On July 6th 2011 we traveled the entire Hustler River from north to south, entering from Finger Lake and exiting on Hustler Lake. The entire journey is about 3 miles as the crow-flies but took close to seven hours. If you’re into the road-less-traveled (or crazy) this is a great route to try.

There isn’t much evidence that many groups attempt this route. According to message boards folks have tried and pulled out part way. This crossed our minds a few times as the going got tough.

The whole river is well damned up by beavers, I don’t recall how many dams we had to climb over. There are also four or five sets of rapids that have to be portaged. These were particularly hard work given the lack of established trails. Near the southern end is an old beaver dam that had drained out, leaving an almost impassable expanse of swamp and fallen trees that is very tough to negotiate whilst carrying a canoe.

Much of the route is a very narrow stream that winds through grassy swamp-land. At some points the channel is so narrow you can touch both banks but it is still nearly neck deep, meaning you can't get out and pull the canoe. The steam also snakes so much that at times we couldn’t get our three-person canoe around the bends.

We had the benefit of both sunny warm weather and leaving early in the morning. All in all it was a lot of fun, despite two sprained ankles and a banged knee, but I don’t suggest you try the route in poor weather, late in the day or if you are not fit and well prepared.

Sounds like a grand adventure! Thanks for the write-up, and welcome to the website.

Wow, that looks fun! I'll admit, though, that the few descriptions I've read have scared off our bushwhacking gang. We have our limits & it sounds like the Hustler would be beyond those!

Did you try any fishing?