Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
North of Rib Lake, between WIS 102 and Highway D, is Wisconsin's first established
Rustic Road.
This gravel ribbon stretches five miles past a handful of lakes (and one
beach), resorts, and a scenic overlook.
The community-maintained
Jaycee Trail
is a system of interconnected hiking and ski
trails to the north and east. The Jaycee links with one of the better stretches of the
Ice
Age National Scenic Trail.
Along the Ice Age Trail to the west, you'll pass glacial eskers,
a county forest (with a homesteader's cabin), and the
Deutsches Wiedervereinigkeits
Brucke
(German Reunification Bridge), built by Ice Age Trail volunteers to commemorate
the German Volksmarch tradition, which reportedly inspired the Ice Age Trail movement.
Twoglacially formed“mountains” arestrewnwithglacial boulders(erratics) andoffernice
viewsfromthetop.Ifyou'reupforit,ahiketothewesternendofRibLake'sIceAgeTrail
segment brings you to a great blue heron rookery. Beyond there lies East Lake, a glacial
pothole lake almost totally undeveloped and open for wilderness camping.
COMEBACK KIDS OF THE CHEQUAMEGON
In the 1990s, the state began efforts to bring back the
timber wolf,
which had been
all but exterminated by the 1940s because of misinformation, fear, and rapacious
bounty-hunting.Asof2010,anestimated825wolvesinmorethan200packsroamed
throughout virtually all of northern Wisconsin, with other packs in the west-central
area of the state; one wolf was even spotted just 30 miles north of Madison, and
two more were spotted in two southeastern counties. This is great news for a species
down to just 15 survivors in 1985.
But things may not be so rosy for the majestic animal. The state Department of
Natural Resources in 2009 announced that the wolf was no longer to be listed as
“threatened,” much less “endangered.” (The feds revoked then reinstated it as pro-
tected later in 2009.) The state legalized hunting in 2012, including using traps and
dog packs. Environmentalists are naturally, well, howling. (Courts later balked at al-
lowing hunting with dogs; it's still in the courts at present.)
In 1995, the state launched a project to reintroduce
elk,
importing 25 from
Michigan into the Chequamegon National Forest. They number around 151 at
present. Now, this is great, but in 2010 the state was relocating some due to wolf de-
predation;moreover,somenorthernhighwaysmustattimesclose,sinceheavytraffic
was spooking the elk away from their needed birthing areas. On the upside, in 2012
