PUTNAM PARK DAY VIEWS. Get outside and explore in celebration of Putnam Park Day on Sunday, May 4. Jim Hoeppner, pictured, will lead a group bike ride to a number of scenic and historic spots. (Submitted photo)

Shinrin-yoku, the Japanese term for forest bathing, or connecting with nature, can be achieved seconds from civilization in Putnam Park near the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus and Eau Claire’s Third Ward Neighborhood.

Residents of this area can enjoy the sights and sounds of the natural world surrounding them in their neighborhood. Recently this spring, Canadian goose and a baby beaver were swimming in Little Niagara Creek; two pileated woodpeckers drummed back and forth high up in the trees claiming their territory; and a juvenile fox trotted right down the middle of Putnam Drive, the dirt road of the park.

To celebrate this hidden jewel of Eau Claire, Putnam Park Day will be celebrated on Sunday, May 4, with a one-hour bike ride starting at 1pm. Jim Hoeppner, a Third Ward resident and director of The Friends of Putnam Park organization, will lead the ride.

The bike route will begin and end in Visitor Lot B next to the Flesch Family Welcome Center on the UW-Eau Claire campus. During the ride, Hoeppner plans to stop at three locations of historical interest: two paths and a former fish hatchery.

To reach upper campus, many UW-Eau Claire students scale the steep hill at the end of Garfield Avenue, or climb the outdoor wooden staircase across from the W.R. Davies Student Center to reach nearby dorms and the UW-Eau Claire McPhee Physical Education Center (McPhee).

During the Putnam Park Day bike ride, Hoeppner will reveal two not-so-well-known ways to get up the Putnam Park hillside.

One path, just west of the tunnel underneath State Street, is rather hidden. It has 15 deteriorating plank steps leading to a dirt path. This route has a deep-rooted history, initially established by the Native nations who resided in Eau Claire. It is recognized by the Wisconsin Archaeological Society and documented on their "Wisconsin Indian Trails Map."

UW-Eau Claire recognizes its occupation of sacred ancestral lands, specifically of the Ojibwe and Dakota Nations. Later, it was renamed Old Mondovi Road, and today ends behind the McPhee Center near Simpson Field.

The "Wisconsin Indian Trails Map" as shared by the Wisconsin Archaeological Society.

The other path, close to the end of Putnam Drive, has been a route to Memorial High School for generations of Third Ward families. Currently, there are over 100 steps with dirt treads and treated wood risers.

They lead to two trail heads: one behind the First Presbyterian Church (2112 Rudolph Rd.) and the other behind The Bridge Church (1210 E. Clairemont Ave.) in Eau Claire. The history of this path is somewhat clouded; According to Roy Hoff Sr., a local history buff.

Some early steps were long split logs, and one still exists there today. Viewers can observe a Wisconsin Conservation Corps seal appears off to the side of one of the lower steps.

The final stop on the Putnam Park Day ride will be the former Brook Trout fish hatchery, originally constructed in 1927 for $4,000 with a capacity of one million fingerlings. The hatchery closed in 1930 and was reopened in 1937. However, it was permanently closed two years later in 1939, coinciding with the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II.

In 2019, Third Ward residents and others formed The Friends of Putnam Park, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of the 230-acre parkland and animal habitat. Owned by the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and managed by UW-Eau Claire and the City of Eau Claire, Putnam Park was donated in 1909 by lumberman Henry C. Putnam, who saw its potential as a natural area to be preserved for a botanical laboratory and park. He sought to protect all game animals, birds, and fish, and encourage their growth and propagation.

The Putnam Park Day bike ride is free to attend, beginning promptly at 1pm on Sunday, May 4, beginning at Visitor Lot B next to the Flesh Family Welcome Center (127 Roosevelt Ave., Eau Claire).

For more information about the Friends of Putnam Park and Putnam Park Day (Sunday, May 4) visit www.friendsofputnampark.org. View the bike ride's route map and contact information at volumeone.org.