Minnesota River Interviews - Brand Frentz and Joe Michel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReCAKpyV68c

"I was brought up on the [Minnesota River]. I know there are more spectacular little rivers around here but I guess it’s just in my blood, this river."

Video Text:
Joe Michel: "I was brought up on the [Minnesota River]. I know there are more spectacular little rivers around here but I guess it’s just in my blood, this river.  If you put [your canoe] in on highway 22 the Le Sueur River, you can come down that and you’ll go by the Maple and Cobb and end up in the Blue Earth and Minnesota. Five rivers in that little 18 mile jog, and that’s a unique thing, I think.  I don’t know of too many places that you could say that if you just want to come down the river, make a little loop into the other river, you can say you were on it, you know?  And some of those little rivers are used today quite a bit when it’s high for kayakers.

Brand Frentz: Anyway, so we’ve got those rivers, they’re all good. Every one of them has good stretches for paddling.  I’ll give you the rundown: the favorite is the Cobb River, the last 8, 10 miles, it’s fairly rough.  By classification there’s some class 2 rapids, at the right water, which is fairly rough waves that high (maybe 2-3 feet), and big rocks and sharp corners and all that kind of thing, that’s probably the favorite. 

The other favorite is the Blue Earth below the dam -- it’s fast. It has a bunch of pools but there are some rapids between them and that one is the most popular I’m sure. Some people have said it’s the most popular in southern Minnesota and that’s because it’s well known, it’s a big river and kinda forgiving. If you do fall in there’s a lot of room [to get out]. It is not quite as fast as the Cobb.  But that’s probably the favorite among the public."