#2 7 Mile Road - S.side posted no parking (N.side unknown) 6 Mile Road - no shoulders 4 Mile Road - minimal shoulders |
| TAKE-OUT: | Hwy.31 (Ole Davidson Road) near 4 Mile Road (there is a paved utility access here; I am unsure as to the status of using this for accessing the river. Use at your own risk.)
or pick from any of the other sites listed, or continue to a boat landing in a park upstream of the dam at Hwy.38 (Northwestern Ave.) |
| MAP: | Root River, North Section (Will open new window. Close it to return here.) |
| SHUTTLE: | Hwy.38 and the various 'mile' roads should get you where you need to be. |
| SHUTTLE LENGTH: | 6 miles, 11 minutes (assuming put-in at Five Mile Road). |
| DIST: | 4 miles (1-20 miles) |
| TIME: | 2 hours (1-8 hours) |
| CLASS: | I-II |
| CHARACTER: | Flat shallow water, occasionally punctuated by shoals type rapids |
| GRADIENT: | Negligible.
10' in 5.5mi from V or 38 to Five Mile Road. 10' in next 1.8 miles to confluence with Hoods Creek. 10' in next 2.6 miles to just past Memco Lane (0.75 mile beyond Hwy.31). The river can be paddled upstream and down almost equally well, at most water levels, from Hwy.31 to the dam at Hwy.38/Northwestern Ave. |
| GAUGE: | U.S.G.S. gauge: min=50, opt=300, high=2000
If it looks boatable at any of the 'Mile' roads, it probably will go ok. |
| SEASON: | Generally runnable, though better in spring or after significant rain. |
| An enjoyable paddle. No real obstacles, no outstanding features. There are occasional minor shoals/rapids which should pose no problem to competent paddlers. At high water it is possible that some of these may build into decent size waves, potentially being of interest for whitewater 'playboaters' or concern for inexperienced paddlers.
(I have never paddled this reach at high water. Being primarily a whitewater boater, in general I am hard pressed to conceive any of these being sufficiently interesting to merit the time and effort of setting a shuttle and paddling the intervening distance of flat but flowing water, when compared to the convenience and concentrated play available in the short reach below the dam. For those inclined to doing a longer down-river trip, with possible waves and splishy-splash whitewater, this may be a worthwhile reach to pursue at high water. Otherwise, as mentioned in the summary above, most of this reach may be paddled virtually all summer, with possible need to drag across some of the shoals and shallows.) |