Along with my soon-to-be father-in-law and fiancé, I took a short, half-day trip on Minnesota ’s Crow Wing River. We were on a camping trip in Park Rapids, Minnesota and needed an easy trip to keep us occupied. I researched this map and we settled on a 5.5 mile trip. We put in at the Anderson’s Crossing, just below mile marker 71 and landed at the bridge in Nimrod.

To launch out of Anderson’s Crossing, drive north out of Nimrod on County Road 14. About three miles north of the town, you’ll see a sign for Anderson’s Crossing. Turn right and you’ll follow a bumpy, curving dirt road 1.5 miles until you reach the country campground on the river.

The campground was big enough to support at least five different groups of campers with no problem. It does have outhouses. The county maintains the campground and even provides campers with complimentary firewood. The Crow Wing is one of Minnesota’s so called Minnesota State Water Trails. Whether county, state, or federal, these trails are made with thru-paddlers in mind. Because of this, the rivers have abundant public campgrounds. On the Crow Wing, there’s some sort of public campground at least every seven miles.

Anderson’s Crossing has an easy launch where we put in. From there, we paddled to the Nimrod bridge. Along the way we saw trout, northern pike, a close-up blue heron, and other animals.  I’d never actually seen a blue heron so close before. In flight they look white. Up close, you can see the definite light blue coloring.

The surrounding landscape mixes north woods and farm country. There were a few barns visible from the river. At one moment you’ll feel like you are in the deep north woods. The next you’ll feel like you’re in one of Minnesota’s more agricultural rivers. 

I admit that I am biased. I prefer narrower, deeper rivers. The Crow Wing here is wide and shallow. Throughout the whole trip, we payed attention to the river’s bottom, pointing out the deeper channels to each other. We faced 235 cfs discharge. The state considers 58-253 cfs “low,” so even though we ran aground many times, at all points there is sufficient depth to make it through. We never had to get out of the kayaks or portage at all. However, I noticed that the only other paddlers on the river–a family of five in two canoes–did have to dismount and drag their canoes a few times.

Some positives about this stretch: there were some small rapids. As I grow in this sport, I am sure I will laugh at this characterization, but the small class I rapids on this stretch showed me a few basics and I could envision how bigger rapids could be navigated. That being said, this stretch of the river is safe for children–at this discharge rate–without a doubt.

The water clarity was wonderful. Even at it’s deepest, a paddler can see to the bottom. I’m used to murky water, so the Crow Wing’s clarity was new to me. The clarity also afforded us the opportunity to look out for fish. We saw the normal Minnesota lake fish, but the neatest part was the big schools of 30 – 50 trout. I’m not a trout fisherman, but I could certainly see why people become so obsessed with catching trout: they were beautiful.

The river bottom was sandy and rocky. There were not a lot of weeds, and there were a few spots that were tempting swimming holes–especially because it was very hot and sunny.

Overall, this was an easy, pretty slice of north central Minnesota. Deep forest interspersed with agricultural property, this section of the Crow Wing is not as remote as other rivers, but it’s worth visiting–especially if you’re bringing along children.