Biking Vilas County

The trails wind through forest, by lakes, and near or above wetlands. The paved Heart of Vilas County trail system represents a great way to view and enjoy the Northwoods of Wisconsin, and get some exercise. As you travel, your senses are enhanced by the lingering scent of pine, the interplay of light and shadow through the tree canopy, and the soft hum of the rolling of bike tire on asphalt among the song of the birds. The Heart of Vilas system may not fully meet the design standards set by AASHTO (American Assoc of State Highway and Transportation Officials), but doing so would have affected connectivity, and the enjoyment of the trails. Many of the trails are along or adjacent to highway right of ways, or on public forest land. Vilas County, in northern Wisconsin, has been known more for its lakes, fishing and snowmobiling than for other activities. However, a series of bicycle trails have provided Vilas with a whole other source of recreational activity. This post is about biking the Northwoods.

Northern Wisconsin author, Victoria Houston, who writes fiction about murders in the Northwoods, has yet to feature bicycling in her fictional Loon Lake as far as I know. One of her main characters is Ray Pratt, a fishing guide, photographer and grave digger. In typical Northwoods style, Ray lives in a mobile home on a lake and dumped his sewage onto the roses cared by the deceased wife of the dentist next door, Dr Paul Osborne, who is friends with Ray. Biking up north does not require one to fish with Ray, and it adds to what a person can do in the north woods. It may not be as popular as fishing, it still has a dedicated group of persons. At Big Bear Hideaway, where we stay, I would say the occupants of the cabins, over our six years is they have as their primary activity 1/3 fishing, 1/3 bikers and the remainder mixed. Based purely on observation. 

Crystal Lake (2021)
The trail runs through the beach parking lot

Last week Wednesday to Wednesday, my biking partner and I met up with some family members at Big Bear Hideaway in Boulder Junction to do some biking for the week. Boulder Junction is well situated on the route, and has easy access to many of the nicer trail segments. My wife and I have joined my sister and her husband for a week of biking since about 2021. The two of us have done every segment, except for the Mercer to Manitowish Waters segment. We like the trails, that since 2022 we have camped seven times at Cunard Lake, between Woodruff and St Germain, and have often biked many of the segments when staying at that lake. Cunard Lake is a quiet campground, no generators, or radios or the like allowed. It is also, one of the three least busiest in the Northern Highlands American Legion State Forest (NHAL).

On-road segment near Trout Lake (2021)

Our first time doing any major biking on the trails was when we camped at Upper Gresham Lake southwest of Boulder Junction for five nights, and during that time attended the 50th wedding anniversary party of my brother and his spouse. Since that time, they have paved all of North Creek Rd which connects CTH H to CTHM, and made a connection south from the trail along K south to North Creek, which would allow easier biking from Upper Gresham to Boulder Junction. The trail segment along CTH H was completed a couple years ago. 

2021 sign along CTH H for the North Creek Loop
which has now been completed

Biking is big with Baby Boomers, and enthusiasm has increased with the variety of electric bikes now available. Heck, some of these bikes you do not even need to pedal. I am not sure of the ratio of electric to non-electric (analog) bikes, but our riding time is probably favored by non-analog bikes. At least this is what it seems, even though AI tells me e-bikes make up only about 7% of bike sales in the US, compared to half in Germany. Perhaps, I am attuned to e-bikes as they ride past me on my bike rides, often not pedaling. One day on my usual home bike route, I came upon an electric scooter rider, and was about 50 or so feet behind him. I was able, for a bit to keep up, but had to slow down for a walker and at that point he just kept on zooming and my stamina was waning, and I needed enough for the next six or more miles to complete my route. 

You can find time to hike, too.
View on Fallison Lake Tr (Sept 2024)

Last year my wife and I, during a camping trip, biked near Sayner. We were passed by some e-bikers. We completed our route and spent part of the day at Crystal Lake Beach. We again saw the four e-bikers who stopped to use the restroom and relax a bit. They talked about how far they ventured, compared to us on our analog bikes. While it put us to shame, it occurred to me that for many e-bikers the limiting factor is not stamina, but two other factors, time and battery power. On occasion you overhear an e-biker comment on the state of their battery. I am not sure what type of e-bike they had, but I don't think it was a pedal assist. 

