Overall Fastest Known Paddle: 4 hours, 3 minutes, 30 seconds

Scott Miller and Scott Duffus

this is also the Fastest Known Tandem Men’s time

21.3 miles per the map; 20.8 on our GPS

Minnehaha Creek Watershed District Info and map

Google maps custom map

Start: Creek access below Grey’s Bay Dam, Minnetonka, MN. 8:50am, July 23rd, 2025

Finish: Ramp at top of Longfellow Lagoon, Minneapolis, MN 12:53pm, July 23rd, 2025

DO NOT GO PAST THE TAKE OUT POINT! (Falls is 1/3 of a mile downstream). TIME STOPS WHEN YOUR BOAT TOUCHES LAND at whichever takeout point you want on river right so long as you have passed under the Minnehaha Parkway Bridge.

Boat Used: Wenonah Jensen 17 tandem canoe

Route Description: Only runnable when water levels are high enough, this is a spectacular route with interesting scenery around every turn. There are rapids, lagoons, swamps, lakes, bridges, tunnels, likely some downed trees and one portage. For safety info and water level info check out the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District’s page.

Trip report from Scott Miller:

Scott Duffus and I made a plan to set the FKP for the Minnehaha Creek and we scheduled it for the morning of Wednesday, July 23rd. The water had been high for weeks but had dropped to 150 CFS at Grey’s Bay; maybe it’s faster when it’s higher but we thought it would be worth trying and it’s the highest that’s recommended for by the DNR and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed, though many experienced paddlers will run it higher. Some bridge clearances awfully low at 160 and would be impossible or close to impossible (especially in a canoe) if it were higher. At Hiawatha golf course and at a few other places (Hwy 169) we just barely fit under.

There was definitely a chance of storms in the forecast, and when I woke up at 6:30 I saw the odds had increased enough that I texted Scott asking if we should really still do this. He didn’t get my text, though, because he’d already left his house in Owatonna to drive up to my place in south Minneapolis AND he’d forgotten his phone at home!

When he arrived a bit early at about 7:15am we quickly agreed that it was so warm we didn’t care if it rained, and that if the thunder and lightning got close enough we would stop and pull over.

I had made a plan that called for us dropping his vehicle off at the takeout less than a mile from my house, just upstream from Minnehaha Falls (I decided the official route should end at the takeout in River right that’s JUST past the Minnehaha Parkway bridge) but of course in our excitement we completely forgot about that and instead just quickly put his canoe on my car, made up our hydration bottles with some Skratch, and jumped in my car to head to the put in at Grey’s Bay Dam in Minnetonka.

Scott Duffus has built little shelves in the canoe that can hold 46 ounce Gatorade bottles (3 for the bow paddler and 2 for the stern paddler), and he’s fashioned hoses that go through the caps and we can drink quickly and easily while we are paddling. It’s awesome.

When we arrived at the park at the put-in we had a problem: all eight non-handicap parking spots were taken, four of them by construction company vehicles that were, we assumed, working on someone’s home nearby and couldn’t park in the street. So we called the number on the sign of the van and explained that we wanted them to move a vehicle and pretty quick someone came and jumped in one of the unmarked cars and left—so I think they were taking up at least five spots!

Problem solved we parked and launched at 8:50am. It was hit and humid and I dunked my sun-shielding long sleeve fancy Patagonia hoodie in the water and put it back on, because when I do that it slowly dries over time and helps keep me cool. It felt pretty good.

We set off through the marsh that makes up the first section of the river. Not much current but it’s chill and beautiful. It didn’t take long for the excitement to start—soon we were plunging into mild rapids and ducking under bridges. The creek is just relentlessly interesting and I was reminded how important it is to have good boat control and, if you’re in a tandem boat, you want to have a bow paddler that knows some bow steering strokes (and a stern paddler that knows how to steer as well). Fortunately Scott and I have a lot of experience and we didn’t have any close calls despite needing to maneuver deftly around lots of downed trees and rock walls and through tunnels.

At the portage around the dam in Edina we decided to portage all the way to the out in at Utley Park, even though it’s possible to put in earlier, but the current looked swift and potentially treacherous and it just wasn’t much further to the put-in. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait long for a break in the traffic.

During the latter half of the trip the rain came and it rained HARD. But it felt great and though we hear some thunder it never got too close and we felt very protected by the forested canopy in south Minneapolis.

At the graveyard we took a cut-through channel to avoid a downed tree (we are pretty sure there was one); I knew about it thanks to a post on the wonderful Friends of Minnehaha Facebook group. The cut through was marked with caution tape and it was really shallow; we had to get out and drag the canoe through but it wasn’t more than 50 feet.

Across south Minneapolis is rained a ton and we could feel the creek rising beneath us. There was some distant thunder but we felt safe below the canopy and it was so warm we didn’t mind getting soaked.

When we got out I found out my dry bag was filled with water but my iphone was weirdly fine! I had put a dust plug in the charging port and that seemed to keep water out. I was able to stop our GPS track and text to ask my wonderful wife Heidi if she would come and pick us up. Actually she’d already texted because she can see my location.

She picked us up and we went and had gourmet sandwiches from the sandwich shop at Minnehaha Falls, in the driving rain. They were delicious and the Falls were roaring!