Hiking in Wisconsin

“Are there others on this forum that hike in Wisconsin?

I am from Chicagoland and have been reaching out in about a 6 mile drive-time radius from my home. So far I have hiked the Jerry Lake segment of the Ice Age Trail and the area near Wildcat Mound in the Black River National Forest. They are all hikes documented in "Hiking Wisconsin" by Eric Hansen (outstanding book).

I would be interested to know if there are others that hike in Wisconsin and what areas they might recommend. I do mostly multi-night backpacking trips and not a lot of day hiking. Eric's book has what look to be a lot of great hikes in both categories.

Oh, I posted pictures of both hikes on the Pictures section of this web site. I can strongly recommend both hikes. The Jerry Lake Segment and Chippewa Lobe may be a but much for beginners. The "Wildcat Mound" hike and especially the Weber/Dike 17 Flowage/Wildlife Refuge would be good for anyone (but pack a lot of water on the ski trails). Enjoy!
last edited: 8/01/05 7:40:12 PM”

“there are quite a few on here from Chicago, northern Ind, Wisc and Minn”

“Hey, don't forget me, I'm within a "6-mile" (me thinks you meant "hour") radius of Chicago. I've had a trip at Yellow River State Forest in northeast Iowa already and a canoe trip on the Upper Iowa... AND someone else set up a trip to Black River Forest this year:

http://community.webshots.com/album/330724955czeidz

check any of my photo albums on Webshots that relate to the Midwest for hiking in the area.

Welcome!! Are you Brad Pitt?

LOL! A very special welcome to you then. ;-)
last edited: 8/01/05 9:07:12 PM”

“The trip report:
http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/37841,-1.php

I see you posted you had to apply in person for the permits. Not true. Almost all of us applied over the phone and had them faxed to us, fyi.

We ran Eric Hansen's route in reverse, starting at the observation tower. (I'd still like a GPS coordinate to where his "trail" meets the real trail on Wildcat Mound.)

Alas, it was just a two nighter. Kinda hilly, huh? lol”

“There are some sweet places to hike in Wisconsin up north. The Nicolet National Forest is my favorite plave to hike. Also, you can raft the wolf river. It is not West Virginia, but you can get loaded up before the first rapid and coast all the way home.

Good to have you on board.”

“lizs, thanks for the warm welcome. I am pretty far from Brad, sorry to say. I did really enjoy looking at your webshots and have to laugh. When I was researching my Black River Falls trip I stumbled across your photos through Google. So I actually had seen them before.

When I called to get a permit I was told very strongly that I had to apply in person. The form they had me fill out made a carbon copy (and I got the copy). The parking pass was a 1/2 sheet of paper. I sure wish they would have let me apply via FAX because I had to make a mad dash to Black River Falls to get the permit.

Wonder if the season had anything to do with it? I was there a few weeks ago and I am betting it's prime season for car campers and the offices are staffed then. You look like you might have gone when the weather was colder.

There was a burn ban on during my hike, which was a bummer. They let me use my little pop can stove, but nothing else. It's been so dry, tinder dry. Then I got caught in a major thunderstorm (on the flowage no less!) and was pretty wet. A fire would have felt good that second night!

All is well that ends well, I guess.

I am planning a trip in September to Marengo River / Porcupine Lake, again per Eric's book, near Mellen in Chequamegon National Forest. I am really looking forward to this one.

I had no troubles getting to the road and back to the trail with a compass, but I had to make a little arrow out of birch twigs to mark the spot where I came out of the forest. I would get turned around for sure if I relied on my memory. It _has_ happened before ... :)
last edited: 8/02/05 12:27:10 AM”

“i was at the doctors office yesterday and read a cool article in midwestern living magazine (not sure of the name but it was midwestern something) about a 27 mile trial that goes through Perrot state park and other areas in the Trempealeau area that looked pretty cool...there's an island in the mississippi that's part of this area and a wildlife area

good luck finding the article though...when i was done i turned the mag over to see that it was the may-june issue from last year”

“Never been there and I have never heard of this magazine! I have heard of Perrot State Park:

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/regions/wcr/perrot.html

The trail you are talking about I have for sure heard of. It's the Great River State Trail:

http://www.rivervalleynewspapers.com/biketrails/greatriver.php

This 24-mile rail bed trail winds its way through the Mississippi River bottom lands north from Onalaska through Trempealeau, Perrot State Park, and the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge. Hike, touring bike, ski, snowmobile. C/o P.O. Box 407, Trempealeau 54661. (608) 534-6409.

I'll look into this, thanks!”

“not sure if this is the article i read or not but it's similar and from the same mag:

http://www.midwestliving.com/mwl/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/mwl/story/data/StrollinOnTheRiver_04122005.xml”

“It's basically a biking trail. Never done it, but I've seen parts (am 1 hour east of La Crosse and Trempealeau) Never done Perrot either, although I know it has a nasty uphill trail, probably short.

You might see migrating swans there in the fall. Alma, WI, just north of there, has a viewing location set up where the Buffalo River meets the Miss.”

“I have my September and October hikes planned out, but not November and December. I am not sure about November because of Hunting season. I haven't hiked in the Wisconsin Winter. Are there any favorite places?

