East River Flats Shoreline

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LaXGoph

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I am a season ticket holder that lives in La Crosse, WI and I have a 38 ft houseboat that I repowered/remodeled last year. I've been dreaming about an epic trip up the river and nosing in on the beach at the east river flats to tailgate for a gopher game.

It all looks navigable, but the last piece is the shoreline. I can't tell if its rip rapped or if it is sandy shoreline down there. Anyone happen to know?
 

LaXGoph said:
I am a season ticket holder that lives in La Crosse, WI and I have a 38 ft houseboat that I repowered/remodeled last year. I've been dreaming about an epic trip up the river and nosing in on the beach at the east river flats to tailgate for a gopher game.

It all looks navigable, but the last piece is the shoreline. I can't tell if its rip rapped or if it is sandy shoreline down there. Anyone happen to know?
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Sounds like a cool idea! I can't give you an answer though.
 

There is some sort of dock as Mississippi river cruise ships dock there.
 

Those dinner cruise ships.
 

LaXGoph said:
I am a season ticket holder that lives in La Crosse, WI and I have a 38 ft houseboat that I repowered/remodeled last year. I've been dreaming about an epic trip up the river and nosing in on the beach at the east river flats to tailgate for a gopher game.

It all looks navigable, but the last piece is the shoreline. I can't tell if its rip rapped or if it is sandy shoreline down there. Anyone happen to know?
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There is some sand, but not much of a beach as I recall. There is a dock by the Boathouse, but I don't think that's public. Are you hoping to leave the boat and attend the game? I don't think you can do that.

But it does sound like an awesome idea!
 


Probably a better chance you can find an actual nearby dock (maybe on the West Bank side) than pull a boat up on the shore and leave it there for 4 hours.
 

8151 said:
There is some sort of dock as Mississippi river cruise ships dock there.
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The tour boats dock at Bohemian Flats, north of Washington Avenue and on the west bank. I don't know that you can dock there, maybe the City can issue a permit?
 

I have no idea regarding logistics (would definitely want to check with city of Minneapolis first), but DAMN that sounds like fun!
 




The other related question is: will East River Flats even have tailgating this coming season?

I think they'd be stupid not to. They tried to shut it down in 2019 with a last second announcement, and that got overturned.
 

MplsGopher said:
The other related question is: will East River Flats even have tailgating this coming season?

I think they'd be stupid not to. They tried to shut it down in 2019 with a last second announcement, and that got overturned.
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The powers that be saw that people were having fun and that is not allowed when Gopher football is being played.
 

WriterGoph said:
Probably a better chance you can find an actual nearby dock (maybe on the West Bank side) than pull a boat up on the shore and leave it there for 4 hours.
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Yeah I'm not sure how the "just pull up on shore near a larger town along the river" ... thing works / if that's a thing.
 

On a related note I always thought we should play some team with their campus near the Mississippi River or a tributary and the team take a boat down for the game.
 




A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Yeah I'm not sure how the "just pull up on shore near a larger town along the river" ... thing works / if that's a thing.
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I'm pretty sure even for Neyland's Navy at Tennessee those people pay good money and have season permits for those dock spots outside the stadium
 



I saw that Bohemian Flats where the river boat cruises are parked, it might be possible to dock up there and tie off.

I haven't been that far north on the River before, but I basically live on the River down here in the summer and every other place along the Mississippi its no problem to beach up for an overnight anywhere you can find a piece of sand. Its actually one of the main things you do...nose up on the beach and set a pair of anchors on the sand.
 


I would contact the St. Paul Yacht Club along with the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce for assistance on this one. Perhaps one of them can steer you in the right direction.
 


I would just do it. The idea is so great that asking permission and getting a negative answer is not an option.

I volunteer to sit on your boat and listen to the game on the radio to make sure it doesn't get towed or boarded or whatever the nautical term is.
 

LaXGoph said:
every other place along the Mississippi its no problem to beach up for an overnight anywhere you can find a piece of sand.
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I believe you can do this on the St Croix, as well. And at night the DNR (or county sheriff or whomever) will come around and collect a $5 overnight fee from each boat, something like that.

So the point being, it depends on the laws/rules of the land you're beached on. I have a high suspicion that the rules in the city of Minneapolis will be very different in this regard than a rural county along the river.
 
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I guess the big question is if you landed your boat for a few hours who would even care or enforce that?
 

Word said:
I guess the big question is if you landed your boat for a few hours who would even care or enforce that?
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You're kidding, right? A large boat suddenly appears underneath a major pedestrian and light rail bridge, with no warning, notice or permit request to the city or DNR (or whomever controls/patrols the river in the city)? Someone could call 911 thinking it's a terrorist attack.
 

MplsGopher said:
You're kidding, right? A large boat suddenly appears underneath a major pedestrian and light rail bridge, with no warning, notice or permit request to the city or DNR (or whomever controls/patrols the river in the city)? Someone could call 911 thinking it's a terrorist attack.
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For a houseboat docked at a park? The DNR barely patrols the river. Minneapolis police have their hands full. Basically it would take some paranoid person to call the cops and say they thought it was suspicious. Maybe you're that person?
I live near the river and there are boats all over the place. Even near bridges.
 
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Word said:
For a houseboat docked at a park? The DNR barely patrols the river. Minneapolis police have their hands full. Basically it would take some paranoid person to call the cops and say they thought it was suspicious. Maybe you're that person?
I live near the river and there are boats all over the place. Even near bridges.
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If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. YMMV
 



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