Friday and Saturday 9-7 & 9-8 Hiking and Motorcycle Riding

Hiking through the forest

Friday 9-7-18 

We woke up to brisk sunny morning. The temperature in the Minnie was 56 degrees. It was very comfortable for sleeping. We had breakfast and then we went for a hike. We didn’t know where the trails actually went but we found a trail map. There is no cell signal in the campground or on the trails, we took a picture of the map with the camera so we could have it with us as we hiked. The map of the trails were color coded and the distance was written for each color. It took us awhile to figure out the map because where we started at the sign the trail marker color was blue and the map didn’t have any blue trails. The trail took us through beautiful tall pines trees and across the main road to a Y. We went the direction the map showed and ended up taking an old logging road for a bit. We hiked by Fanny Lake, where we saw a kayaker. Fanny Lake is a small fishing lake. Larry saw a tree that had a marker with a red and yellow dot on it. That was a section where the red trail North Loop and the yellow trail East Loop intersect with each other. This trail took us by hike in campsites, they were very nice and roomy. We hiked this trail until it got to the yellow trail, which was a four mile loop but we could only go .25 mile and had to turn around because it was flooded from all the rain. We hiked back to where Fanny Lake was and hiked around it. By the end of the hike we had hiked 4.5 miles through a great forest.

  

The hiking trail map

    The hiking trail                                          A kayaker on Fanny Lake

Trail Marker

After resting a bit Larry barbecued some HEB sausage poppers for lunch. Then we took the motorcycle off the carrier and went for a ride. The first stop was at Mountain Fire Lookout Tower. This was the last tower standing in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, there were originally twenty-seven. They were built by the CCC in the 30s and used until the 1970's.  We climbed all the way to the top, 137 steps. The closer you got to the top the narrower the staircase got. The view on top was great. We saw acres and acres of forest. 

We were riding to our next stop when Larry spotted a National Forest Office. We love these because they always have lots of information on the local forest. The lady was very helpful and gave us a lot of information on hiking and camping. 

The next stop was the Cathedral of Pines, it is a 40 acre site that survived Wisconsin’s logging era. It had a short hiking trail that went through a forest of pines that range from 200 to 400 years old. In the summer time the great blue herons nests on the tree tops. It survived because Lucy Holt, the wife of William Holt,  who was the president of Holt Lumber Company enjoyed taking her children there. The breeze that went through the trees reminded her of a cathedral. Unfortunately the site has not been well maintained. After walking around we headed back to the campground where we spent the rest of day relaxing and reading in our chairs.

The Mountain Fire Lookout Tower

Motorcycle from tower

 

A view of the forest from the tower

Saturday 9-8-18

Camping at Boot Lake Campground

We woke up to another beautiful morning of sunshine. The temperature was in the 50's. We hiked another 4.5 miles through the forest and along an old road. We hiked about a mile from the campground on the blue trail until it Y'd off.  As we were hiking we met a family with a dog, they said she was friendly but she growled like she wasn’t.  The path was very curvy and rough. sometimes it had signs that said there was a steep hill and it was. When we got to a road we turned around and headed back toward the campground. The path gave you a great workout by getting your heart beating. On the way back a big deer ran across the trail, much larger than what we see in central Texas. We had a very peaceful hike.

The hiking trail we hiked through the trees  

After our hike we spent the rest of the day relaxing around the campground and reading. We stayed outside in our chairs most of the afternoon. In the evening we walked around the campground.

A couple kayaking on Boot Lake

We haven’t hiked in awhile so my legs were a bit sore. I also think it was because of the steps we climbed at the National Train Museum (99 steps) and the Fire Watch Tower (137 steps). But it was all good. We’re having fun in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.