Villa Mann Creek
W.Whitaker Ave. to Wilson Park Creek (0.57 mi.)
| Difficulty | II |
| Length | 0.57 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Wilson Park Creek @ Gmia Outfall 7 @ Milwaukee,wi |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 1 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | October 13, 2025 |
River Description
Quick Facts
Location: Just off Interstate 894/94/43 near 27th Street between Layton and Howard Avenues
Put-in: '2200 W.Bottsford Ave, Milwaukee'
Take-out: '4050 S.13th Street, Milwaukee'
Shuttle Length/Drive-Time: 1.8 miles/6 minutes.
Character: Cement ditch, with three 'hydraulic jumps', one or two 'slides', and divided box culverts!
Average width: 5-10'
Gradient: 30' of drop in ~0.555 mile, for an equivalent of 55 FPM
Drainage at listed put-in: ~1.14 sq.mi. (Yes, extremely small!)
Gauging: Better be able to get here while it's still raining (or IMMEDIATELY thereafter) or you've missed it!
General Description
This section is on the MMSD (Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District) website of area streams to be 'restored' to a somewhat more natural condition. The cement will be removed, the stream will be meandered (where possible), and floodplain areas will be created (again, where possible).
Until that happens, this little creek has a few 'hydraulic jumps' which could provide minor entertainment when the area gets significant rainfall. Unfortunately, all of the box culverts have a vertical cement beam in dead-center-stream, often immediately downstream of a 'jump', so you can't come off the jump dead-center!
Being a narrow cement ditch with virtually no eddies makes this what I like to call 'point-and-shoot-boating'! Once you slide into the water, you are pretty much committed to going where the flow takes you! For any sort of peace of mind (and for your safety!) this means you really need to thoroughly scout most (all!) of the run before putting on! Look at each of the road crossings to see that there's enough width of flow to allow you to angle away fr
...River Features
Put-in
The section name fibs just a little when it says 'Whitaker Avenue' -- that is the turn-off from S.27th Street.
Follow Whitaker east (to its end), then turn onto a short dead-end stub of W.Bottsford Avenue.
Park in that stub and carry down among the scrub/shrubbery to the creek.
Look downstream before you put on to ensure passage is clear through this brief narrow tree-lined area before the cement ditch begins!
Plainfield Jump
Just before the box culverts passing under Plainfield Avenue, there is a short 'hydraulic jump'.
You'll need to be charging either left or right, to avoid head-on piton into the center divider of the box culvert.
While a wave/hole may form here (at some flows), the presence of the center divider barely a boat-length downstream largely makes any attempt to play here unlikely and inadvisable.
Rec Center Jump
Not far below Plainfield Avenue, there lies the next short 'hydraulic jump'.
It may be possible (at some flows) to eddy quick and play a wave here (if one exists, depending on flows).
Just downstream, a bit of brushy shrubbery has sprung up in center-channel where the cement has failed. This may complicate passage at times. Also, between here and 20th Avenue, much of the stretch has trees with branches low to the water. You will either do some 'kung fu fighting' (using your paddle to fend-off the branches), or (with enough water) you may be able to paddle around them over the grassy banks!
20th Street Jump
Just before 20th Street lies the next short 'hydraulic jump'. As with the Plainfield Avenue Jump, the box culvert is divided at the center, so charge right or left to avoid headheading/pitoning on it.
It may be possible to eddy quick and play a wave/hole here (at some flows, though odds are strongly against that).
Wilson Slide
As Villa Mann Creek meets Wilson Park Creek, there is a second sloping cement ramp.
More often than not, it is likely that flow in Wilson Park Creek will be high enough to totally 'swallow up' this sloping ramp. Otherwise, there may be a bit of a slide into a bit of a wave/hole, where some minor play may be possible.
Take-out: Pedestrian Bridge
Not far downstream on Wilson Park Creek, as soon as you see a pedestrian bridge, do your best to find slackwater/eddy at either shore to take out.
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Wilson Park Creek is (presently) cement ditch from here to its confluence with the Kinnickinnic River.
It goes underground for 0.2 mile as it passes under Point Loomis Shopping plaza (between Loomis Road and Morgan Avenue at 27th Street). It has no vertical 'jumps' in the 1.53 miles from here until near 30th & Euclid Avenue, where it slips down a short steep slide into a quarter-mile-long underground culvert.
As it exits that culvert (out from under the northwest corner ofAurora/St.Lukes Medical Center) it slips down another short slide into the cement channel of the Kinnickinnic River.
Trip Reports
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