Chippewa River: Hwy. 35 to Wabasha

Miles: 5.2
Time: *2-4 hours
Difficulty: easy/moderate
Shuttle time: 10 minutes
Shuttle cost: $30. $5/boat if hauling a personal boat.
Sights: bald eagles, sandbars, wide and quiet river, surrounded by protected forest, Reads Landing Brewing Company lunch stop, Mississippi River paddle, main channel islands and beaches

Notes
The portion of your paddle from the Chippewa River from Hwy 35 to the Mississippi River is a quiet, calm, easy downstream paddle. This section is beautiful - paddling on the northern boundary of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, stopping on a sandbar, and no doubt seeing bald eagles during the trip (look for their nests on the Chippewa!). Great fishing - both MN and WI fishing licenses work between the railroad tracks that border the Mississippi, if you need to buy licenses, go here: Minnesota, Wisconsin. Your crossing at the Mississippi River is a fun experience, it is short though can have plenty of powerboat traffic on a weekend. Reads Landing Brewing Company is a great stop on this trip for some lunch and refreshments, it is located where the two rivers meet on the MN shore, it is marked on the map above. Make the crossing quick and give plenty of space to barges and powerboats. Your paddle on the Mississippi to Wabasha is approximately 2.5 miles (approximately 1 hour). Do not paddle in the navigation channel so as to give space to power boats (in between the red and green buoys), paddle between the shore and the buoys or behind the islands. Paddling the big river is a special treat, the epic scenery and scale of the Mississippi come into clear view for the last portion of this paddle.

You’ll paddle under two bridges on the Chippewa, Hwy 35 and BNSF Railway bridge. On the Mississippi your take out point is river right, at the beach in Wabasha, it is underneath the very noticeable electrical transmission tower. Check with Broken Paddle Guiding for up to date current, strainers, dredging, and any other pertinent information.

*Times are approximate and represent typical outings. Conditions such as weather and current can alter times.