The trails shown in the National topographic survey quadrangle are completely wrong and outdated. The official forest service map available online will be of little help to you. oh dear! There are too many maps with conflicting information and none that show where every intersecting trail goes. But thankfully, there are plenty of maps to help you through. In many ways, this trail is far harder to navigate than a deep wilderness trail just on account of its many intersections, some that are signed well, and others that are not. Knowing this, you can already guess that it’s a maze of trails intended for uses other than hiking, along with old forest roads, some of which are disappearing into the forest. and with 3 maps I still managed to take a ‘wrong turn’ and create my own version of the Hidden Lake Trail.Īll this inconsistency boils down to the fact that the Hidden Lake trail didn’t start out as its own trail it evolved when backpackers in the 1970’s realized that if you took this short trail over to this short trail, and so on, that you could form a larger loop around Butternut Lake. I had three maps that I used for navigation and each had a unique route. The discrepancy lies in the fact that nearly every map of the hidden lake trail differs from other maps. Some say 13 miles, others 15, and I GPS recorded my two-day hike at 18.5 miles. So, let’s clear something up about the mileage of this trail. The trail contorts its way from one small lake to another over undulating glacial terrain, along eskers high above deep ravines, beside wetlands and disappearing kettle lakes, through thick pines and wide expanses of maple forest. The Hidden Lake Trail is comprised of a series of footpaths, mountain bike trails, ski trails and horseback trails that taken together form a continuous loop around Butternut Lake in the Nicolet National Forest in Forest County WI near Eagle River off Highway 70. On top of that, if you have ATT wireless, you will have great phone service and at least enough internet service to pull down a weather forecast. lots of lakes with echoes of loons and great horned owls. There are hills, but they not too frequent. Views are rich with scenic lakes, dense forest, birch groves, hemlocks, pines and maple forest. Hidden Lakes is a 15.5-mile loop trail – ideal for solo hikers, it has dispersed non-designated campsites all along it, there are two established National Forest campgrounds set 5-miles apart along its route. If you are looking for a weekend backpacking trip in Wisconsin, this is the trail you’re looking for.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |