Wet start to summer challenging river riding companies

LANGLADE — According to the National Weather Service, the Town of Langlade received nearly 13 inches of rain in May and June, approximately 10 inches more than the total from those same months in 2023.

The rainy start to the summer has raised water levels on the Wolf River substantially, which on certain days is forcing tube and raft rental companies to make decisions about whether to remain open.

Gena Brayton, the manager of the Wolf River Tubing Company, said last week Thursday through Sunday, the current was too fast to allow tubers out on the water.

“For us it was a big deal. We had to turn away probably about 130, 140 people this weekend,” Brayton said. “There’s a gauge right at the bridge about a quarter mile from us, and we go by the cubic feet per second, and that’s basically how fast the water is flowing. Typically, it’s kind of an unsaid thing that if it’s 800 and above, most of the companies don’t run tubes. In our specific section here, there are some class one and two rapids, and when the water is high, it’s actually smoother in the rapids, but it’s running very fast. So you’re more likely to fall out of a tube when it’s running fast than you are a raft.”

Brayton, who has managed the Wolf River Tubing Company for two years, said she has also had to decide on a day-to-day basis whether to allow small children on tubes.

“The river can drop about as fast as it can go up, so it really just depends on the day and the river levels, but it was actually at about 1,200 cubic feet per second at one point on June 26. I’m sure there have been other years when companies had to close down, but for us, this was the first time. But last year, the water was really low and dry and we were praying for rain,” she laughed.

“A lot of the other companies that will run rafts even though it’s high, they usually put an age restriction on it as well. We’re just all trying to be responsible and safe.”

Andy Buettner, the owner of Herb’s Rafts, which operates in a rougher area of the Wolf River at the border of Menomonee County, has also had to consider children’s safety in his decision-making.

“As of right now, it’s down to 700. For rafting, that’s fine. You’ve just got to take the younger kids if they’re not scared of the water and put them in a raft with the adults, because physically, they’re not strong enough to do everything,” Buettner said. “I really never shut down — I just made sure that it was adults with kids, and I put an age restriction on it of ‘No one under 16’ until it got to below 800, because it was up to 1,200. It was roaring.”

The abundant rainfall as of late has also impacted river riding on the reservation itself, according to Buettner.

“I work with one of the Native Americans that runs rafts over the falls and the great big hard stuff down there in Menomonee County. The tribe shuts the river down when it’s over 800 cubic feet. They won’t let anybody run down to the falls. So basically, down on that end of the river, we’ve been shut down for over a week and a half. This is the first day this morning that it was under 800 cubic feet in over a week, and it’s supposed to rain tonight and all day tomorrow, so I don’t know what the heck is going to happen down there,” he said.

Brayton said the river occasionally also rises due to other causes.

“There’s a dam in Post Lake, and sometimes it will affect our water level here,” she said. “If they open the dam, then it all comes rushing out at once. They have a spillover. The other day, it sat at 950 for the entire day instead of gradually going down. So that can affect our levels too. If we get a lot of rain too north of here, that tends to make its way down slower, so that’s a factor also.”

Buettner said with the water’s increased speed, plenty of the river remains accessible — and indeed, maybe even ideal — to rafters, and that the river has risen even higher in years past.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time — it’s kind of a little bit of a nightmare when the water’s high,” Buettner said.

“Three or four years ago, the sheriff’s department asked us if they would close the river down, it was so high. It was almost on 2,800 cubic feet per second, so we all shut down for a week. It was so high that if somebody was on the river and they got tipped over, the rescue squads, EMTs, nobody wanted to get in it. It was that high.”

He said that in general, this summer’s rain has not impacted him hugely.

“I don’t really care, because I’ve got plenty of river to run here,” he said. “If it gets up to 900 or 1,000, then I’ll put the age limit of 16 back on, but 700, you can put the kids back on. If they’re water friendly and not scared of getting wet and getting bounced around a little bit, they’re fine. They just sit right down on the bottom of the raft when it comes to the rapids and hang on, and when it’s over, get back up and pick your head up and say, ‘Wow, that was a lot of fun.’ That’s the way it goes.”