Holts Landing to Agenda Landing
This four-mile stretch of the upper Flambeau River has nine sets of easy rapids and offers a great place to work on one’s whitewater moves, or it can be added onto the 11.5 miles starting from the Turtle Flambeau Dam—a long but enjoyable day trip.
By Chris Cole
A Miles Paddled Contributor
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Trip Report Date: May 13-14, 2026
Skill Level: Intermediate
Class Difficulty: Class I-II
Gradient:
4′ per mile
Gauge Recorded on this Trip:
Xcel Energy: ht/ft: n/a | cfs: 800
Recommended Levels:
We recommend this level and water Levels are almost always reliable.
Xcel Energy Lists Reservoir Levels and Discharge Rates for the Turtle Flambeau Flowage (scroll down towards the bottom of the page) which is the water being discharged from the Flowage into the Flambeau River. To enjoy the whitewater features a minimum discharge rate of 500 cfs is recommended. It’s still doable below that but will likely be a bumpy ride with limited lines to run.
Put-In:
Holts Landing, Creamery Road, Agenda, Wisconsin
GPS: 46.01023, -90.36836
Take-Out:
Agenda Landing, off Flambeau Lane East
GPS: 45.98854, -90.39471
Time: Put in at 11:00a. Out at 2:30p.
Total Time: 3h 30m
Miles Paddled: 4
Wildlife:
Bald eagles.
Shuttle Information:
3.5 miles. The roads are paved with low traffic, good site lines and minimal hills, making a bike shuttle very doable.
Background:
Why would anyone take three and a half hours to paddle four miles? Even more perplexing, why would they do it two days in a row? There’s a joke about a tourist in New York City stopping who appears to be a musician for directions. When the tourist asks how to get to Carnegie Hall, the musician replies “practice man, practice.” The same can be said for learning to paddle whitewater. If there is a Carnegie Hall for whitewater paddlers, I’m nowhere near it, but I’m no longer third chair in the junior high band either.
I started paddling whitewater to maintain a degree of sanity during the pandemic. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to have plenty of mentors, not the least of whom are my friends, John and Mary. John and Mary are competitive C2 slalom racers who paddle with a level of grace and style that is awe-inspiring. More importantly, they are great teachers and ambassadors for the sport. They suggested this stretch as a great place to practice peel-outs, eddy turns, and ferrying. They weren’t wrong.
This four-mile section contains nine separate rapids. They are long enough to do multiple moves in, but short enough that the consequences of messing up are minimal. There are flatwater stretches at the end of each rapid which are nice to have if you need to collect yourself or your kayak. This section also has fewer rocks to dodge than Section 2 of the Wolf River, a common beginner whitewater run. It’s a great place to try Class III moves on Class I-II water.
Overview:
After putting in at Holt’s Landing, there is maybe a quarter-mile of flatwater before you get to the first rapid, which is barely a Class I. It does have nice flow and is a great place to practice river-wide ferries. Three sets of Class I-II rapids follow before you get to a large island, where you’ll want to take the left channel. After a stretch of flatwater there is a campsite on river-left with a picnic table. It’s a nice place to stop for lunch. Immediately past the campsite is another island. Take the river-right channel this time. NOTE: Making a hard left takes you over a drop that has lots of deadfall, rocks, and other unpleasantries.
Five more sets of Class I-II rapids follow before you hit about a mile of flatwater leading up to the takeout at Agenda Landing on river-right, where there are a couple houses.
Doing just this section is a bit of a niche paddle for those who want to play and practice in the rapids. If one just wanted to run it, the four miles would go by pretty fast.
What we liked:
Nine sets of fun rapids in a four-mile stretch can’t be beat! This section is remote and pretty. The only houses we saw were in the last mile of flatwater.
What we didn’t like:
Except for the flatwater stretch at the end, there was nothing to really dislike. Though there seems to be an unwritten rule that when doing long stretches of flatwater in a whitewater boat, said flatwater must be accompanied by a stiff headwind. This rule held true on both days.
If we did this trip again:
I’ll definitely be back to do this stretch again. I can’t think of a much better place to bring friends that are working on their whitewater skills. If my intention was to do it as a “regular” paddle, I’d add on the 11.5 miles upstream and use a different boat, ideally my crossover.
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Related Information:
Flambeau River North Fork I: Robinson Landing to Holts Landing
Flambeau River North Fork II: 9 Mile Creek Landing to Dix Dox Landing
Flambeau River North Fork III: Highway W Landing to Flambeau Lodge Landing
Guide: Wisconsin Trail Guide
Wikipedia: Flambeau River
Photo Gallery:
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