The annual Cadron Creek paddle is typically labeled as an “Icicle Float”, although this year Mother nature had slightly different plans for us. 

The group began converging at the beautiful Woolly Hollow State Park on Friday and some came ready to paddle Saturday morning. It is about a three-hour, mostly an interstate drive to the park. Park was filled mostly with campers and some occasional tents. Bathrooms and showers are centrally located and were exceptionally clean.  

Our shuttle began around 9 AM on somewhat cool Saturday.  The temperatures later in the day end up being balmy, 77 degrees for a high.  Fortunately, it was not your typical cold weather float. After unloading boats and shuttling vehicles to the takeout, 10 paddlers in 9 kayaks and 1 canoe set off for a very “boney” paddle.  

At 10:20 AM we put in at Highway 65 bridge and took out about ten miles downstream at the state Highway 285 bridge.  This section of the Cadron creek has high bluffs making for spectacular scenery.  The rating for this section is Class I and II+.  The water level on the Guy gauge was 1.58 ft.  At that level, the river is very difficult to navigate. There were many exposed rocks that required technical maneuvering and quite a few places that caused us to drag boats. There were also a few trees down that were difficult to get around because of the low water.

The technical nature of this float resulted in couple of unplanned swims, and the water temperature surprisingly was not as cold as one would expect at end of February. Paddlers observed some wildlife, including several turtles, couple of large geese that were resting in tall gras of one of the islands and two cute beavers.

This was the first time for any of us to paddle Cadron Creek at such low level. It was a general group’s consensus that moving forward we should only paddle when the level is at 1.7 feet at a minimum.

We were off the river by 3:30 PM. Overall, it was a good day on the river with lots of smiles and camaraderie but I’m pretty sure everyone was pretty tired of hitting rocks by the time we got to the take-out.

The day ended at Roper's restaurant in Greenbriar. They offer great “home cooked” meals and some of the best pies and cakes for dessert! The evening ended at Dale Anderson’s site with a large bonfire, storytelling, delicious peanut butter cake and adult beverages. Unlike last year, we decided not to paddle on Sunday.

A big thank you goes out to Kevin Burkeen for helping with the vehicle shuttle.

Paddle Stats:

Put In:   Highway 65 Bridge.  Nice access point with ample parking.

Take Out: State Highway 285 Bridge.  Nice access point with ample parking. 

Trip Length: 10 miles

Water level at Guy gauge: Height:1.58 ft