Manitowoc River — Lower (to Manitowoc): River Level Today — Can You Paddle It?

At 21 cfs the Manitowoc River is 129 cfs short of the 150 cfs this reach needs to float — that is the gap between today's reading and the bottom of the runnable range, not a small margin you can paddle through.

Over the last 24 hours it has gone from 23 cfs to 21 cfs, 10% down. Daily means over the past 7 days have run between 15 cfs and 21 cfs, 12% 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.

Manitowoc River at Lower (to Manitowoc) is a Class II run in Wisconsin — bouncy wave trains and the occasional small rapid. Most paddlers put in at Clarks Mills / Rockwood area and take out at Manitowoc.

Whether it's worth the drive comes down to flow. This section generally paddles well at 150–500 cfs. Much below that and the Manitowoc 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 04085427 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 May–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.