Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Information
The
Madeline Island Chamber of Commerce
(715/747-2801 or 888/475-3386,
www.madelineisland.com
)
operates only in season, Memorial Day weekend-Labor Day.
The ferry dock kiosk in Bayfield has all the straight dope if you show up sans reservations
(or even a clue).
Getting There
In late January, usually until sometime in April, WIS 13 becomes the state's only “ice
highway,” a real, established state road plowed and maintained across the ice. During the
holidays, Christmas trees mark the borders. At the bookend seasons when ice is forming
or breaking up and thus too tender for cars, flat-bottomed air boats whiz across the short
straits, and what an amazing ride that is.
The
Madeline Island Ferry
(715/747-2051,
www.madferry.com
round-trip autos $24,
passengers $13) departs from Bayfield and is a landmark of the region. Ferries run from
Bayfield to the island 6:30am-11pm daily Memorial Day weekend-Labor Day weekend,
withtripsgoingeveryhalf-hour9:30am-6pmandamidnighttripFridayandSaturday.Few-
er trips run in the off-season. There are no reservations.
First the name. That's “shuh-WAH-muh-gun.” It used to be “shee-KWAM-uh-gun,” and,
for tourists, any approximation is OK. The name, Ojibwa for “land of shallow waters,” ap-
pears often across the northern tier of the state. A staggered series of four rough parallel-
ograms stretching from the Bayfield Peninsula south 120 miles, the Chequamegon is Wis-
consin's,andoneoftheMidwest's,largestnationalforestatjustunder850,000acres,larger
than Rhode Island. It's essentially the entire northern “cap” of Wisconsin.
Natural History
Chequamegon comprises one-third of Wisconsin's north-south latitude; more, the geology
of the central patches includes some of the oldest formations in the United States, forming
an 80-mile ridgeline—the Great Divide, which continues into Michigan—that separates
basins draining north and south. The range, at one time higher than the Alps, held one of
the United States' greatest concentrations of iron ore. Subterranean chasms still hold what
is believed to be the planet's most comprehensive reserves of untouched taconite ore—3.7
billion tons.
