Straight River — Owatonna to Faribault: River Level Today — Can You Paddle It?

At 341 cfs the Straight River is inside the runnable range but only 159 cfs above the 182 cfs floor, so it is sitting at the shallow end of what this reach runs at. A dry few days would take it under.

Over the last 24 hours it has gone from 294 cfs to 341 cfs, 16% up. Daily means over the past 6 days have run between 188 cfs and 224 cfs, ending roughly where it started.

Straight River at Owatonna to Faribault is a Class I run in Minnesota — easygoing moving water with light riffles and nothing technical. Most paddlers put in at Owatonna (River Springs Park) and take out at Faribault (confluence with Cannon).

Whether it's worth the drive comes down to flow. This section generally paddles well at 182–1,640 cfs. Much below that and the Straight River gets low and bony, so you end up scraping gravel and walking the shallows; well above the top of the range it turns fast, cold and pushy, which is a more serious day than most casual boaters want. We read USGS gauge 05353800 about every 30 minutes and compare the live number to that window, so the verdict at the top of this page reflects conditions right now rather than a monthly average.

Flows here are usually most dependable April–September. Spring can run high after rain or snowmelt, and late summer often drops too low to float well — but the gauge always beats the calendar, so check today's reading before you go.