Shotgun Eddy opens Wolf River rafting season May 1

Shotgun Eddy’s Wolf River season opens May 1 and runs through the second Saturday of September, turning the river into one of Menominee County’s clearest warm-weather markers. The operation offers full-day and half-day trips, including 2- to 3-hour floats, and handles transportation to and from the river along with basic safety instruction. Rustic camping lets a single rafting run stretch into a full weekend.

Routes range from gentler outings to harder water. Shotgun Eddy lists Otter Slide, Smokey Falls, Sullivan Falls, Ducknest and Wolf River Dalles among its routes, and the M-Bridge trip is aimed at paddlers of all ages and abilities. A full-day Highway 64 to Shotgun Eddy run passes named rapids that have long marked the river corridor, including Crowele, Horserace, Twenty Day, Boy Scout, Gilmore’s Mistake and Burnt Shanty. Some routes are listed as Class 2, while another is rated Class 3-4.

Shotgun Eddy can refuse service to anyone it considers unfit for a raft trip, and all participants must sign an acknowledgment-of-risk waiver. Minimum age recommendations also change with water level, a reminder that the Wolf River can shift quickly with spring runoff and summer flow.

Travel Wisconsin lists the Upper Wolf River as one of the best whitewater rivers in the Midwest and flags spring runoff as one of the biggest challenges on the water. The river’s name and its rapids carry logging-era history too. Shotgun Eddy takes its name from rapids just upriver from the office, and early loggers gave many rapids and falls their names to mark log-jam locations.

The river’s story runs through the same corridor. Civil War-era activity, logging river drives and later environmental threats shaped it, while the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system protects designated stretches from the Langlade-Menominee County line downstream to Kenshena Falls. For paddlers not using a local shuttle service, Wisconsin Trail Guide says a permit is required to paddle through tribal lands on the Menominee Indian Reservation.