The RR of the North has some fantastic Catfishin'!

I grewup on it's banks in Grand Forks too.  I'd hate to tip in it though.  I can imagine drowning with my body stuck in muck up to my gills.

Can see some Moose along it's course too in the valley.

We only have one dam in Grand Forks, and it has been retrofitted with boulders to be more of a cascading falls than a low-head dam spill. There are no official entry/exit points, but you can find good access both above and below the dam. There are also two boat ramps in the area. The MN side has one in downtown EGF above the dam, and ND has one downstream from the dam about a mile north of town.

FYI, there is now an offical Red River of the North river map created by River Keepers in Fargo. It's the first of three parts and covers Wahpeton/Breckinridge to Fargo/Moorhead. Part two will cover Fargo to Grand Forks, and part three from GF to Selkirk, I believe.

Their website is (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) but it seems to be down.

A few other nice area rivers to paddle are:

Sheyenne River near Ft. Ransom State Park. For $12 the park staff will shuttle you up to Yellowstone Park for a leisurely 4-5 hour paddle back to the park.

Red Lake River between Red Lake Falls and Huot. 4-5 hours of numerous easy class 1 rapids, high bluffs, and clean water. Easy enough for any level paddler. Also good fishing.

I just paddled the Pembina River west of Walhalla on Saturday. What a great place. Not yet very green, but the gorge really lives up to it's reputation for beauty. And, there are a number of easy Class 1 rapids to make it fun. It's the only whitewater in North Dakota! Plus it has small populations of both elk and moose. Neither of which we saw Saturday. Three hour trip.

I hope to hit them all many times this year, but I say that every year.

Chuck

   I didn't mention it, but we only encountered one boat on the whole trip.  They graciously slowed down as we passed, since there isn't exactly a lot of room to avoid big wakes.  I was actually surprised, because there were several trailers at the landing where we put in.  I guess they all went the other way.
   I don't exactly like the fact that the water clarity is 4 mm.  I like to see what I am about to hit.  However, it was still fun and we didn't hit anything significant anyway.
   From your experience, are there good entry points around any dams in the GF area?  The one dam we had to portage wouldn't have been bad if I had paddled up a little farther and noticed the ND landings before getting out, but I didn't want to risk getting sucked in by too much current with two kids in the canoe.  I did learn enough to look for a better exit point at the end.  I found a landing with enough gravel thrown in to keep me from sinking while I helped the kids and the dog out.  Then I just portaged over the bicycle bridge to the parking lot where my wife was to pick us up. 
   All in all, it worked out to be nice cross training for my Q trip in mid-June!

I think the Red River is vastly underrated for paddling. Up here in Grand Forks it's not as intimate as in Fargo, and I think the mud is a bit more.....robust, but the paddling is just as good.

The best thing about the RR is that it's used very little by fisherman in boats (very few access points) and the majority of those don't travel far from their ramp.

In 2005 River Keepers may be repeating a river tour that goes from Wahpeton to Selkirk, Manitoba first paddled in 2000. If it goes, I hope to paddle the distance.

Chuck

  I finally got out Saturday for a couple of hours to really break in my new canoe.  I took two of my kids and put in on the south edge of Fargo.  We paddled a little over two hours and my wife picked us up at Gooseberry Park in Moorhead.  We covered about 6 miles all together.  We had to portage around a dam.  Unfortunately, I picked the MN side.  After pulling out, I saw that the ND side had a wooden platform to allow you to get out without battling the knees deep mud.  On the down stream side, we had to walk about 1/3 mile to get back to the water.  When we put back in I sunk well over knee deep in the thick topsoil mud along the bank.  After helping my daughter, son and dog into the canoe, I almost couldn't get free from the bank!  When I finally got out, I managed to get into the canoe without tipping.  I sat with one leg over each side and rinsed as much of the mud off my legs as possible before getting them back in the canoe.
  Along the way, we saw several deer, a wild turkey, ducks and geese beyond counting and a couple of turtles.  We also saw teenagers having a paintball game, tons of floating branches and grass clippings that homeowners had dumped in the river, golfers, and mansions.  I haven't paddled on river's much, but it was still fun to get out on the water.