In September I am going on the North County Trail near Mellen for about 46 miles round trip. I am really looking forward to this trip and am taking time off from work to drive up there and hike. So it's a real investment for me.

I am returning to the Ice Age Trail in October (Jerry Lake Segment/Chippewa Lobe ... I posted pics of my last hike there), prior to the 15th after which I find the weather gets goofy in Wisconsin. That assumes there is no conflict with hunting season because the Ice Age Trail is closed during this time.

I barely survived July and am skipping August unless I can stuff a weekend in there somewhere.

The scouts my son is in usually do a camp out in December to ski and stay in cabins. I'll prolly do this as well and offer to teach winter camping. See if I can get a bunch of 12 year olds to make a snow cave while I stand next to a fire, and then I get to sleep in it while they crash in the cabin.”

“Check with Wisconsin DNR about hunting seasonS. I recently discovered that hunting in some DNR controlled areas can be nearly year 'round.

Also, a couple years ago, several of us were day-hiking in Southern Kettle Moraine during deer hunting season. I thought it was a no-hunt area. As we were nearing the car, we came around a bend and there were 3 hunters in blaze orange cradling rifles. Won't repeat what I said, wearing my brown coat.

After we got back to the car, stopped off at the Ranger Station to find out that I was wrong. Wisconsin DNR land is "multi-use."

Check with the DNR.”

“Whoa. I did not know that. Thanks ...

I think I may seek to brighten my hiking wardrobe ...”

“I picked up a book the other week. 50 hikes in Wisconsin. None of them were long enough for a real trip. What are your favorites. I just moved into the area.

Thanks in advance”

“Although I returned to the state 3 years ago I haven't done much hiking on the traditional trails that you can read about. Generally I just get up early in the morning and wander the ski, ATV and snowmobile trails in the area. There are lots of them and pretty much underutilized.

Although it's not in Wisconsin, I really love the Superior Hiking Trail along the northshore of Lake Superior. When I thru hiked it last summer it was 205 miles, but now it is about 240, extending from just north of Duluth to 20 miles north of Grand Marais. Many excellent day and section hikes. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is only about 180 miles north of where I live (northern Wi) and has many excellent primitive trails, with some lakes that can only be hiked to...so good fishing, I think.”

“Thanks, I'll check it out. Does the NCT hit Wisconsin?”

“Just north of Wisconsin is Sylvania Wilderness--about 10 miles west of Watersmeet (Intersection of Highways US 2 & US 45). Largely canoe area, but trails rim the lakes,with back country campsites. One could spend several days hiking or canoeing.”

“Funny, I move to IL and still the best hikes are in Michigan. :-)”

“The NCT goes thru WI. some nice long stretches, Also the Ice Age trail. Firebug who posts here is our chapter president for the NCT Heritage chapter. Also Black River State Forest you can combine loops for some nice miles”

“isn't the Ice Age Trail long?”

“parts of it are. Like the NCT it's not completed but there are long sections”

“spalpeen - I haven't found any long completed sections yet! I was on the Ice Age Trail website. Any other resources?”

“The North Country Trail through the Chequamegon has a section that has about 50 miles completed.

Website for that chapter is:

http://www.northcountrytrail.org/che/index.htm


You can purchase maps for that section from the main website for the North Country Trail.

http://www.northcountrytrail.org/”

“Thanks firebug!”

“I was just going to plan a trip to hike that section on Labor Day weekend, but I just signed up for Liz's South Dakota trip instead
last edited: 8/10/05 5:48:58 PM”

“Looks like I will be on that trip too”

“wonder why ;)”

“cuz it's a hike?”

“Is it getting Rawky in here?”

“Is this the Wisconsin Hiker page? I'm in Glenwood City, where is everyone else at?”

“We just wish we were in Wisconsin.

But you're in the Twin Cities area. I don't know if that counts as being in Wisconsin.”

“Whoa now, hang on.... Those are extreme fighting words. I am a cheddarhead who has to put up with Minnesotans every single weekend..... It gets old to say the least.”

“LMBO

Then how come you do so much shopping in the Twin Cities. You don't visit the Mall of The Americas? You don't fish on the Minnesota side of the St. Criox River? You've never been seen at the Minnesota State Fair? I bet you would fit right in with the folks in White Bear Lake. Have you ever drank Schmidt or Grain Belt beer? Ah ha!”

“Real Wisconsin folks drink Leinenkugels, aka Squaw piss.”

“LOL.”

“dhutch1: Check out the Falcons Guide to Wisconsin by Eric Hansen "Hiking in Wisconsin". Most of the hiking books on WI I found were all day hikes. Eric has quite a few of these as well as a few great overnight backing trips. I have been on two of his hikes he has planned in his book (photos are in my gallery) and they are first rate. I have planned a 3rd in September (Marengo River/Porcupine Lake).”

“As far as the Ice Age Trail goes, the Jerry Lake segment (in my photo gallery) is highly recommended ... by me. It's a fantastic segment with mile after mile of deep woods. It can get wet and a little buggy, but you will probably not see another hiker the entire length of the trail. The Chippewa lobe (attached to the IAT at the Jerry Lake Segment) is also a favorite of mine, but it is a bit rugged and was very wet when I was there. That's the way I like it, but it's probably not a trip I would take with young kids or anything ilke that. Let me know if you have any questions (here or in email).”