Black Brook County Park to Random Drive:
This slice of the Apple River, southwest of Amery, offers some fun (not freaky) whitewater, served with a dollop of gentleness and languor that will appeal to both novice and seasoned paddlers.
By Denny Caneff
A Miles Paddled contributor
Rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Trip Report Date: July 21, 2024
Skill Level: Intermediate
Class Difficulty: Riffles, then two Class II drops, then flatwater.
Gauge Recorded on this Trip:
N/A
Gauge note: Curiously, there are no USGS gauges on the Apple River – none whatsoever.
Recommended Levels:
Because there’s no gauge, and any proxy gauges are too far away to be useful, the best way to judge adequate flow is to check out the river from the 45th Avenue (aka Polk County Road C) bridge. If you see frothy water AND rocks, it’s probably to low to go. Flows in the river will be affected by the operation of the hydro dam at Black Brook County Park.
Put-In:
At Black Brook County Park, Amery, Wisconsin, just below the hydro dam. (Do NOT use the nearby Black Brook boat access; that puts you into the flowage above the dam.)
GPS: 45.26371, -92.40317
Take-Out:
Random Drive, just east of Wisconsin Highway 65.
GPS: 45.26996, -92.5006
Time: Put in at 9:10p. Out at 12:10p.
Total Time: 3h
Miles Paddled: 7.5
Wildlife:
A trio of typically playful otters.
Shuttle Information:
From the put-in take 115th Street north to 45th Ave. Then head west on 45th Avenue to 150th Street. Go north on 150th Street, veer northwest on 51st Avenue, then continue west on Random Road. NOTE: keep accurate track of “Street” vs. “Avenue” in these parts, especially if you bike the shuttle. They’re very easy to confuse.
Background:
This was the second of two trips on successive days of a July weekend in 2024. I’d been curious about the Apple River for decades, all the while being aware of its infamy as a tubing stream whose epicenter is the western Wisconsin city of Somerset. I figured, correctly, that the tubing madness was limited to those lower stretches. (While tubing is not a bad way to experience a river, I just don’t want to encounter them while paddling.)
The previous day I’d paddled north and east of the city of Amery – a placid and mildly interesting piece of water that left me wanting more. Well, I definitely got more on this part of the Apple – some excitement and plenty of variety, with riffles and Class II drops at the outset that sharply contrasted with a serene zone downstream.
The doyen of small-river paddling, Frank Piraino, in his self-published book “Small River Canoe Adventures of Wisconsin” enthused somewhat hyperbolically about this piece of the Apple over 20 years ago, describing “luscious rapids” and a “ferocious drop.” It really isn’t that scary; in fact, the short whitewater sections on the Apple here might be a nice training opportunity for novice paddlers, and the rapids runs are very short (40-50 yards), meaning that if you do tip or your boat gets flooded, you face little danger immediately downstream.
Overview:
You couldn’t ask for a better put-in spot from a physical standpoint at the tiny park that sits on the right bank of the river at the hydro dam. It’s the latter’s psychic impact – put more plainly, why in the hell is this eyesore of a dam still here? – that gets me. There were no obvious signs this dam was actually generating power (it was relicensed in 2020 for probably another 20 years of operation.) Water was pouring over the dam, but not through the turbines, evidenced by a lack of turbulence at that spot in the dam. One source (from 2003) said the dam produced enough power for 600 homes. That ain’t much. It’s not as if this dam and its flowage are covering up a significant waterfall or rushing rapids, but it’s still an impediment to a free-flowing river (and don’t buy the industry’s greenwashing that hydro is green power.) My antipathy to dams is showing here, I know.
Once on the river, I stopped stewing about the dam because right from the start, the Apple demands your attention. There are pretty steady riffles all the way to the first bridge you come to (45th Avenue or County Road C). (This is the bridge I suggest you use to scout water levels.) The area here is called Little Falls, which, from the perspective of a river user, seemed an exaggeration.
Until, just a few minutes downstream of the bridge, you actually hear what sounds like a waterfall – because there is one! There’s an easy takeout spot on river left and several well-worn trails along this small falls to facilitate scouting or portaging.
The nomenclature here is confusing: this particular spot on the river is labeled “Pike’s Hole” on Google Maps. There’s a DNR fishing access from 45th Avenue, if you want to scout it before you actually encounter it on the river. I decided to go for it, even though I knew my 12-foot kayak would nosedive at the bottom – which it did, but because there’s no maelstrom to battle below the drop, I could easily get out on river left and dump out my boat.
But it’s not over! Continue about 150 yards and two dog-leg turns in the river and you’ll encounter the second Class II drop. This came up so fast that I didn’t have time to pause or scout – I just ran it. I learned, once I got through it, that I took the absolute worst path over this drop. Hit it right smack in the middle, and you should be fine. I had no time to check out whether there was enough space on either bank to scout or portage this drop, which is actually dubbed “Little Falls” on Google Maps.
In other words, I don’t know which drop is the actual Little Falls. I do know that the whole experience through here was thrilling and gratifying and not at all death-defying.
But the thrills and spills pretty much end at that point. The tasty bites of this Apple are over, but what’s left it is not without its charms. The river widens and passes along some steep sand banks down which trees inevitably slide and drop in the water. I only encountered one jam at the steepest sandy bluff and it was easy to pass under.
The sandy bank texture of the riverscape then transitions to a flatter, wider floodplain sprinkled with characteristic silver maples. This part of the river offers an ideal setting for a hot-summer-day float, with occasional gravel bars to park your boats, swill your beer and take a dip. If that’s all you want, without the whitewater, getting in at the next bridge at 150th Street is the place to start your trip. And if all you wanted from this piece of the Apple was the whitewater, then the 150th Street bridge is a good place to end your journey.
I continued to the takeout at Random Drive, just upstream from where the Apple passes under Wisconsin Highway 65. A flotilla of slow-moving kayaks had just got on the river, suggesting that what follows is more languid paddling. (If I hadn’t seen them, I’d have detected their presence anyway, as they left behind a cloud of sunscreen smell.)
What I liked:
I loved the whitewater stretches; they are short (and therefore relatively safe to run) and add an extra dose of cinnamon and nutmeg to this slice of the Apple. The contrast of the whitewater bit upstream and the more placid bit downstream provided a full menu of paddling experiences.
Moreover, all the accesses on this trip were easy and open – and free of poison ivy!
This section was a stark contrast to the upstream piece of Apple River that I paddled the previous day, but taken together, (though not on the same day) the two segments offer a most agreeable two-day paddling adventure.
What I didn’t like:
The tail end of this trip, especially after the 150th Street bridge, got a bit monotonous for my tastes.
If I did this trip again:
I’d try to run in slightly higher water – more thrills and, paradoxically, less dangerous, as you would simply fly over those falls. But that would require a spray skirt (an open canoe in higher water would be really risky, IMO.)
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Related Information:
Apple River I: Black Brook County Park to Random Drive
Camping: Apple River Park & Campground
General: The City of Amery
Wikipedia: Apple River
Photo Gallery:
1 Comment
MarkL
August 24, 2024 at 6:38 pmThe river below Random Drive is flatwater until you get to Star Prairie, then it is whitewater until Johanessburg. There is a gauge on the Apple near Somerset which is downstream a bit. I’d say 800 and increasing to 1000 cfs and falling is prime making heavy class 1 and light class 2 in places. 13 or 1400 and more is likely flooding.