Hiking in Northern Wisconsin - Spring 2012 - AWESOME!

Well, I did it.... completed my 1st ever day hiking trip! As my previous blog mentioned, I traversed forest area around Mann Lake, in northerm Wisconsin. I must say, having never taken on a challenge like this, alone, was a bit intimidating to start.

I left Waterloo at 5:30am on Friday, March 30th, in drizzle and temps in the 30's. My plan was to make a stop either at Cabela's (Prairie du Chien) or Gander Mountain (Baraboo, WI), to make one final check for hiking "necessities"... Since I was too early for Cabela's, I headed for Gander Mountain. Man, a person could spend a TON on camping, and outdoors items! I made it out with only a pocket compass and carbiner, to use for hooking my safety whistle to my gear.

I arrived in Minocqua about 2:30pm, so I headed out to the are where I'd start my hike on Saturday, just to check it out... it was only 35 degrees, so I began wondering if I had enough clothes... I walked about 1 mile down to Emerald Lake, and back. Not too bad... awfully quiet... and not a person within miles..

Next stop was a Park Service Station to see if I needed a pass for hiking. Good news, I could park and hike without a pass as long as I didn't stay in a camp ground. Time to check in at the Hotel - AmericInn in Minocqua. After some snacks from the grocery store and a little television, I called it a night (but was a bit hard falling asleep thinking about the next day).

I woke up at 4:30, so I decided to start packing things, grab a morning coffee and donut (can't start the day without 'em), and then head on out to the hiking site. The morning was overcast, and only 33 degrees, with a 10-15 mph wind... but in the woods, you could only "hear" the wind in the trees. I "layered up" good, and threw my stocking cap and running gloves in the back pack... just in case.

It was almost 8:30 before I finally hit the lock on the car and headed out... I decided that rather than try to battle the wooded shoreline around Mann Lake, I'd follow the forest roads (used for snowmobiling in the Winter) for my 1st hiking trip. It added some extra distance on my trip, but at least I knew where I would be in case of emergency. Like Friday, it was eerily quiet, and the heart was beatin' fast as my car disappeared behind me. Would I cross paths with a bear? A Moose? a Wolf?

The trees had yet to bud, which was probably good.. I could see deep into the woods, and it likely helped keep the bugs from bothering me. I tried using the handheld GPS units I had borrowed from friends, but they struggled with keeping a GPS signal. So I downloaded a Hiking GPS app (BackCountryNavigatorPro) onto my Droid phone.... Surprisingly, it kept a GPS signal for the whole hiking trip! At the end of this blog, have posted an image of the map of my trail created by this app.

Most of the hike had trails and scenes like the one at the left. This made the walking fairly easy, and enjoyable. The 1st third of the trip was the most worrisome, as the topographical maps didn't show the trail very well, as it wound around 2 lakes and a wetland area. Fortunately, the snowmobile use during the winter made the trail easy to see.



An example of the preparation the snowmobile clubs do to provide good winter riding is seen in the photo below. Here, a bridge was constructed to get over some of the wetland areas.

After about 2 hours I came upon Vandercook Road. This was a sign I had made it to an area I was familiar with. The access road to the Titus Cabin is off of Vandercook Rd. At this point, I was feeling great, and stopped to try and take a photo of me in the midst of the hike. You be the judge  - a crazy Iowan on a hike or "Bear Grylls" wannabe.

I then took the path to the Titus Cabin. This has cabin has a special place in my heart, as I grew up visiting it several times. It was/is owned by my Uncles. The cabin has not been used in years, but still is owned by the Titus Family. I annually pay a visit to check out the condition, and remember "the good ol' days". 


Here are a couple photos of the cabin and its view of Mann Lake.

After visiting the cabin, I decided to see if I could traverse along the south shoreline of Mann Lake to the western end of the Lake and County Road M. The distance was approximately 1 mile, and seemed like an easy thing to do.

Well, an hour later, and hiking thru a forest area which had logging done in previous years, and some dense wooded areas, I ended up right back where I started! Guess I should have stayed closer to the lake shore (and used my GPS app!).

Below is an image of the type of terrain I was hiking in...

So I hiked back out the road leading to the Titus cabin, back to Vandercook Rd., and followed it to the snowmobile trail heading north along the Western and Northern areas of the lake.
It was now abour 4-1/2 hours into the hike, and I could definitely feel it in my feet. The trail terrain was much like the beginning trail I started on, only more hilly.

Along the route, were some scenic areas, such as these wetlands where Mann Lake empties out into a creek.

I finally saw the "end of the trail" come into site, as the the sign with the trail map appeared. I made it back to my Santa Fe, "unpacked" my gear (image to the left), and celebrated my successful day with a toast to the beautiful Wisconsin North Woods, using the "anti-septic" I carried with me (courtesy of a veteran outdoorsman).

For anyone who enjoys the outdoors, and loves the beauty and peacefulness of the woods, you MUST head north and explore Northern Wisconsin, or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Its definitely a "bucket list item"!

Finally, below is an image of the trail I took (blue lines circling Mann Lake - ignore straight lines... GPS signal errors). If you look closely, at the bottom of the image is an elevation map of my hike as well.

For more photos of my hike, check out my Picassa web album (Click Here)

Stay tuned for more "Rick's Travel Tales"!