Amy's Creative Pursuits: A Fall Hike In Irvine Park and Hoffman Hills

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

A Fall Hike In Irvine Park and Hoffman Hills

The past few weeks I've been sharing about our fall adventures. We spent a few weekends away visiting small towns and attending fall festivals.

This will be my final fall post, and then I will move onto winter adventures! I've learned a long time ago if you want to survive a Wisconsin winter, you have to get out and play in it.

Today's fall hike is different than my usual fall adventures because I went with a friend and not my husband. My friend lives about an hour from me so we don't get together often. She suggested we go for a fall hike then have lunch and shopping in the sweet little town of Chippewa Falls. I was all up for that as it involved all my favorite activities: hiking, food, and shopping!

Irvine Park

My friend took me to Irvine Park which unbeknownst to me is filled with a lot of gorgeous hiking trails! I have been to this park so many times, but I have never hiked. We always went to the zoo, the play ground, the pool, or enjoyed the Rotary Club's Christmas Light Show.

I was truly shocked at how incredible the trails were and all the gorgeous fall color. I said to my "And to think we always drive hours away to hike and see color, and I could just hike in my own backyard?"

The park has an old cave which is now sealed off. It use to be a storage area to keep beer cold. I've also heard stories how it use to house the zoos bears, but I'm not sure if that's true.

I always love trails that have a water view. Our trail today took us all along the river.

They added some new attractions to the park like this gorgeous curved, metal and wood bridge!

The Glen Loch Dam was built in 1875 by a lumber company to power a sawmill and later a flour mill. Today it is just a picturesque waterfall.

At the end of our trail we reached Glen Loch Lake which had lots of beautiful private homes on it's shoreline.

On our return trip we saw and heard a beautiful blue heron swoop down from the sky to get some water.

Another view of the dam.

I loved how we were able to walk alongside a creek for most of the trail.

Getting the timing right for a fall hike can be tricky. And I always find those "Peak Fall Color Maps" to be highly inaccurate. This was my second to last fall hike for the year, and although there was a lot of color left on the trees, a lot of leaves had already fallen to the ground. But I love that too! I think a trail looks so pretty covered in leaves, and I love the crunchy sound when I step on them.

Hoffman Hills

The following weekend my husband and I went to Hoffman Hills after church. We go there every year as they have a nice viewing tower to see the fall foliage.

It was a beautiful sunny day and the trail was covered with fallen leaves.

The colors were past peak by the time we arrived. I mentioned in previous fall posts from this year, that we didn't get a lot of fall color. The colors were late and very muted.