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Ottertail River - now with trip report! (Read 4846 times)

troutbreath Inukshuk Offline Posts: 342 Location: Twin Cities Joined: Jun 23^rd, 2003	Ottertail River - now with trip report! May 11^th, 2004 at 6:52pm	Quote Print Post
	My wife and I have plans to paddle the Ottertail River from below the Orwell dam to near Breckinridge. For those of you who don’t know the area this is between Fergus Falls MN and North Dakota. For those of you who do know this area, have you ever canoed the Ottertail? I have one trip report from the MCA from a few years ago and stream flows (which are not real encouraging) but, other than that, I have come up empty handed. Help! TB
	« Last Edit: Jun 1^st, 2004 at 7:43pm by troutbreath »

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troutbreath Inukshuk Offline Posts: 342 Location: Twin Cities Joined: Jun 23^rd, 2003	Re: Ottertail River? Reply #1 - May 12^th, 2004 at 1:43pm	Quote Print Post
	Quote: Trout, I paddled Ottertail River last week, I grew up in the area. Many years ago it was still the Red River(before my time).. I have never paddled the river below Fergus Falls, or above Ottertail Lake. I have observed the river out near Breck, my dad used to have an aerial spray ag business and we worked that country. I have done several trips from Ottertail Lake to Fergus Falls in past years. This year the water levels are way down on the upper portions of the river, I would say by July it will be a literal trickle. I seen it drought back in 76. I would imagine Orwell keeps the western levels up some. Ottertail Lake to Fergus is a good trip... takes a few hours ... into the Sunrise, KS Hmm, so do you think the Ottertail Lake to Fergus stretch would be paddleable with a big plastic canoe over Memorial Day weekend? TB


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Kevin Ex Member	Re: Ottertail River? Reply #2 - May 12^th, 2004 at 9:00pm	Quote Print Post
	After last night's storms, many of the area rivers are near or above flood stage. I just got back from driving from Moorhead to Crookston and back. All of the rivers I crossed enroute looked very swollen and fast moving. Ottertail and Becker counties got hammered by a supercell last night that actually had tornado warnings posted for a couple of hours. Supposedly, this storm was dumping rain at the rate of a couple of inches per half hour! My guess (it is only a guess) is that the river levels should be a lot higher than they were before the storms. I believe we are supposed to get more rain in the next day or so as well. Based on what I saw today, paddling could be fun, but tricky. The water was moving very fast and in places it was clear that the rivers were out of their banks which would increase your risk of some debris -- although that could be under control by the weekend. If you go out, please give us a trip report! I am very interested in trying out more of these local waters this summer.


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troutbreath Inukshuk Offline Posts: 342 Location: Twin Cities Joined: Jun 23^rd, 2003	Trip Report Reply #3 - Jun 1^st, 2004 at 7:43pm	Quote Print Post
	Mrs. TB and I paddled the Ottertail River between the Orwell dam and county highway 19. on Saturday May 29th. This is just west of Fergus Falls and straddles the Ottertail and Wilkin county line. Overall, the trip took us 2:35 at a river height of between 3.25 and 3.30 feet and a discharge from the dam of 650 feet/second. I would expect to add another half an hour to an hour for lower stream flows and negligible winds. I don’t think I would attempt this route if the winds were against me. While I did not measure the distance on a map, I suspect that we traveled between ten and twelve miles of water. We encountered only two wing dams (just below the Orwell dam) which were easily navigated. There were many ox bows and some sweepers but none that caused us any trouble. We saw a few docks but no boats or canoes other than a man and boy who were fishing. The wildlife highlight of the trip was coming upon a flock of pelicans who were standing in the river. We were able to float quite close to them before they took flight. In addition to the pelicans, we saw a good number of deer (most of whom were shocked to see us on the river.) We also saw a number of blue herons as well as Canadian geese, several large mottled birds that I believe were juvenile bald eagles and some hawks. We saw one bird of prey that appeared to be gray in color but we could not see clearly enough to get a picture or attempt any kind of identification. There is no access to the river between Orwell Dam and county highway 19 so one should be prepared to canoe this entire route. The take out is neither marked nor maintained as such. However, it is impossible to miss as it is the first bridge to cross the Ottertail below the dam. We took out just upstream of the bridge on the north side. A canoeist of modest abilities should be able to tackle this stretch of river and one seeking a challenge might want to consider going from the dam to Breckenridge (though we have not traveled this part of the river - yet.)


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Andrew Beavers Guest	Re: Ottertail River - now with trip report! Reply #4 - Aug 31^st, 2004 at 6:05pm	Quote Print Post
	I Canoed the Ottertail last month. We went from rice lake down to Little Pine? 10-15 water miles. It was a very nice section of river. Only two old docks on the river and did not see any boats or any other people. You paddle under 3-4 roads and we portaged over a highway and railroad tracks. water was a little low in some spots but we never got stuck. The scenery was great and the shoreline was undeveloped except for a farm and a cabin or two right above Little pine Lake.


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troutbreath Inukshuk Offline Posts: 342 Location: Twin Cities Joined: Jun 23^rd, 2003	Re: Ottertail River - now with trip report! Reply #5 - Nov 5^th, 2004 at 3:36pm	Quote Print Post
	Andrew, Thanks for the details on your trip. That section is on my list for '05 if all goes well. TB


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Beavers Inukshuk Offline Posts: 389 Location: Nebraska Joined: Sep 1^st, 2004	Re: Ottertail River - now with trip report! Reply #6 - Nov 5^th, 2004 at 7:33pm	Quote Print Post
	TB we started at Rice Lake and made it to Little Pine in about 3 1/2 hours. If you wanted a longer trip I would put in farther up river from Rice Lake. That area looked pretty remote no cabins, boats ect. Like I said the water was a little low in the first week of August. Would be a lot more fun earlier in the year with more water. I have a cabin on lake marion so the otter tail is in my backyard, I will have to try out some of the other sections of the river in 05.


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troutbreath Inukshuk Offline Posts: 342 Location: Twin Cities Joined: Jun 23^rd, 2003	Re: Ottertail River - now with trip report! Reply #7 - Nov 19^th, 2004 at 9:37pm	Quote Print Post
	Quote: I will have to try out some of the other sections of the river in 05. You and me both - Lord willing! Thanks for the info! TB


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