Plover River
The Plover is a small tributary to the Wisconsin River located Stevens Point. It’s a great kayaking stream with fantastic boulder gardens.
Trip Reports
Esker Road to Hwy 153
Date Paddled: October 16th, 2016
Distance: 6.4 miles
Time: 4 hours 46 minutes ( 3 hours would be more typical)
The far upper Plover River is rarely paddled, yet might be the best section for paddling because of its scenic firs, granite boulders and some surprise rapids.
Read More...Hwy 153 to Pinery Road
Date Paddled: June 25th, 2016
Distance: 4.97 miles
Time: 2 hours 19 minutes
Probably the best section on the entire Plover River with good current, a few rapids, attractive woods and fine boulder beds.
Read More...Pinery Road to Shantytown Drive
Date Paddled: May 26th, 2018
Distance: 4.9 miles
Time: 2 hours 23 minutes
While not as nice as upstream sections of the Plover, this was still a solid paddle with good current, clear water, and wooded banks filled with pines, cedars and firs.
Read More...Hwy K to Jordan County Park
Date Paddled: July 4th, 2017
Distance: 5.3 miles
Time: 3 hours 4 minutes (2.5 hours would be more typical)
Not as elite as other Plover segments, but this diverse paddle is still enjoyable and has some fun surprises at the end.
Read More...Jordan Park below dam to Iverson Park
Date Paddled: July 5th, 2014
Distance: 8 miles (maybe more because of the log dodging)
Time: 3 hours 52 minutes
The Plover is a popular small river that flows southwest before emptying into the Wisconsin River at the city of Stevens Point. There are multiple sections of the river that are navigable for paddlers–the upper section being more rocky and “up northy,” with nice boulder gardens, and the southern section, which is more like the […]
Read More...Overview Map
Detailed Overview
- Legion Memory Park to Konkol Road: (1.8 miles) Scenic, narrow, shallow creek with perhaps a few logjams.
- Konkol Road to Townline Road: (1.3 miles) Probably a mediocre but doable prospect.
- Townline Road to Bridge Road: (1.4 miles) A creek prospect that should have scenic woods and a few boulder gardens. Townline Road should be ok for access.
- Bridge Road to Esker Road: (0.7 miles) Narrow, wooded and rocky, this is a good prospect. Probably some rapids and a few logjams. Should be ok put-in access.
- Esker Road to Hwy 153: (6.4 miles) A fantastic trip reviewed in Oct 2016.
- Esker Road to Plover Road: (1.5 miles) Pleasant section with a nice boulder garden.
- Plover River Road to Kristof Road: (2.7 miles) Best section on the entire river. Very scenic, with 3 Class 2s and many boulder gardens.
- Kristof Road to Hwy 153: (2.3 miles) Good section with no noteworthy rapids, but pleasant and scenic.
- Hwy 153 to Pinery Road: (5.0 miles) A great trip reviewed in June 2016.
- Hwy 153 to Bevent Drive: (2.7 miles) Five star segment and 2nd best leg on the entire river. Scenic with several small rapids.
- Bevent Drive to Pinery Road: (2.3 miles) Pleasant section but not as scenic as upstream parts.
- Pinery Road to Shantytown Drive: (4.9 miles) A medium trip reviewed May 2018.
- Pinery Road to Hwy J: (2.8 miles) Starts wide and uninteresting but gets better with narrow corridors of firs, white cedars and white pines. Section includes a small boulder garden and several low farm bridges.
- Hwy J to Shantytown Drive: (2.2 miles) A peaceful section with many conifers relatively undeveloped banks and good current.
- Shantytown Drive to Hwy Y: (5.2 miles) The river slows and widens here, with maybe a third of the trip being a flowage/marsh (looks pleasant). Shantytown Drive is a good launch option.
- Hwy Y to Bentley Road: (1.3 miles) A tweener section between the flowage and river that includes a dam portage. Hwy Y is a poor launch option with difficult parking.
- Bentley Road to Hwy K: (3.4 miles) The river narrows here and this is a popular section. Good shoulder parking at Bentley Road (lot of cars park here).
- Hwy K to Jordan County Park: (5.3 miles) Ok prospect reviewed Jul 2017.
- Hwy K to Sharonwood Lane: (4.7 miles) A less traveled, narrow, wooded section on the upper part and an open grassland paddle in the second part where the old flowage was. Be careful about running the old dam remnants. There are nice boulder gardens above and below Sharonwood Lane. Hwy K is an ok launch, but has very poor parking (most cars were literally parking more on the road than on the shoulder).
