Crow Wing River
| Crow Wing River | |
| River | |
 The Crow Wing River in Old Wadena County Park
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Minnesota |
| Source | |
| - elevation | 1,391 ft (424 m) |
| - coordinates | 47°00′07″N 94°44′29″W / 47.00194°N 94.74139°W |
| Mouth | |
| - elevation | 1,145 ft (349 m) |
| - coordinates | 46°16′16″N 94°20′23″W / 46.27111°N 94.33972°WCoordinates: 46°16′16″N 94°20′23″W / 46.27111°N 94.33972°W |
 The Crow Wing River
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The Crow Wing River is a 113-mile-long (182 km) tributary of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, United States. The river rises at an elevation of about 1391 feet in a chain of 11 lakes in southern Hubbard County, Minnesota, and flows generally south, then east, entering the Mississippi at Crow Wing State Park northwest of Little Falls, Minnesota. Its name is a loose translation from the Ojibwe language Gaagaagiwigwani-ziibi ("Raven-feather River"). A wing-shaped island at its mouth accounts for the river's name. Because of its many campsites and its undeveloped shores, the Crow Wing River is considered one of the state's best "wilderness" routes for canoeists; although it is shallow (seldom more than 3 feet (0.91 m) deep), it is nearly always deep enough for canoeing.
Much of the river is flanked by thick forests. For its first 20 miles (32 km) the river cuts through low marshy lands. The river broadens and the banks increase in height as it flows southward. Jack pine forest has all but replaced the virgin white and red pine forests on the sandy plains of northern Wadena County, Minnesota. Hazel, blueberries, sweet fern, bearberry, wintergreen, bracken and reindeer moss provide lush ground cover. The Crow Wing's lower reaches are flanked by a river bottom forest of elm, ash, cottonwood, box elder, oak, basswood, maple, willow and aspen. Grasslands, bogs and swamps are scattered throughout the river corridor.
Due to its sandy bottom, limited cover and dearth of deep pools, the Crow Wing is not a good game fish river. Shorthead Redhorse and White Sucker, both rough fish, are the river's most common species.
The diversity of vegetation along the river supports a wide variety of wildlife. Canoeists may see turtles, otters, muskrats, beavers, mink, raccoons, gophers, chipmunks, squirrels and rabbit. Bobcats and a small number of black bears also inhabit the river area. It is not unusual to even see eagles fishing from the river.
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Wikipedia