Chippewa River State Trail: Caryville to Meridean
A bicycle ride on the Chippewa River State Trail from Caryville to Meridean offers a relaxing tour through the scenic countryside. A small trailhead in Caryville serves the basic needs of cyclists. It contains a parking lot, information kiosk, self-registration station, and restrooms. It is located off Wisconsin State Highway 85, and is 11 miles from Eau Claire. Next to the trailhead is Luer’s, small-town grocery store with a variety of goods.
Caryville is a small community in Dunn County. It was founded in the mid-19th century. In its heyday, it had a train station, post office, and Pony Express office. The nearby Caryville ferry crossed the Chippewa River from 1910 to 1964, when a bridge was finally built.
From Caryville to Meridean, the surface of the Chippewa River Trail is oil-based asphalt emulsion. It is in fair condition. The trail borders two state natural areas. Each one offers splendid views of the river valley. Immediately after leaving Caryville, the trail runs along the edge of the Lower Chippewa State Natural Area. It winds through peaceful thick forests and crosses Coon Creek. After leaving the natural area, the trail continues through forests. It travels close to the Chippewa River around a large bend, and alongside a high, shaded bluff.
After 3.5 miles, the Chippewa River State Trail again passes closely between the bluff and the river’s bank. Brush Island comes into view at this place. The island is home to Caryville Savanna State Natural Area. It contains oak barrens on the low, sandy soil. The preserve protects prairie grasses and groves of various oaks: bur, white, black, and Hill’s oaks.
Continuing past Brush Island, the trail departs the river’s edge. It passes by forests on the north side of the trail, and farmland to the south. In late summer, fields of sunflowers may be seen through the trees surrounding the trail.
It is 2 miles from Brush Island to Meridean. From Caryville, Meridean is 6.7 miles down the trail. The trailhead is located at the junction of 730th Street. It has a picnic table, cooking grill, and information kiosk. Just west of 730th Street, and on the trail, is a historical marker about the community’s past.
To access the trailhead by car, travel on Wisconsin State Highway 85 from Caryville. County Road O intersects the state highway at two places. Turn left (north) on County Road O at its first or second intersection; both arrive in Meridean. From the county road in Meridean, take 730th Street north a short distance to the trailhead parking lot.
From its origins in 1863 on nearby Happy Island, Meridean was a busy lumbering town in the 1880s. The thriving community contained sawmills, a post office, school, church, store, ferry, and 135 people. Its success was dependent upon the power of the Chippewa River. The town’s name is said to have come from Mary Dean, the daughter of a lumber baron who died in this area while traveling upriver in a steamboat with her mother to join her father.
Map of trailheads and addresses along this section of the trail.
After the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad built a railway along the south side of the river, Meridean began to die out. Throughout the 1890s, businesses, residents, and the post office moved to a new emerging settlement on the south bank of the river along the rail line. Trade changed from lumbering to farming. Now the original Meridean on Happy Island is just a ghost town. The boat landing at the end of 730th Street is all that remains of where for 50+ years, a ferry carried people across the Chippewa River to Happy Island.
Trail last ridden and documented in September, 2020.