- Sharonwood Lane to Jordan County Park: (1.0 miles) Gorgeous boulder garden below Sharonwood and perhaps an abandoned whitewater slalom course. Most of this is lake paddling though Jordan Pond. Sharonwood Lane is small but ok for access.
- Jordan County Park to Jordan Dam/Jordan Park: (0.5 miles) Paddle west of the lake, then portage under the Hwy 66 tunnel. You then have to drag your boat 600+ feet to get past the pipeline and into the water. Not recommended.
- Jordan Park to Iverson Park: (8.0 miles) A good prospect previously reviewed July 2014.
- Iverson Park to Lower Whiting Park: (2.5 miles) Mostly open flowage paddling that is probably uninteresting.
- Lower Whiting Park to the Wisconsin River: (1.2 miles) Mostly big flowages. Probably not a good prospect.
Nearby Guages
Videos
Comments
Update...as of June 2022, this section has been cleared of logjams.
Hi Tim...I'll forward your message to Eric. In the meantime I will say that current levels are just about at (although a bit below) the levels I did it at. If you watch my video you'll get a feel for how shallow this is.
Eric, do you recall the level on June 10, 2020? I’m hoping to go mid Sept but a 5 hr drive so want to be sure it’s worth it. Thanks.
Webmaster's update...I've heard recently that there are two logjams on this stretch that will have to be portaged.
Thanks for the update!
I did Esker Rd to Bevent Rd 5/23 with a bike shuttle, trip took about 2 1/2 hours and the bike shuttle took about 25 mins. The bolder gardens in the first half are fantastic, there are a couple of fun rapids that require some control and a nice 1-2 ft drop that is easy/fun but could be a bit scary for novice paddlers. I was solo and water was high and fast, so I choose to portage the low driveway bridge on river left. The water had a slight brown hue but the clarity was great for the entire trip. Great trip, hope to do it at least once a year
Link to some of my photos from the trip https://1drv.ms/a/s!AjC8S6n5i35VgXQK2JaWce6BcaRD
Good idea about the paddle! It was thundering so we paddled in the rain for a bit, but thought it best to get out of the metal canoe with possible lightening.
I suggest getting familiar with Class 1 rapids before attempting Class 2. Some ideas you may enjoy within a reasonable driving radius would include the lower Eau Claire, Crystal River, Waupaca River, Tomorrow River, Mecan River, Upper Dells and the lower Little Wolf (all reviewed on this site). With the Upper Plover, because water levels are so low, the rapids may be Class 1 and not Class 2...so they may be fine. But you may have to walk your boat in a few shallow areas.
Hi. We are new and have very basic kayaks. From Menards, 10' Viper. We are looking for some new places to kayak in Central Wisconsin and have been reading your site. Read your review of the Plover River at Esker and it sounds great. But a little worried about the class 2 rapids with our kayaks. Wise or unwise to try? Thanks!
It's too bad to hear about that logjam. In late summer doing portages can be difficult because the banks can be so overgrown. Sometimes it helps to whack a path clear with your paddle. Hopefully somebody will clear out that jam in the future.
As for the rain, that can actually make a trip interesting. I've paddled in the rain and it is actually cool seeing and hearing the droplets fall around you.
Hi! Thank you for sharing this information! We did this stretch in a 13 foot canoe. The water was low so we had to portage around the major log jam, however, it was through a patch of stinging nettle! (Wear jeans, maybe?) We rinsed our legs in the water and it stopped itching after a while. The bridges and some sort of pipe were deceptively low and the water was very low so make sure you are nimble enough to lay down quickly and get back up to keep paddling. It was beautiful and fun, but would have been much easier in a single kayak. We saw bald eagles, herons, Kingfishers making vertical dives, ducks, clams, and a few tires in the water. We checked the weather before we left (around 10:30am) and it wasn't supposed to storm until 3pm. It stormed a half hour in so we pulled ashore by some cedar. That made for a much more exciting trip than I anticipated! I guess you never know what to expect. Lol!
Yeah, that is fine.
Hi,
I am a resident of the village of Hatley. I am developing a website for the village and would like to quote some of your content from this page and link to this article. Would this be OK?
Thank you!
Mike Heinrich
How did your trip turn out? Questions or comments? Feel free to leave your feedback.
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