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[Maximus]

Just wondering if anyone knows when traditionally the UP runs open up, namely the harder creeks: Silver, Falls, Lanse area, etc.

Also, when would be the best time to hit the highest water, in the past, etc?

Cheers.
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[Rob]

Of course, there can be wide variance in when things open up, due to the great variability in weather -- spring thaw may be quite early or quite late. Beyond that, this also depends on which rivers, and how much you're willing to risk remaining overhanging ice in places, or the possibility of ice still spanning the river in slow spots (forcing portage or 'knuckle-walking' your boat across shorter spans).

I have boated the U.P. the end of March, though I've been 'skunked' (unable to get to the put-in) on some specific runs as late as April 22. Flipside, i have occasionally boated the U.P. in May and even June! However, overall, the best bet is the month of April. Trying to narrow it more than that is pretty iffy. Similarly, trying to peg dates for 'best' or 'highest' water level is just too dependent upon too highly variable factors which vary year to year: seasonal snow cover, timely rains, and specifics of day and nighttime temperatures.

[Maximus]

Is there any gauge to check for the Lanse stuff? Any certain level for "good" flows.

I'll be with a solid crew that likes flows on the high side.
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[Rob]

Well, the U.P. and the 'North Shore' in Minnesota both suffer a serious lack of good gauges. The Silver has a gauge, and has generally recognized 'recommended' flows. I'm sure there have been runs at flows higher than the cited range, but any that I've heard of were either portage fests (most of group portaging major drops) or epic swimfests (at least one of party swimming, resulting in lost gear, broken gear, or at least epic hikes and/or 'chases' to recover gear).

We (I) have attempted to 'peg' a few other nearby rivers (Falls River, Slate River) to that gauge, to give some tentative indication (or flat out guess) as to their likely runnability. There are probably a few others in the area (Huron, E.Br. and W.Br.) that could similarly use the Silver as a 'reference gauge', but they are further away, and I haven't done them since the Silver gauge went online (in fact, only did each once, I think, before that gauge existed), so I have no 'feel' for what kind of flows on the Silver might be expected to correspond to good flows on the branches of the Huron.

Of course, an unfortunate aspect of 'the frozen north' is that USGS 'turns off' the cfs calculations during the winter (when gauge readings are highly 'suspect' due to river flow-cross-sections being possibly affected by ice shelves, and gauge 'depth' readings possibly erroneous due to ice cover, ice dams, and so forth. To my understanding (though I could be in error), cfs readings are not enabled (each spring) until a USGS staffer has been on-site and verified that the area around the gauge is fairly ice-free. Thus, boaters pushing for the earliest runs in the season may not have the benefit of reliable gauge readings.

Since it has been a good handful of years since I've traveled up that way for boating, and since (when I was boating those creeks) my buddies and I generally liked things on the low side, perhaps others can provide more current info or recommendations (or warnings!) on high flow runs.

Aside from that . . . I'm assuming that (in addition to the Rada book) you are aware of (and using) the AW website for the info it has on these runs.
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/drain-summary/state/wi#0402

[Rob]

Well, here we have a classic case demonstrating how 'averages' and 'general guidelines' may be otherwise completely 'correct', but at the same time may seem to completely fail to account for the unusual circumstances.

Exactly as I had said earlier in this thread, GENERALLY, ON AVERAGE, April is the 'best bet' for U.P. and North Shore runs. However, this year, reports are that the U.P. and North Shore are virtually ice and snow free already, and rivers all went out early. At this point, whitewater boaters in the entire 'upper Midwest' are praying for rain to give us any chance to run anything but the old standards (eg., Wolf, Peshtigo) and dam release (eg., Menominee, Paint, St.Louis).

This time of year (before trees, grass, and other foliage leaf out and start sucking up more water -- and while ground is still somewhat soaked from frost going out and snowmelt) even a quarter-to-half an inch of rain can bump rivers up to runnable flows, whereas into May (and beyond) it will take an inch or more (in a day or less) to bump the same rivers up.

Pray for rain and be ready to jump out there when we get it!
And, as always, boat smart, boat safe!