Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
places), and the Three Coins, a dining room among the most popular in the north. The re-
sort's recreational list boggles the mind. Expect weekly-only rentals in summer.
THE LEGEND OF THE HODAG
The scariest mythical creature in the state is the hodag.
Not of the mythical proportions of big-toed Sasquatch, yet Rhinelander's own crafty
backwoods prehistoric relic, the Hodag, has been legendary in its own right, akin
to the jackalope—that hybrid of horned and long-eared fauna populating tourist
townseverywherewestoftheMississippi,though,oddlyenough,spottedonlybythe
grizzled denizens of local shot-and-a-beer joints. Something monstrous, something
mysterious, populates the Great North Woods around Rhinelander.
In 1896, local Gene Shepard showed up with a photograph of a ferocious beast
that had sprung at him in the forest—seven feet long, half-reptilian and half-leonine,
sharpened walrus-esque tusks, razor-sharp claws, a coniform row down the back
worthy of a triceratops, and Brahma bull horns.
