Chippewa River in Wisconsin

Trip Overview

Dropped off my kayak at Hobbs Landing in Eau Claire, WI right off where Menomonie St. turns into Water St. I chained my kayak to a tree and drove out on Hwy 37 to Porterville Landing. I parked my truck there and biked back to Hobbs on the Chippewa River Bike Trail which is nearly connects the two landings. It was about a 30 minute bike back to Hobbs landing and about a 1 and a half hour paddle back.

This 4.6 mile stretch of the Chippewa River has lots of bigger islands that would be fun to camp on (not sure the legal status on that) The shores are mostly rocky with a couple of them being nice sand bars. Only seen one fishing boat the entire paddle and no party barges or speedboats cruising through, so that was nice.

Towards the end of the trip you can see Silver Mine ski jump off to the right. It's right across from the Porterville landing so it's a good landmark to know when to start heading towards the left side of the river. About halfway there's a bigger bay on the left with a nice area and picnic table to stop at. I believe it connects to the bike trail as well.

As far as wildlife there was lots of mallards at the beginning and an eagle towards the end. A deer crossed my path and scared the shit out of me while I was biking back to Hobbs.

The whole trip with driving, biking, and kayaking took about 3 hours or so. So its a nice short run if you are paddling solo. The Porterville landing has picnic tables and grills and a nice cement landing.

If you wanted to go further there is another landing 6.4 miles down the river on the right side at Hwy H bridge near Caryville, WI. I believe the bike trail runs near it but you would have to do some biking down Hwy 85 to get to it. Google maps says it would take about an hour to get back to Hobbs landing from H bridge. All and all a nice little trip.

Accommodations:

Parking at both Hobbs and Porterville. There's a port-a-potty at Porterville landing along with some picnic tables and grills.

Fees:

No fees at Hobbs Landing or Porterville landing

Launches:

Hobbs Landing

Porterville Landing