Hey all,
Just ran this river over the weekend. I’d run it several times before, but never at this time of the year. Conditions were as good as I’ve ever seen them. Spring is definitely the time of year to run the Root!
Here’s my question: What happened to the blown dam below the abandoned power plant? Did they remove it somehow, and if they did, why? I always thought that was the sportiest part of the river!
Thanks!
Did you kayak or canoe?
We want to do this river. Is it similar to the Grant?
They have had flooding in the last 2 yrs. One washed out roads and the bike trail. Maybe the old dam was damaged and removed at that time. Friends of ours bike up there and keep telling us how nice it is.
Were there many strainers or was it pretty clear?
Thanks in advance!
Root River
I paddled it yesterday from Rushford to Houston. The first 2/3rds has a lot of wood obstacles to manuver around. I don’t know if they are technically strainers. Most are old with few branches, but there are lot of them. You really need to pick your way through them.
The last 1/3rd of this stretch was extremely clear.
We Ran It…
…from Moen’s Bridge to downstream of Lanesboro. She Who Must Be Obeyed and I ran it in an Old Town Camper, my friends had a Penobscot 17. The river was the best I’ve ever seen it. Plenty of water, no snags, tons of wildlife, good weather. Heaven. Missed having the dam to run through, though. Hard to believe that it was washed away by a flash flood. The thing was huge. Gotta be another explanation!
been a few years…
I remember a concrete dam with about a 3-4 foot spillway in the middle, if memory serves me correctly, was located just a couple hundred yards upstream of the take-out at lanesboro? (keep in mind, it was 7 years ago when I ran it) Seem to recall remnants of an old dam near the plant. Hopefully this summer I’ll get up there and run it again–before the water levels get down again…
Ken—
The wood you dealt with could have been part of the retaining lumber and bridge parts for the bike trail. My friends were up there rigth after the damage was done and said it was all washed into the river.
They were all downed trees (eom)
I checked with the MN DNR
They said it was demolished and removed. I think it had something to do with the Eagle Bluff Environmental facility. It was very close to it anyway. http://www.eagle-bluff.org/ My daughter was there just last week for a couple days with her 6th grade class. I know there is a canoeing class they do on the Root.
Looking forward to seeing it, soon.
Don’t know if we’ll have time to paddle, but we can check it out on our way thru. Sounds nice.