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Cindy had the week off, so I did the same and we took a mini vacation. We drove up north on Tuesday, and did some hiking in the north woods.
As we drove up there, it was raining. I didn't recall any being in the forecast. We had some trouble finding the place, which didn't bother me at first, because I was hoping the rain would end. I did not bring any rain gear, or even a warm jacket. We finally found the road, but couldn't find the trail. It was in a national forest, so it's not exactly a park with a visitor center, trail maps or even marked trailheads. Fortunately we had phone signal, so were eventually able to find it, and by then the rain had quit.
The trail was maybe called the Baldwin Creek Trail, and it was in Hagar Mountain State Natural Area, within Nicolet National Forest. The trail was really nice. It wound and climbed, very rocky in some places. There was a little waterfall on the creek, and some open rock areas at the tops of some hills, including the one for which it was named. When we finally made it to the top there was a kinda nice view, and the sun was coming out. I really enjoyed seeing all the mosses along the trail. There were a couple of types club mosses, that look like little trees, and big clumps of pincushion moss, and also clumps of lichen.
We had been looking for a place to get lunch, but there wasn't a huge number of towns up there, and apparently everything is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Due to the tourism on the weekends, that's their new weekend? No idea. but we finally found a gas station that had hot sandwiches. I thought I could get through the afternoon on trail mix and granola bars, but the hike took a lot out of me. Plus, we were going on another hike.
This was to Ed's Lake National Recreation Trail. Sounds impressive, but it's just a walk in the woods. We took the easy loop, which was welcome after the earlier hike. The other loop was labeled moderate, but those were cross-country ski designations. I'm sure the other one was easy too.
This one reminded me very much of trails near home. I expected the north woods to be more different from home. Years ago when I was up here, all the terrain was sandy, and I thought there would be more pine forests. And bears. We didn't see any wildlife at all, except for a turkey.
After that we went to our hotel in Crandon. Crandon has a population of 1700 people, and is the only incorporated community in the country. Had dinner at a family restaurant. I think there were a couple of other places open. Then we sat in the room for the rest of the evening. The next morning we drove back south.
I tried to find something else to do in the area before we headed home, but I couldn't (Cindy found the previous day's trails), so I decided we could stop at Kohler Andrae. We stopped for lunch in Manitowoc, and the part was just south of Sheboygan. It wasn't really very exciting. We did an easy two mile walk. If I'd done some research ahead of time, I might have found someplace interesting up north. Maybe over in the UP. Cindy had done all the research up until that point. I didn't even realize how far north we were going. It was only a 3.5 hour drive, and Lake Superior is almost eight hours, but that involves some westward movement, so we were pretty far up there.
As we drove up there, it was raining. I didn't recall any being in the forecast. We had some trouble finding the place, which didn't bother me at first, because I was hoping the rain would end. I did not bring any rain gear, or even a warm jacket. We finally found the road, but couldn't find the trail. It was in a national forest, so it's not exactly a park with a visitor center, trail maps or even marked trailheads. Fortunately we had phone signal, so were eventually able to find it, and by then the rain had quit.
The trail was maybe called the Baldwin Creek Trail, and it was in Hagar Mountain State Natural Area, within Nicolet National Forest. The trail was really nice. It wound and climbed, very rocky in some places. There was a little waterfall on the creek, and some open rock areas at the tops of some hills, including the one for which it was named. When we finally made it to the top there was a kinda nice view, and the sun was coming out. I really enjoyed seeing all the mosses along the trail. There were a couple of types club mosses, that look like little trees, and big clumps of pincushion moss, and also clumps of lichen.
We had been looking for a place to get lunch, but there wasn't a huge number of towns up there, and apparently everything is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Due to the tourism on the weekends, that's their new weekend? No idea. but we finally found a gas station that had hot sandwiches. I thought I could get through the afternoon on trail mix and granola bars, but the hike took a lot out of me. Plus, we were going on another hike.
This was to Ed's Lake National Recreation Trail. Sounds impressive, but it's just a walk in the woods. We took the easy loop, which was welcome after the earlier hike. The other loop was labeled moderate, but those were cross-country ski designations. I'm sure the other one was easy too.
This one reminded me very much of trails near home. I expected the north woods to be more different from home. Years ago when I was up here, all the terrain was sandy, and I thought there would be more pine forests. And bears. We didn't see any wildlife at all, except for a turkey.
After that we went to our hotel in Crandon. Crandon has a population of 1700 people, and is the only incorporated community in the country. Had dinner at a family restaurant. I think there were a couple of other places open. Then we sat in the room for the rest of the evening. The next morning we drove back south.
I tried to find something else to do in the area before we headed home, but I couldn't (Cindy found the previous day's trails), so I decided we could stop at Kohler Andrae. We stopped for lunch in Manitowoc, and the part was just south of Sheboygan. It wasn't really very exciting. We did an easy two mile walk. If I'd done some research ahead of time, I might have found someplace interesting up north. Maybe over in the UP. Cindy had done all the research up until that point. I didn't even realize how far north we were going. It was only a 3.5 hour drive, and Lake Superior is almost eight hours, but that involves some westward movement, so we were pretty far up there.
