After visiting the beautiful Spring Brook Falls, I traveled just a short distance back up Spring Brook Road and parked in a wide spot on the shoulder. Thanks to my friend Bob at waterfallswisconsin.com I had been given intel of another possible falls/rapids downstream about a mile in a more remote part of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. There is no established route that I am (we are) aware of, so this is a bit choose-your-own-adventure. What will we find today?
Now I didn’t blindly choose the spot to enter based on maps alone. As I was driving along there were one or two old National Forest trailhead signposts with the trail information removed, only still bearing badges indicating no motorized vehicles are allowed. This was near the route I was given on the intel and looked as promising as anything else I had seen.
For the first couple hundred yards there was a very faint footpath worn into the dirt but it was no wider than a game trail and quickly disappeared, not just below the leaves but from the ground entirely. Time and nature have taken it and reclaimed it from us humans. Regardless, this area doesn’t have a very high stem count and you can pick your way through without much trouble. Just be careful for rocks under the leaves – they are great ways to twist an ankle when you aren’t paying attention.
As I made my way towards Spring Brook on the GPS, the terrain starts to undulate & drop off gradually. Then, before you know it, you reach the cliff’s edge and find yourself some 50-100 feet above the water level. Choose your path down carefully – not all slopes are created equally, and it’s much better to walk a longer distance than take a bad line.
I made it down without much trouble, other than finding more mud on my boots than I wanted. From here it’s a game of making your way upstream and using your imagination to find the route as there is no trail.
Just a stone’s toss away from where I started I found a shallow area with a line of football-sized rocks. Make no mistake: even the shallow areas will have a deep center current and you will go for a swim if you don’t choose your foot placement wisely!
Now on the northern side of Spring Brook, I noticed there were some brick or concrete footings for what looks to be an old building. What was it – a mill, a house? There is a road just to the north of this part of the forest called Rearing Pond Road – maybe it was a trout hatchery? Whatever it was, it hasn’t been there for a very, very long time (and possibly even burned down as I don’t see any remnants other than stone).
At this same spot there is a huge tangle of deadfall that you should also be very careful to pass. Some of these spots seem quite innocent and safe, but it’s very easy to get hurt with a tiny slip. Ultimately I crossed back to the southern shore as I found no passable route to the north.
Once across I found my first views of the rock gardens and rapids that you will see run all the way upstream on Spring Brook. The deadfall would subside shortly and the ravine opens up, but you still have to hop back & forth across the stream for best views.
The first noticeable feature I found – a tiny drop of maybe a foot or two amonst the stones. These are plentiful and innumerable, but not always visible through the boulders.
Still making my way up the southern bank and it starts to get steeper with less places to step. It was here I understood the most continuous “trail” would be found on the north side but getting there wasn’t always easy.
I finally crossed over when the hill turned to more of a cliff and passage couldn’t be found without serious risk. Spring Brook is narrow and deep here but there are stones you can hop across.
Here’s the same view but from the other side. Honestly with views like this I don’t even care what we find today. Temperatures are very pleasant, the leaves are brilliant shades of yellow and orange, no bugs this time of year – what else could you want? These are the days and places I live for.
Here’s that same view but with a little bit of zoom on the lens so you can see what I was seeing: the same endless rock garden filled with small riffles and steadily increasing elevation all the way up the horizon.
The path on the northern shore would start rising and falling as terrain changed but was still passable. At times I had a bit more elevation which was nice for photos like this. Notice how steep the opposite side is? This is why I mentioned earlier about picking your access route carefully – no sense hiking 1/2 mile through the woods only to find you are unable to reach the bottom.
Some areas offered more open waters showing pronounced rapids like these.
This was the second main feature I found: another long stretch of rock garden but a pronounced drop of two or three feet at the end.
Not far up & around the bend of the brook, the boulders became very large again to the point you could hop across without much trouble if desired. This was also the spot I found a large tour group, maybe a geology class, that was on the southern bank and having some kind of lesson or discussion. I think this was the same group I saw at Potato River Falls just the day before – are they following me?! If they are, someone let me know how I sign up for that class!
I continued on my way past that group to a point where the stem counts started to increase. I was still seeing much of the same small rapids, and checking the map I had only covered maybe 1/3 mile along the brook. There was still about 3/4 mile between this point and the main waterfall at Spring Brook Falls where I had come from, but considering it was already after 4pm I realized the daylight wasn’t on my side. I conceded, realizing I need more time for this area as it is quite slow moving. Time to throw in the towel and head back.
To make some time I looped up & away just a tad from the river where the terrain was flat and easily passable, though it still involved a bit of bush whacking. I came back to the spot where that old building was and found more evidence of a larger setting including more of the stone house footings, a large rack or maybe a horse tether of some kind, and this brick fireplace/cooking pit. If anyone knows what this was please post comments below, I can’t find anything searching online.
Not far from here is where I crossed the river and found some old two-track roads. There is some marking tape on the one large tree, but otherwise no signs this has been maintained in a long time. I don’t see signs of use by snowmobiles but it wouldn’t surprise me. Some of these roads are even shown on the Gaia maps but only about 1/2 of them really exist any longer. Regardless, I used these to loop around the very long way back to my truck and came out near those Brunsweiler River Rapids I visited earlier in the morning. This added considerable distance to the hike but it is quite flat and fast moving so I didn’t mind. Looks like I need to come back here again with a better game-plan another time.
Video
Here’s a video of my exploration today. I’m sad to say I had some technical glitches with equipment and not all of my clips were useful, but that is somewhat a good thing because there are more rapids & small “falls” to see than I am presenting here. Go check it out, it is a beautiful area!
Hiking Data
Here is the route I took for today’s journey. I highly suggest not following this route, it is inefficient and likely not the best way to attack this part of the waterway. Next time I would probably just continue on from Spring Brook Falls and work my way down on the northern shoreline. Notice that road/trail in the middle of where I hiked around? Couldn’t find it in the real world but might have been obscured from large amounts of deadfall. Only way today was the long way.
Total distance over 3 miles but mostly because I took the long & easy route back. The 200 feet elevation change though is mostly with the large cliff dropping to the water below. I checked using Gaia and I really only explored a stretch of about 1/3 mile of Spring Brook; there is still about 3/4 mile upstream between where I ended and where Spring Brook Falls is that I didn’t see today.
Wow… a tough trip… thanks sincerely for posting… really enjoyed the video! Glad I did not try that venture… I would not have made it. I still think there are falls on downstream.
Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the tip-off! It is one of the more difficult areas to reach, I still think it will be easier starting from Spring Brook Falls upstream and working down. I agree there still may be more to uncover in this area – might make a journey back again this fall (just have to get work to go along with the time off).