BWCA Anyone paddle the Otter Tail river? Boundary Waters Group Forum: Other Canoe Camping Locations
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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum
   Group Forum: Other Canoe Camping Locations
      Anyone paddle the Otter Tail river?     

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01/25/2012 09:38PM  
Just looking into summer trips.
 
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MikeFF
member (24)member
  
08/28/2017 08:08AM  
I'm going to ressurect this one and see if anyone can give some input. I live in Fergus Falls and would love to do a trip from the West side of town down to either Orwell or Dayton hollow. Is there anywhere to camp along the river?
 
08/28/2017 04:45PM  
I canoed it from Detroit Lakes to Frazee.
I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, it turns into a slow winding marsh with little shoreline to look at, it was not very fun.
 
Northwoodsman
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08/31/2017 07:51AM  
I grew up in Fergus Falls so I paddled many parts of it back in the day. Most of the property along it is private land so camping is trespassing. When I was younger, a buddy and I camped in his cow pasture for almost a month right on the river near Fergus Falls. It has a pretty strong current and it's tough to paddle against the current. One time we took two cars and left one at Phelps Mill and drove the other one with the canoe on it up to Deer Lake. It was about 90 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. When we got to Phelps and pulled the canoe out of the water we realized my buddy left his keys back in my car at Deer Lake. We paddled into the current back to my car. Afterwards we decided it would have been much faster to walk. Probably the worst sunburn I have ever had. Lots of great paddling, not to sure about camping however.
 
straighthairedcurly
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03/26/2019 02:29PM  
I have never paddled it, but here is a link to the MN State Water Trail map for the Ottertail.



The only official camping shown is in Breckinridge. Ottertail R Water Trail
 
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