• Canoeists paddle by tree lined shores

    Saint Croix

    National Scenic Riverway WI,MN

  • Raspberry Landing Closed

    The road to Raspberry Landing in Burnett County, Wisconsin, washed out during recent heavy rains and the landing is currently inaccessible. Continue to check this website for updates.

  • High Water Due To Recent Rainfall

    Recent rainfall has raised water levels dramatically. The St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers are flowing high, fast and cold. Take extra precautions while on the water. Additional rainfall over the next few days could raise the rivers even further.

River Currents

Changing Currents

We are drawn to rivers to paddle, fish, camp, or to just sit and watch moving water. Follow this blog for updates on recreational opportunities, park programs, current events, and the changing seasons of the St Croix and Namekagon Rivers.

 

 

A Place For Poets by Park Ranger Dale Cox

Posted: March 29, 2012 | posted by: Dale Cox!

 A person stands next to the St. Croix at sunset in spring, silhouetted against the moving water and treeline across the river. NPS photo

A home river is the rarest of friends, the one who frequently surprises you with new elements of personality without ever seeming a stranger. - Paul Schullery, "Home River"

It normally arrives late in the Northwoods, but this year spring arrived early. The news stories it generated were about record warm air that settled over the area for several

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Grace, Beauty, and Fear by Park Ranger Branda Thwaits

Posted: March 15, 2012 | posted by: Dale Cox!

An image of a cougar in a tree, taken in Wisconsin in 2010. (Photo: Wisconsin DNR)

Standing in the driveway as my mother passionately shared her strong opposition of the neighbor's pet to the mayor of Edwardsville, Kansas, is as vivid today as it was back in the early 90's.  All I knew of this pet was that it posed a lethal risk to myself and all the neighbor kids.  Now here I am over twenty years later and hundreds of miles north finding myself pulled in by this same mystical and feared creature, the cougar.

Cougars also known as pumas, mountain

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March 1: The Lure of Spring by Ranger Dale Cox

Posted: March 01, 2012 | posted by: Dale Cox!

 A winter image of a small stream flowing to the St. Croix River: in the foreground, a standing tree has been chewed at the base by a beaver sometime in the past. NPS photo.

 

Summer is a long way off. So is spring if you classify the season by the probability of warm weather and green grass rather than the solar calendar. Wet snow that this week brought much needed moisture to the area, yet also serves to remind us that the St. Croix is truly a northern river.

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Landscaping For Wildlife by Ranger Dale Cox

Posted: February 16, 2012 | posted by: Dale Cox!

In the summer, an artist paints the native plant landscape outside and adjacent to the St. Croix River Visitor Center. NPS photo."We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." -Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Understanding the delicate balance of nature is as easy as taking a walk along the riverbank of the St. Croix. The Riverway protects a thin ribbon of land and water 230

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A Winter "Snapshot" of the Namekagon by Park Volunteer Ben Thwaits

Posted: February 02, 2012 | posted by: Dale Cox!

Two bright red winter berries stand out against an undefined blue/gray background. Photo by Ronnie, age 16. 

(Ben Thwaits is a park volunteer and teacher at Northwest Passage, a residential program for at-risk youth.  He also coordinates the "In A New Light" photography project, a partnership between Northwest Passage and the National Park Service.  Check out www.inanewlight.org to learn more.)

Come winter, many Northwoods photographers give their craft a break.  It's time to clean lenses, replace old gear, and sort

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A Case of the Jumps by Aquatic Biologist Byron Karns

Posted: January 18, 2012 | posted by: Dale Cox!

Dozens of large Silver Carp are seen jumping from the water in the wake of a motorboat on the Illinois River. (Nerissa Michaels/Illinois River Biological Station)

A dry witticism among my colleagues and friends on the St. Croix River used to involve zebra mussels providing fodder for my career until retirement many years in the future.The Riverway has been pursuing a prevention and control plan for these little critters since the early 1990's, and I have been involved with

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Open Water in January by Park Ranger Dale Cox

Posted: January 10, 2012 | posted by: Dale Cox!

 

At a bend in the Namekagon River, thin ice lies between open water and a snow covered bank on a recent January day.

Don't underestimate the winter: balance is continuous in nature, regardless of human observance.

It is easy to slip into the pace of this season and from a distance sense an aloofness from these rivers. Time in winter is measured by the chill in the wind, ice advancing over water, the short dark days of December's solstice, and long shadows cast by the Earth's slow dance with the sun. Even

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Did You Know?

Blackand white old photo of three men standing on logs loaded on a wagon with horses attached

In 1872 3,500 men, 1,600 horses and 250 oxen logged off 35,000 acres cutting some 200 million board feet of logs.  "Taylors Falls Reporter".  In 1883 the Boom in Stillwater, Minnesota,  which collected logs coming down the St. Croix River, reported 1,397,417 logs for 217,045,647 board feet.