The Great Pinery Heritage Waterway starts at the Hat Rapids Dam in Oneida County ending 108 miles later at Lake DuBay Dam in Portage County.
It takes paddlers over rapids, through pine and hardwood forests, and along the Ice Age Trail.
Since making the stretch a waterway, counties, various groups, and people have worked to make it access as possible.
Launches have been improved, including making some ADA accessible. Signage has been added about the river and its history. An online guide gives people segments suggestions with clear put in and take out points as well as difficulty ratings.
“Our goal in the Great Pinery was to basically take this asset that we have and provide easy access and way making for paddlers,” said Visit Wausau Executive Director Tim White. “It was exhaustive mapping of the river, but also we got the historical societies of counties involved, Lincoln and Marathon County. We reached out to a number of the indigenous tribes as well.”
About 20 miles of the Great Pinery Heritage Waterway was recently designated as a National Recreation Trail by the Department of Interior.
White says the national recognition helps bring people to the area and highlights how significant the Wisconsin River is.
“It just raises the profile. There are people that are making, you know, bucket lists. ‘I want to do these national parks. I want to do these national trails,’” said White.
White says signage with the National Parks logo will be going up.
The Great Pinery Heritage Trail joins a network of more than 1,300 existing National Recreation Trails in the U.S.
