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| Reachable either via river or about a mile hike on a marked trail off of Halls Lake Road (back-country dirt/gravel often little-better-than-one-lane path through the forest), La Salle Falls begins with a series of bedrock intrusions forming waves and holes (seen in photos above and below left). In any other river or in any other location, these might provide great play. However, the presence of the main drop just downstream would punish any mistakes above rather severely. Look closely at the photo below right and you may be able to discern the horizon line between the 'narrows' in the rock (barely detectable against the foamy water in the 'pool' below). |
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Looking back up at the falls from below (above left) one can appreciate the force of the flow down this steep slide into a (potentially powerful) hole in the large pool at the base of the falls.
Flowing out of the pool, the river resumes an easterly direction as it courses through a quarter-mile of low-grade (class I-II) rapids in a rocky dells before resuming its more gentle nature as it soon flows into the Pine River Flowage. |
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At the end of the flowage (mentioned in the description above) lies Pine Dam. The entire flow of the river is generally diverted into a side-channel to be passed into a pipe and through the turbines in a powerplant downstream. The natural river channel, thus normally dewatered, holds considerable drop and quite interesting bedrock features which would make an intense (if quite brief) section of whitewater for advanced boaters. A 'release study' (the first in the Upper Midwest) was conducted here, and (while no recreational releases were secured as a result) the power company has agreed to schedule removal of the dam when the license expires (about the year 2020 or 2025).
A 'rubble field' of rock litters the trickle of water from the base of the dam (photo above right). |
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| Looking downstream (above left) one sees the horizon line, and a warning sign suspended from cables strung high across the river. Coming back to view this area at high water (right photo), we saw the sign nearly hanging in the water! |
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| Looking upriver from the base of the first pitch (above left) one sees a great sequence of cascades and brief pools which forms the intial sequence. At high water (above right), this turned into a horrendous looking hole. |
Stones caught in whirlpools in ancient glacial melt flows 'drilled' numerous interesting 'kettles' into the bedrock. These can be seen on river-left at normal (low) flow.
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| The 'second pitch' (above left and right) contains another great series of ledges, slides, and brief pools. The last larger ledge (if I recall correctly) contains a rock in the landing zone (the 'black spot' at the left of the left photo below) which would be best avoided. Again, the photo below right shows the area at high water, when it also formed what appeared to be an inescapable hole. |
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The third (and final) pitch (above left) is a sweet, low-angle slide which could be run pretty much where the main flow takes you. I was rather surprised to see that at high water (above right) this still looked rather boney!
Below this the river tames to class I-II to the powerhouse, then resumes its more gentle 'wild and scenic' nature for the rest of its course to the Menominee River. Note: Vidcaps (photos) of 'high water' were at 3420cfs on 2002.04.21. |