West Branch Ontonagon River (Norwich to Victoria)
13.7 miles
November 2020
Another excellent stretch of the West Branch Ontonagon River, this time from Norwich Road to Victoria Dam. The river starts out slowish before picking up the pace through several small rapids. A highlight of the middle portion of the run is "The Kink," a rocky rapid that makes a sharp right-hand turn and narrows into an exciting wave train. Hitting this just right in a sea kayak was tough! I look forward to getting back here with a boat made for some real whitewater.
Towards the end of the run you encounter a second larger Class II(III) rapid, Sandstone Rapids, that drops over a few ledges. Not long after this you hit "The Chute" under a few high bluffs. This dumps you out into the Victoria Reservoir, after which you have a long flat paddle until you reach your take-out.
I regretably did not log the flow rate when I was out here, but I imagine it was in the 350-400 CFS range on the Bergland Dam gauge.