Platte River - Ellenboro to Platte Road - June 2026

Since we live in Platteville, the Platte is a great for a local evening paddle after work. This is a nice trip at 4.5 miles or about 1 ½ hours. Our default section for an evening paddle is actually the next section (Platte Rd to Big Platte Rd for 2 hours across 5 miles) but this Ellenboro section is also quite nice and should be considered since it’s beautiful as well. If you want to make this trip longer, you can add the upstream 1-hour long section and put-in at Kingsford Road instead. If you put-in at Ellenboro you can also do the 3 ½ hours or 9 ½ miles and take-out at Big Platte Road (aka “The Big Bend”). As with many rivers in the driftless, there are strings of electric or barbed wire on the Platte River. For this trip, each of the strands of wire were well maintained by the farmers (thank you very much land owners) and high enough for us to clear in our kayaks. That said, there could anyday be new wires placed or ones which sag lower. I recommend bringing a Y-er with you on this trip if you have one; if not, make one and bring it. Here is a link to the Y-er site on Miles Paddled. https://milespaddled.com/the-y-er-a-h... Kayaking the Platte River in Platteville, WI. Put-in on Airport Road in Ellenboro, WI. There is road-side parking and a pretty well worn path to the river; upstream river right is the best. There is a set of rock steps on river left but they are tricky for put-in/take-out. Upstream river right has a low bank and a few solid options. Take-out is at the first bridge on Platte Road. There is plenty of road-side parking, a mowed path to the river, and a fairly low bank for launching. Someone recently added a knotted rope tied to a post which is really helpful for taking out. Put-in: https://maps.app.goo.gl/UhYFAemZABQUv... Take-out: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pdFkVxmT3mt3S... Water level: 4.75’ and 240 CFS. This is a very nice water level with some scraping but nothing bad. At this level, the riffles are really nice and the current is good. A great mix of riffles and flatwater. Gauge level for the Platte River at Rockville, WI: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring... Lastly, check out the fabulous overview of the Platte River on ‘Miles Paddled’ https://milespaddled.com/platte-river... and https://milespaddled.com/platte-river...