Rafting in Wisconsin
 

Some friends and I are camping in Wisconsin over Labor Day weekend. We
are tossing around the idea of doing some white water rafting. We were
referred to the Menominee River and were told it was a class II-IV.
Can anyone confirm this? And could anyone tell me if the water may be
too low to go at this time of the year? I would love it if someone
could describe the trip on this river; I'd like to know if this ride
would be worth the $40-$50 that they're asking.

Thank you very much.

Rafting in Wisconsin
 

In general, for that time of year, the Menominee will be the most reliable
whitewater trip, having a "guaranteed" flow of no less than 1000 cfs (Cubic
Feet per Second), which is plenty to make it exciting. Other good rafting
rivers are the Wolf and the Peshtigo, but both can be real 'iffy' midsummer or
later. If they get good rains, they could be 'up' to very fun levels . . . if
the rain doesn't happen in a timely fashion for your trip, they are a real drag
(figuratively and literally).

The Menomonee is rather short, in terms of the actual amount of whitewater on
the trip. The usual rafting trip starts with about a mile of fla****er, then a
short class II (Sand Portage Rapids), another half-mile or so of fla****er,
then Piers Gorge, which is about a half-mile of class III-IV rapids. Usually,
if there are enough people rafting when you are there, the rafting outfitters
put only 2-3 in each raft for the first part of the trip, hit the beach (to let
you have a look at the gorge from a bluff/trail), then load 5 to 8 to 12
(depending on time of year, flow, etc) in each raft for the trip through the
gorge. Thus, in order to get all the rafts down the gorge, each person gets to
ride 2-3 times thru. After the gorge, it's about a mile of fla****er to the
next bridge and their usual take-out. So, you don't really get a lot of rapids,
but you *usually* get to do the good stretch multiple times for your $$$. (It's
been years since I rafted it, and I always went much earlier in the year, so
you may want to check with the outfitters to verify whether this scenario would
apply to your trip at this time of year.)

Depending where in Wisconsin you are camping, and if we happen to get timely
rains, a trip on the Wolf or the Peshtigo may be a good (better?) choice. The
Peshtigo is much more continuous rapids, and generally smaller rafts (you can
rent 'duckies' -- inflatable kayaks for one or two people). The Wolf (section
4, in the Menomonee Indian Reservation) is not continuous, but rather consists
of drops seperated by long pools of flat water. The scenery is more awesome
than the Peshtigo, and some of the rapids are more impressive, but you have to
not mind the fla****er -- not a problem if the weather is warm and sunny, but
it really sucks if its cool or cloudy or raining.

If you can be flexible with your plans, the best choice could be for you to
'monitor' the weather reports for the area before your trip, and also 'monitor'
the American Whitewater river page for Wisconsin
(http://rapids.americanwhitewater.org/rivers/state/WI/), which will tell you
(via color-coding) whether these rivers are at what boaters consider "runnable
levels". The outfitters will run trips almost no matter the level, but either
river at less than, say, 200-250 cfs really sucks, especially in a raft.

Outfitters for each of these trips can be found by appropriate searches on the
web.

More information than you asked for, but at least you can make your own
decision. Which, by the way, is really the answer to you question about "if
this ride would be worth" whatever each trip costs. If you've never whitewater
rafted before, almost any of these trips will likely be worh it. The scenery is
great and I think most people find it's a fun time.