Highway 73 Bridge Carry-In Access, Little Fork River

The Highway 73 bridge carry-in access sits on the left bank at river mile 126.9 of the Little Fork River State Water Trail, on the upstream side of the bridge in Linden Grove Township. A gravel parking pad, a river-level gauge, and posted DNR water-access rules mark the spot, which serves as the take-out for the DNR’s recommended 15.2-mile run down from the Veterans Park access in Cook — a stretch the DNR recommends for paddlers experienced with Class II rapids.

Below the access, the river keeps moving: Class I rapids at mile 125.4, the Axe-Handle Hound watercraft campsite on the right bank at mile 125.0, the Highway 1 bridge at mile 124.6 — and then Hannine Falls at mile 123.6, a jagged, sloping 15-foot Class VI drop with a 180-yard portage on river right and another 150 yards of Class II water below it. The DNR warns that portages along this segment can be overgrown and difficult. Stream flow usually peaks in late April and falls through the summer; on the DNR’s reference gauge far downstream at river mile 21.6, a reading of three feet or lower means the rapids run scratchy to impassable.

The Little Fork was designated a state water trail in 1963, among Minnesota’s original canoe routes — it stands first in the statute that created the water trail system — and it flows undammed for about 160 miles to the Rainy River, joining it eleven miles west of International Falls. Its watershed drains 1,843 square miles, one of the largest in Minnesota, and its dark, tea-tinted water comes from the clay and peatland country it crosses. The Ojibwe knew it as “the river separating canoe routes.” As the signs at the landing remind visitors: clean off aquatic plants, drain all water — Minnesota law requires pulling the drain plug before you transport a boat — and toss unwanted bait in the trash.