Today was a bit less eventful due to the long drive & strong thunderstorms but I still squeezed in a few neat places. First one was at Lake Wissota Rapids in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Access is quite easy through the Chippewa County Riverview Reserve / Area 178 nature park trails.
Alongside the trail are some smaller “falls” generated from runoff channels draining back to the Chippewa River.
Hiking to the far eastern part of the trails there is a canoe portage and warning signs about the hydroelectric Xcel Energy dam.
And just a short walk beyond those signs and across some boulders is the start of these rapids. But where are they?!
On this day only some very small whitewater is showing. You can see from the surrounding rocks high water mark that levels are quite low, maybe about 6-12″ below normal. Likely typical for summer I would think.
Another one of the small “rapids” found in this area. It’s not much but this is still a nice place to relax out in nature.
Looking downstream you can see this drains back into the Chippewa River through a large boulder field. I would imagine in different seasons this could look drastically different.
Video
Here’s a short video of the hike & rapids in action. Enjoy!
Hiking
Super easy hike using the hiking & biking trails. If you live in Chippewa Falls this is a good local place to check out.
