Kayaking the Upper Iowa River - Hwy 30 in Harmony, MN to Kendallville Canoe Access - August 2024

Put-in at the Plumbers Park / Hwy 30 landing in Harmony, MN. The put-in is 2.75 miles west of the Niagra Cave (niagaracave.com/). Take-out at the Kendallville Canoe Access in Kendallville, IA. The put-in has a small gravel parking lot and a fairly decent gravel shoreline for launching. The take-out has a large gravel parking lot, low bank to the river, and is well signed. The trip was about 12 1/4 miles and took us about 4 1/2 hours at a very leisurely pace.
About 3.2 miles into the trip, there is a very large spring that is very cool to check out. By cool, I mean super COLD! I captured a video of the spring for you to check out. We docked out boats on the opposite shore and walked across the river to the spring; the water was maybe a little over knee deep.
Put-in: maps.app.goo.g...
Take-out: maps.app.goo.g...
The river was pretty heavily trafficked between the Bigalk Creek Bridge Canoe Landing and the Harvest Farm Campground. During those 2.5 miles, there were a lot of tubers and boaters. Before and after that section, there were many kayaks/canoes but nothing close to the section upstream from the campground.
The water level for this trip was 3.6’ or 290 CFS at the Bluffton Bridge in Decorah, IA. This was a very nice water level with limited scraping and plenty of water to clear obstructions in the river. Water quality was excellent with a nice current across the entire trip.
USGA gauge level for the Upper Iowa River at the Bluffton Bridge in Decorah, IA:
waterdata.usgs...

[@phillyjoejones5161]

Such a vintage looking river and I love those little patches of white water rafting 😊. Btw, that Wenonah cuts through the water like a knife...I'm very impressed.

[@user-up8fi4nm7n]

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