May 3, 1997 Hamilton Falls, Dell's Pond, Lake Eau Claire, Beaver Creek Reserve

The flea market was closed so we didn't even stop. We'd been driving thru woods and wetlands, but now it was field after field of treeless, rolling hillside. Farm after farm. You could see dozens of farms from any one spot as they covered the landscape out to the horizon. This is unusual for northern Wisconsin. Usually all you see when your driving are trees. The land then changed rapidly again as Jack pines became the main vegetation. Jack pines like a sandy soil and often occur in pure stands as they are the first species to propagate after a forest fire kills everything else. The fire actually helps the Jack Pine cones open up and eject the seed. Many jack pine cones can remain tightly sealed upon the tree for years before opening in the heat. The map had showed "Hamilton Falls" directly ahead. I'd never heard of the place but since we were in the area, I thought we might as well check it out. We soon came upon an old weathered sign that said, "Wilson Memorial Park" and another that said, "Hamilton Falls." The road was now pure sand and getting narrower by the minute. As we drove past the entrance to the park, continuing on to the falls, the road became rutted and one lane. Interesting. Soon, several parked cars indicated we had reached our destination. Off we went, hiking down the hill towards the river. We were slightly upstream of the falls but we could hear water rushing ahead, around the bend. The sun was shining brightly, but a cool wind brought a chill to any shady spot along the river. The falls turned out to be an intrusion of harder rock stretching across the river, making a drop of only a few feet. It was very scenic, but on a small scale. Evidence showed it to be a popular fishing spot and probably great place to come to cool off on a hot summer's day. The map showed we were only a few miles north of "Dell's Pond", a well preserved millhouse and dam. It's sudden appearance took me by surprise as I was assuming it would be on the south end of the pond. I was wrong, it was on the north end. I wish we could have taken the tour, but they wanted $7 a person and we didn't feel like spending $28. We wanted to stop at the nearby Beaver Creek Nature Reserve again and spend our money there, as it would be supporting something we believe in. We had been to Beaver Creek for the first time just two weeks ago and had found excellent nature exhibits and hiking trails. It is also home to the Hobbs Observatory, which is often the subject of local TV 13 news stories. We ended up buying a family membership for only $20 a year. Not a bad deal. And after our ten percent discount, we saved almost six dollars on our merchandise. Nature stuff, ya know? A t-shirt with frogs. On sale. Two walls plaques of pond life; a frog scene and a turtle scene. On sale. A very cute, fuzzy fox that my daughter Amber just HAD TO have, and seeing as how I owed her money, I couldn't say no. It was going for a good cause. We hiked the ridge trail today and picked up a LOT of wood ticks. They were crawling all over us. Almost nothing was growing as yet, no leaves on the trees and only a scattering of spring wildflowers here and there. Aside from the wood ticks we weren't bothered by any other insects and that was nice. The interpretive nature center was closed by the time we were done hiking but we ate a snack at an outdoor picnic table before we left. Had the place to ourselves. We started for home, but headed for another unexplored park that was in our path. A medium size dam created Lake Eau Claire on the Eau Claire river just a few miles northwest of the Beaver Creek Reserve. A nice little park on the south side of the dam has facilities and picnic areas. The dam itself is fenced off for safety on this side, but there were fisher men and women on the other side and that looked like a fun place to hike, so we drove around to the north bank, found a one lane road leading thru the woods, and climbed down the rocks to the base of the dam. The water curled over the lip of the top, forming a living sheet that dropped and slid off the curved slide of concrete forming the downstream dam face. I love the feel and smell of the mist. A sluice gate on the other side of the dam left some of the water burst from the lower depths of the lake. This cooler, denser water must be mixed with the warmer surface water that comes over the top.

Back to homepage