Canoeing, Kayaking Still Available on The Mississippi River

CLEARWATER -- Despite the low water levels on the Mississippi River you can still paddle down the river this summer.

Dan Meer is a co-owner of Clearwater Outfitting in Clearwater. He says their canoes and kayaks are able to navigate down the river here in central Minnesota.

The nice thing is at least so far there's always been a channel somewhere that people can paddle.  The beauty is we're not seeing too many motorboats out there.  We're also seeing lots of sandbars and gravel bars and parts of the river that have not been seen before.

Meer says the trips are taking about one to two hours longer than normal though because of the slower current.

Clearwater Outfitting has two-person canoes, tandem and solo kayaks, and paddleboards available for rent.

They have three options a 5 1/2 mile trip from Island View Park to Clearwater, an 8 mile trip from Clearwater to Snuffy's Landing in Becker, and a 13 mile trip from the Beaver Island boat Launch in St. Cloud to Clearwater.

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Meer says his business is using the opportunity to clean up some junk.

Actually, we've been able to do some things where we've been able to find some things like tires and things like that and we've been able to dig them out of the river.  We're actually gathering a pile of goodies that we're finding and cleanup the river a little bit, so that's kind of nice.

Because of a lack of rental equipment and a staffing shortage they are not open seven days a week this summer, they are operating Tuesdays through Saturdays, with most Fridays and Saturdays booking up fairly often.