Heart of Vilas Trail (2024)

This last visit to Big Bear was the first before Labor Day, with others after Labor Day. Last year, a week or so after Labor Day, we had less than fortunate weather, cold and wet for many of our days. This past visit, we had rain on the day of our arrival, and the temp was about 62, but the next two days had good weather followed by two days of inclement and one mixed day, but the last day of biking, the weather was very nice. Yet, we make do with what weather comes our way.

Boulder Junction, WI
Self-proclaimed Musky Capital of the World
Keeps Ray Pratt (fictional character) busy in
Victoria Houston novels.

Trails go beyond the Heart of Vilas. There is the Three Eagle Trail, mainly non-paved, which runs from Three Lakes to Eagle River, we have done that a couple of times. There is also a trail near Conover, which we have not done. One nice trail not part of the Heart of Vilas is the Forest Lake Trail, part of which winds through private property in a heavily wooded area. Riding it this year we noticed a storm took down many trees. The first time I rode that was in Oct 2021 and the paved path was blanketed with maple leaves.

In the Northwoods, even the deer use the crosswalk (Sept 2021)

I think the most common demographic we see biking are what I refer to as "old" people and which my wife points out that I am one of them. She is older than me and I look at her as the minimum of old. When at Big Bear there was a group of what I referred to as "older ladies" in a cabin, and I was quickly criticized that they were about "our age." Well, my sister-in-law was supposed to try and get the year they graduated high school but did not. When she met them she had to agree they were likely older. I took a group picture of them the day they departed and I have to think my term was appropriate. That is a  good thing, because later we had a group of "ladies" show up in another cabin and so I now had two different nomenclatures--one for each group of ladies. The second group had some in our demographic but some younger. Some of them were hard-ass bicyclists. 

On a wet rainy day, we did some hiking in Sept 2024
along the Black River in the UP

The problem with aged bicyclists, older people biking, is that they face a higher risk of severe injury from fractures and head trauma. My last bike accident, since I was over 65, they made me do a CT scan of my head. They found it is as hard as my wife claims it to be. Seriously, it was just a couple months ago that a 75 year old man I know died after crashing on a bike path. A friend crashed several years ago on a Heart of Vilas Trail; a hard-ass biker, she was thrown off her bike when she hit a bridge abutment and thrown into the side rail. Fortunate for her, an emergency room physician happened by as the next biker and attended to her while 911 was called. Taken to Woodruff Hospital she was later med flighted to Marshfield due to the severity of her injuries. This makes me think I should stop riding no-hands as I leisurely bike. This activity was reported to my wife by some of my fellow family members who were behind me last week. I look at riding no hands as helping build my core muscles--taking off of a person who said kids who ride electric scooters are getting exercise as they are working their core muscles. I figured the same thing would work on a bike.

Part of Forest Lake Trail (Sept 2025)

To help mitigate the effects of injury seasoned citizen bikers should stick to bike paths or low use residential streets--just the type of complexion of which the Heart of Vilas trails are composed, albeit there are crossings of some busy highways, like Hwy 70 west of St Germain on the trail to Sayner. The downfall to the trail system, are highway crossings. Hwy 70 would be the busiest, but there are crossings of K, M and N, county highways, but not as busy as many county highways near Madison.  The major problem for road crossings is for analog bikers, getting on a bike and in some locations having a steep uphill grade giving no time to get any speed.

Trail portion between Manitowish Waters 
and Boulder Junction (2026). 

The Northwoods is not just about fishing and snowmobiling. It is about hiking, canoeing or kayaking and now bicycling.  Yet, the basic benefit to most of what you choose to do is an ability to enjoy the scent of the pines, the towering trees, and a subdued lake shore. There is a certain peace when you stand at a lake shore on a mid-morning late summer day to take a pause while biking, with the sun glistening off the clear blue water. That is the purpose of the Wisconsin Northwoods that is facilitated when biking in Vilas County,

Photos by author

Note: If you get to Boulder Junction stop at the Aqualand bakery and purchase a a cream puff, or a true cream filled donut or, my favorite, a cruller. You will not be disappointed.