Rock River Canyon Wilderness

From west to east, the remote waterways of Rock River and Silver Creek flow through 150-foot-deep canyons, separated by a broad, flat ridge and surrounded by relatively flat uplands. Second-growth northern hardwoods stand here alongside stumps from logging operations that denuded the area by the end of the 1930s. In spring, Rock River leaps about 15 feet over Rock River Falls into a pool, pouring into Ginpole Lake, a secluded 13-acre body of water bordered by canyon walls. The waters offer anglers rainbow, brown and brook trout, coho salmon, and northern pike. Beyond the lake, Rock River joins Silver Creek and together they flow out of the Wilderness toward Lake Superior. Wildlife is typical of a northern hardwood forest and may include deer, bear, beaver, mink, muskrat, raccoon, squirrel, hare, woodpecker, and grouse, as well as several songbirds. Access is generally easy on foot via unmarked trails following old logging roads, skid trails, and abandoned railroad grades that crisscross the uplands. Within the two canyons are steep walls, densely vegetated with brush and undergrowth and wet at the bottom; the fragile sandstone walls support a diversity of unique plants, and climbing is discouraged. Along the canyon edges, sandstone undercuts form caves up to 40 feet deep, and in winter incredible ice curtains can form when water seeps over the edge and freezes.