About Paddle Today

Paddle Today is for river paddlers who want to find the best paddling options today without bouncing between gauges, maps, weather forecasts, and river notes.

River and route coverage starts in the Midwest and focuses first on the routes with the strongest gauge stories, clearest access info, and most trustworthy source material. Currently this consists of popular routes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, with more rivers added as the data quality supports it.

This project is new and still changing quickly, with direction shaped by community feedback.

Provide feedback Request a route

Scores

How Scoring Works

Bottom line: Water level/flow decides if a river is paddleable. Weather and other factors increase or decrease the score from there.

Scroll sideways to compare all scoring criteria

Score	What it usually means	Loose qualifications
Strong conditions	Near ideal conditions	Water in range + low weather risk + strong data confidence
Good conditions	Paddle today · Good conditions	Workable water with one or two detractors such as light rain or low temperature
Watch closely	Paddleable, but check the tradeoffs before you drive	Water in range but weather, thin data, or route cautions pulling it down
Skip	Not a good call today	Gauge clearly out of range or the overall risk stack is too high (storms, ice, closures, obstructions, etc.)

Everything starts with enough water to paddle. From there, the score drops for storms, wind, cold air or water, incoming rain, or weak data confidence.

Coverage

Adding new routes

Not every river makes sense for the site yet. To keep the recommendations trustworthy, I only add routes that meet three basic requirements:

A reliable live gauge from USGS, MN DNR, or an equivalent official source
Known usable/preferred water levels
Clear put-in and take-out coordinates

Gauge methodology

How Paddle Today handles proxy gauges

An official streamgage measures conditions at its own station. USGS converts stage readings to discharge using a site-specific relationship, so a reading from one location is not automatically a measurement of every reach upstream or downstream.

When a route does not have a suitable direct gauge, Paddle Today may show the nearest reviewed proxy gauge as planning context. We do not use that proxy reading to issue a same-day score, rank the route as a recommendation, or send a route alert.

Planning routes still include access, hazards, logistics, and the source gauge so paddlers can verify local conditions before launching.

Learn how USGS streamgages work

Data Sources

Most of the site runs on public data and route-specific knowledge.

USGS Water Data and MN DNR River Levels (live gauges, with trends where the source provides samples)
National Weather Service (forecasts, wind, temps, storm risk)
State DNR pages (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa)
Local trip reports and paddling references
OpenStreetMap and similar for access context

Safety & Limits

Use this as a planning tool, not a guarantee.

A good score doesn't mean a river is automatically safe. And a low score doesn't replace your judgment either. Conditions can change fast. Rain, debris, strainers, ice, or access issues can turn a decent-looking day into a bad one.

Always do your own due diligence, check the river when you get there, and paddle within your skill level.