Chippewa Valley Outdoor Adventures

Before you take to the trails, rip through your favorite local waterways, or climb any sort of mountain, it’s important to make sure of what you’re doing. While you’re gearing up, check out this section as a way to prepare for your ultimate journey. Be safe, be strong, and be adventurous!

25 Hiking Trails in the Chippewa Valley

Flip thru 25 trails with this Web-App by Volume One. Includes aerial images, Satellite Google Maps, directions, trail maps, photos, and descriptions.

Places & Resources

Camping 18

Great camping sites throughout the Chippewa Valley

Canoeing & Kayaking 12

where to buy kayaking equipment

Hiking & Biking Trails 32

A path to the area's many hiking and biking paths

Recreation Organizations 41

how to get involved in the outdoors

Getting Out on the Gravel

Gravel biking is gaining popularity. Here’s why – and where to go

Gravel biking on low-traffic, off-grid, unpaved gravel roads has been growing in popularity in the last several years. More and more cyclists have been drawn to it because it offers a different kind of biking experience. While gravel roads and bikes have both ...

ROOTS RUN DEEP: Putnam Park Day Celebration To Explore Local Natural History

trolley rides around park to showcase what Putnam Park has to offer on May 5

This historical exploration event will lead attendees through the 230-acre Putnam Park to explore the deep-rooted history of the park and Eau Claire. Routes of the tour will be shared for individuals to use for personal walks or group trolley rides around the ...

TIME TO CLIMB: Midwest Mountain Guides Offers Guided Rock Climbing Courses

it's never been easier to get into mountain climbing in Wisconsin and Minnesota

If you’ve ever seen someone rock climbing and thought, “That looks fun, but I could never do something like that,” – think again. Midwest Mountain Guides is a locally owned and operated climbing guide service aimed to make rock climbing accessible to anyone ...

Hunting for Night Crawlers: A Necessary Part of Fishing Opener Ritual

catching trout begins with catching worms

To the uninitiated, “trout fishing” probably conjures up idyllic images: an angler chest deep in a rushing stream, gently sweeping a wispy fly rod back and forth, rolling out line tipped with a feathery fly as trout fairly leap out of the water in anticipation ...

SCENIC STROLL: Half Moon Lake Boardwalk Completion to Be Celebrated

April 20 ribbon cutting will mark fruition of decades-long vision

For the first time since their development in the early 1900s, Eau Claire’s Carson and Rod & Gun Parks will be connected thanks to the new Half Moon Lake Boardwalk Trail. Proposed by the City’s Engineering and Parks Departments nearly two years ago, the project ...

America’s Newest National Park Runs Through the Chippewa Valley

1,200-mile Ice Age Trail gets new title from the feds, and more funding may follow

The Ice Age National Scenic Trail was officially declared a national park on Dec. 7 by the National Park System. The 1,200-mile-long trail – which zig-zags through some of the state’s best scenery along the edge of the last continental glacier – was one of three scenic ...

Two Days on the River: Fishing the Eau Claire Across 50 Years

the river can change, but so can the fisherman

Back in 1972, I was a sophomore at UW-Eau Claire. Like many at that time, I was pretty clueless about what direction my life would take, just content to be in college and not Vietnam or working a grueling paper mill job like many of my buddies. One thing I did ...

Ori’s Bench: Honoring a Professor and Conservationist Who Love the Woods

Orrin Rongstad and his family made countless memories along Coon Fork Creek

There is a pool on Coon Fork Creek, just downstream from Coon Fork County Park in eastern Eau Claire County, where the creek slows and deepens momentarily, bordered by sandstone bluffs. It is a natural fishing hole, but also a scenic spot for hikers and skiers ...