Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tic resorts dotting the shoreline. This is one of my favorite areas for exploring and taking
photos. The muskie fishing is great here, too.
Sister campgrounds
Spectacle Lake
($12-15)and
Kentuck Lake
($12-15)are 16miles
northeast of Eagle River via WIS 70. Spectacle is a family favorite for its 500-foot beach.
Theeightprimitive butfree($5forestfee,however)
Windsor Dam
campsites aresemi-
carry-in and secluded along the North Branch of the Pine River.
Information
The
Florence Ranger Station
(WIS 70 and U.S. 2, 715/528-4464) shares an office with
the Florence County Parks Department and a tiny nature center. The
Eagle River Ranger
Station
(1247 Wall St., 715/479-2827) is on the north end of town.
Antigo
Twenty miles west of the lower reaches of the forest, little Antigo marks your entry into
ginseng country near Marathon County. It's worth a side trip for any angler—pretty much
everyone in these parts, right?—checking out
Sheldon's Inc. Mepps Fishing Lures
(626
CenterSt.,715/623-2382,
www.mepps.com
).(Anyfisherworthhisweightknowswhothey
are.) Tours of the fishing lure plant are offered year-round, and anglers spend most of the
time ogling the lunkers on display. Free tours are offered five times a day, 9:15am-2:30pm
Monday-Thursday May-December, less often the rest of the year.
Mole Lake Indian Reservation
The Sokaogon (Mole Lake) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa occupies the smallest reser-
vation in Wisconsin—3,000 acres west of the national forest. It's known informally as the
“Lost Tribe” for its lengthy peregrination before arriving here and battling the Sioux for
control of the area (and because the 1854 federal treaty signed was lost in a shipwreck on
Lake Superior). The name “Sokaogon” means “Post in the Lake” and refers to the appear-
ance ofapetrified tree inthe midst ofanearby lake, perhaps auguring the endofthe band's
wandering.
A ferocious battle with the Sioux in 1806—more than 500 died—produced a significant
home for the Sokaogon. The land here is the most abundant in
manomin
(wild rice) in Wis-
consin. The beds around the village of Mole Lake are among the last remaining ancient
stands of wild rice.
