[3] The North Fork of the Crow River was named by the Ojibwe Indians for the bird they called the "marauder of newly planted corn.

[5] The river's course is used to define the boundary between Wright and Hennepin counties.

The Crow flows through Greenfield, Hanover, St. Michael, Otsego and Dayton; it enters the Mississippi River from the south at the common boundary between Otsego and Dayton.

The roughly 40 mile stretch from upstream of Rockford to the Mississippi is considered to be the best for canoeing.

Upstream from Buffalo, you will encounter more challenging paddling due to sandy, erodible banks and fast-growing silver maples that frequently fall and block the river.