Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The largest off-road bike race in the United States goes down near the Telemark
Lodge the second weekend after Labor Day, the
Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival
(
www.cheqfattire.com
)
. Umpteen thousand riders will gear up, ride, and party hard for this
one, a 40-miler through the forest.
CAMBA Trails
Hands down the most comprehensive trail system for off-road bike riders in the Midwest
is
CAMBA
(Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association, 800/533-7454,
www.cambatrails.org
)
. More than 200 total miles use old logging roads, ice-sled byways,
and whatever ridgelines the glaciers left behind (and add to that about a lifetime's worth of
forest roads not technically part of the system). Expect varying conditions: from perfect to
carpetsofleaves,boggyandsandymuck,rutteddirt,andtheoccasionalfrighteningpython-
sizedtreeroothiddenbeneathtopcover.The
Namekagon Trails
mightbethemostpopular,
with both the easiest and most difficult trails in the forest (Patsy Lake and Rock Lake, re-
spectively), as well as access to the semiprimitive Rock Lake Area and the remoter regions
of the forest. The longest cluster, the
Delta,
has some killer trails and arguably the best
views—along the White River Valley—also offering access to the North Country National
Scenic Trail. Dozens of operations in the area have biking supplies and rentals. One,
New
Moon
(800/754-8685), is along U.S. 63 North in Hayward.
Chippewa Flowage
AbuttingtheChequamegonNationalForestandtheLacCourteOreillesIndianReservation
is Wisconsin's third-largest lake (and largest wilderness lake), the 15,300-acre
Chippewa
Flowage
(lovingly, the “Big Chip”). This labyrinthine waterway is surrounded by 233
miles of variegated, heavily wooded shoreline, an endless array of points, bays, stagnums,
sloughs, and seemingly hundreds of isolated islands. Primitive camping is permitted on the
islands, but the 18 sites are first-come, first-served. There is no dispersed camping, but you
will find a couple of private operations on the shoreline. Nearly every species of bird and
mammal indigenoustonorthernWisconsinisfoundwithintheacreage.Theflowageisalso
a nationally known muskie lake and no slouch for walleye. The world-record muskie was
caught right here in 1957.
Canoeing
The98-mile-longNamekagonRiveristhenortherntributaryofthefederallyestablishedSt.
Croix National Scenic Riverway System, and it flows smack through the Hayward-Cable
