MONTREAL RIVER, WEST BRANCH (Iron Co., WI, 3 mi. west of Hurley)

LENGTH 4.2 mi., CLASS IV, GRADIENT: 89' per mile from Railroad Rapid to the takeout

SEASON: A week or two in early spring. Sometimes a day in the summer when water from the dam is released. Check the discharge graph from 1997.

PUT-IN: from downtown Hurley, drive 2.5 mi. west on Hwy. 77 to the bridge that crosses the river. You can check the water level and even put in at the park here if you don't mind some extra flatwater. Alternative put ins are available upstream at the base of the dam on Gile Flowage or downstream at the next bridge over the river. To reach this bridge, continue 0.9 mi. west on Hwy. 77 and turn right on Saxon Rd. Cross the railroad tracks and when you come to a T junction, take a right to go east a short distance to the river.

TAKEOUT: Hwy. 2 bridge across the river

GAGE: Tape measurement from the low chord on the downstream river left side of the Hwy. 77 bridge. 6.5' is a scrapy level. You may be able to get down with as little as 200 cfs, but you will run into a lot of rocks if you hit this run at low water. Contact Northern States Power recorded hotline at 715-893-2213 for discharge information from Gile Flowage. Call Northern States Power at 1-800-895-4999 and ask for the Supervisor of Hydro Operations Mark Fort at extension 4643 for more information about releases from Gile Flowage. He has been very generous in providing information to kayakers including historical discharge data.

FUN FACT: a stretch of continuous class IV- rapids for a few short precious weeks in spring

FIRST DESCENT:

SHUTTLE: You can run the shuttle on the west side of the river by traveling a few miles on dirt roads. You don't save a lot of time with this route because the roads are in poor shape, so if your car has taken enough abuse already on spring boating trips you can drive east towards Hurley and get on Hwy. 2 to head west back to the river.

This is a quick and technical stream that can be surprisingly pushy. The highlight of the run for advanced boaters is Railroad Rapid, which is the first drop on the run. You don't have any opportunity for warm-up, but this makes a good afternoon run if you did the east branch as your morning run.

An alternative warm-up can be found just upstream of the Hwy. 77 bridge. A foot bridge crosses the river and provides you with an easy method of scouting a surprisingly challenging little rapid. You can drive up to Gile Flowage and put--in below the dam to run this rapid. The difficult part of this run is a small but powerful keeper hole that develops just below the first ledge. The river grabs you and stuffs you deep inside this hole whether you are in your boat or not. Even if you think you can run it without incident its worth setting up safety. We have seen people swim here that never planned on swimming and despite the fact that you are close to shore it is not easy to get out without the help of a friend with a rope.

After a moderate stretch of flatwater below the Hwy. 77 bridge, the pace of the river picks up considerably with the start of Railroad Rapid (usually a IV- depending on water level). You should get out and take a look. Scouting is easy if you take out on river right and follow the ATV trail down the old railroad bridge that crosses the river. From the bridge you can search for potential sweepers both upstream and downstream. Unfortunately this rapid is often unrunnable when a couple of big logs lodge themselves in strategic places in the rapid. On our last trip we put a folding saw to good use. Railroad Rapid mellows out eventually at a small pool with a great surfing wave and an ender hole.

Downstream the river passes over two ledges of significant size and several stretches of continuous class II rapids. Even if you are boat scouting at least one person should get out to check for logs. On one run a group who had scouted the river earlier in the day came through for a second pass blue angeling each drop the next time through. They nearly killed themselves, however, when they came upon a log at one of the drops. It had become lodged at the bottom of the drop and out of site from above in the few short hours between their runs.

18 May 1996, 6'5" a little low

3 May 1997, Guy Babbitt, Steve Corsi, Harry House, Tom O'Keefe, Eric Platenberg, water was on the low side at 200 cfs.