Flambeau River — North Fork (Lower): River Level Today — Can You Paddle It?

At 545 cfs the Flambeau River is 145 cfs above the 400 cfs minimum for this reach. There is no published upper bound for this section, so the reading tells you it is floatable, not how pushy it is.

Over the last 24 hours it has gone from 605 cfs to 545 cfs, 10% down. Daily means over the past 7 days have run between 445 cfs and 610 cfs, 28% higher at the end of the week than the start. The last day and the week as a whole point opposite ways, which usually means a recent rain bump on top of a longer rising trend — worth a second look at the chart before you commit to the drive.

Flambeau River at North Fork (Lower) is a Class II run in Wisconsin — bouncy wave trains and the occasional small rapid. Most paddlers put in at Nine Mile / Holts Landing area and take out at Flambeau Lodge / Agenda Landing area.

Whether it's worth the drive comes down to flow. This section generally paddles well at above 400 cfs (a conservative estimate — see our methodology). Much below that and the Flambeau 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 05360500 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–October. 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.