1st Place: Chippewa River
2nd Place: Lake Wissota
3rd Place: Chippewa-Eau Claire Confluence

Whenever it comes to bodies of water around these parts, we never need to think further than the Chippewa River, that massive meandering body that provides a gorgeous viewshed from Eau Claire’s downtown, university, farmers market, bike paths, and trails, flowing all the way to the mighty Mississippi. In second, you thought of man-made Lake Wissota, perhaps because of the fishing but more than likely because Leonardo DiCaprio mistakenly mentioned it in Titanic before it even existed. In third, you once again returned your thoughts to the Chippewa River, this time where it specifically meets the Eau Claire River. The confluence is near Phoenix Park, where hundreds of people launch their tubes in summer, but previous to the park hardly anyone visited the merging point thought to be an industrial site. – Trevor Kupfer