EAST-CENTRAL WATERS - Wisconsin - page 382

For a cozy lodging option, try Bear Paw Outdoor Adventure Resort (N3494 WIS 55.,
715/942-0499, www.bearpawoutdoors.com , $100-300) south of Langlade. Rustic, deep-
woods relaxing best describes it. There are lodge rooms, various cabins, and camping. A
full slew of water and land activities are available. Everyone loves this place.
Off the river and aside roads, the Wolf River is worth investigating on foot. Wolf River
Dells has a short nature trail leading to rough multicolored granite cliffs overlooking the
Wolf for hundreds of yards along both the upper and lower dells. The Dells are four miles
from a turnoff from WIS 55 along a road that alternates from hardpack gravel to nerve-
wracking. A footbridge crosses the 40-foot gurgling Smokey Falls to a small mid-river is-
land. Purportedly,the mist from the waters is actually smoke from the pipe ofa spirit living
within the falls. Spirit Rock, a couple of miles above Keshena Falls, is also significant.
According to legend, it's really a petrified Menominee warrior who angered the earth. This
warrior, Ko-Ko-Mas-Say-Sa-Now, allegedly asked for immortality and was thrust into the
earth forever. Some believe kind spirits come to offer rings of tobacco, and their willowy
vapors can be observed flitting among the trees in the dusky night.
Whitewater rafters run Big Smokey Falls on the Wolf River.