It’s been a productive day and I’m already on my 5th stop of the morning. I took a short nap in the truck, and then found myself in New Richmond, Wisconsin which I had never been through before. Apparently there is a small falls/rapids downstream of a spillway so I figured we could check that out briefly. Parked right on W 1st Street and took only a few steps before I started finding historic signs that line the trail.
It’s always great to find surprises when traveling and today was quite exceptional. Apparently a man named John Doar is from New Richmond and had an incredible life: he played an important role in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, was part of the Richard Nixon impeachment, and in 2012 received the Medal of Freedom from then President Obama. According to this particular sign, he was also cousins with Johnny Blood, a legendary player for the Green Bay Packers, and Warren P. Knowles, a future governor of Wisconsin and maybe more notably the namesake of what is now the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund which protects the environment.
There are several more signs detailing Doar’s life, accomplishments, and history along the walking path which is partially called the “John Doar History Trail” and then becomes the Doughboy Trail and Mill Pond Walkway. Here’s a fun history lesson for younger people out there: both Doar and Knowles were Republicans back in the 50’s and 60’s and fought for civil rights, racial justice, and protecting the environment. Can you imagine that today? If you want to read more about why today’s Republican party are evil, vile, racist scumbags, see this Wikipedia entry about the Southern Strategy (spoiler alert but no surprise: it’s fully built on racism).
Back to the walking trail now we can see remnants of an old bridge or some other formation below the current dam as the footings have been left behind in the Willow River.
Walking across the existing dam and through a small park area is the best way to reach the downstream rapids.
Here is a quick look at the New Richmond Mills Dam from the south side of the river before we cross over…
And here is another view of the dam and spillway from the north side while holding my camera around a barrier fence.
As mentioned earlier there is a nice flat paved walking path leading through a park area with several observation benches along the way. It isn’t a far walk to find access to the rapids – maybe 1/4 of a mile at most.
Turning left off the path and stepping about 50 feet to the water’s edge we can see a long line of rocks dropping down several feet across the whole river’s width.
Taking a look to the far end of these rapids there is one more pronounced drop that I can see but it is mostly obscured by the angles. I probably could have flown the drone but didn’t know local regulations and didn’t feel to be worth it today, and I’m not wading in the water as it was full of stinky blue/green algae. Access from the other shore is prohibited as iti s all private property so this is as far as we go today.
I did hike a bit further north and west through some brush but couldn’t find any other viewpoints before running into impassable mud and muck. There may be other features to see here but not sure yet how to reach them. Maybe I’ll stop back in the future but I doubt any of these are more than a couple feet in height.
Video
Here is a short video of my walk today.
Hiking Data
Looking at my “hiking” route today there are two main takeaways: First, the section at the far top center that bends back to the east is all paved but there is nothing much to see as you move away from the river. Second, that route I hiked back west towards the river you won’t be able to see anything through the dense brush and eventually you may get stuck in mud and muck.
Metrics show this isn’t a difficult or long walk, maybe 2/3 mile round trip and that includes my bushwhacking. In reality it may only be 1/2 mile or less just to reach the rapids. Check it out if you are in the area, otherwise don’t plan a whole trip around it as there isn’t much to see.
