Trail offers chance to spot Wisconsin elk

Day hikers have a chance to see rare elk in Wisconsin’s Northwoods on the Dead Horse Run Trail.

The Dead Horse Run, an ATV trail system in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, runs 56 miles long. With its vastness, you’ll surely find many segments that can be day hiked without the noise of any ATVs; in addition, the trail is closed to ATV use from March 15 to April 30, so any of those warm, dry days during an early spring is perfect for a hike.

One such segment heads from the Dead Horse Slough Trailhead in the Clam Lake area. It runs 4.3 miles one-way or 8.6 miles round trip.

To reach the trailhead, from Clam Lake head east on Wis. Hwy. 77. A little more than two miles out of town, next to the Dead Horse Slough’s east shore, is small gravel parking lot on the road’s north side.

The trail and slough’s name comes from an early 1900s tragedy when a team of horses broke through ice on the waterbody. The team never was recovered.

A trailhead at the lot’s northeast corner heads into a forest of maple, aspen, oak and birch ideal for fox, racoon, rabbits, and of course, white-tailed deer. Expect to see at least signs of such wildlife and others on the trail.

This forest also a great environment for elk, whose primary habitat used is dominated by aspens and with forest openings and ponds or lakes. Because of that, in 1995, Wisconsin reintroduced Rocky Mountain elk in this part of the state. Today, the Clam Lake herd is estimated at around 200 members.

Before the arrival of Euro-Americans, elk could be found all across Wisconsin. Conversion of land to agriculture limited the elk’s range, though, and overhunting finished them off by the late 1800s. An attempt to bring back elk in the 1930s failed due to poaching.

Elk are an impressive sight to behold. A bull elk can reach up to 700 pounds and stand five-feet high at the shoulder; its antlers can take up to 40 pounds of that weight. Cows are slightly smaller at 500 pounds and 4-1/2 feet at the shoulder. Elk typically feed on grasses and forbs but in winter will turn to shrubs, tree bark, and twigs.

Heading northeast, the Dead Horse Run Trail mostly parallels the peculiarly named Dingdong Creek. Located on snowmobile trails, the Dead Horse Run mostly is wide at 14-feet, to accommodate ATVs.

Upon reaching Forest Road 182, turn back. If backpacking, you can continue on, however; the trail loops south and intersects the Tuscobia State Trail just west of Park Falls. Throughout its course, the Dead Horse Run links to Stock Farm Bridge Campground and ATV routes leading to Glidden and Cayuga.

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

Day hike forest to site of Wisconsin’s first Thanksgiving

Trailhead to the site of Wisconsin's first Thanskgiving.

Primitive trail runs through Chequamegon National Forest

Day hikers can walk through the area where Wisconsin’s first Thanksgiving took place just a few decades after the Pilgrims held the very first one at Plymouth Plantation.

The unnamed trail – which I’ve christened the Forest Road 1919B/BA Trail because of the jeep trails it follows in the Chequamegon National Forest – takes hikers on a 1.14-mile round trip to the headwaters of the Chippewa River. Near that waterway in what is now the southeastern corner of Bayfield County, local Native Americans rescued three starving French explorers by providing a feast in a story with remarkable parallels to the Pilgrims’ harvest banquet.

To reach the trailhead, from Clam Lake, Wis., take County Road M northwest. Once past Day Lake, rather than turn left to head for Cable, continue straight onto Forest Road 191 (aka as Old Grade Road and on some maps as Taylor Lake Road). Then turn left/southwest onto Forest Road 1919 (aka Job Corps Road). Follow this to its terminus above Chippewa Lake, parking off the road.

A jeep trail heads to a campsite on the shores of Chippewa Lake. Though expansive at 280 acres, the lake is fairly shallow at only 11 feet. From it rises the West Fork Chippewa River.

Starving to death
Near the lake in late 1658, French explorers Pierre Esprit Radisson and Médard Chouart Sieur des Groseilliers ran out of food during the particularly harsh winter.

To survive, they ate their dogs then retraced their steps to former camps so they could dig the refuse of their previous meals from snowbanks for food. Then they crushed bones into powder and boiled guts and skin for sustenance. Finally, they ate wood. “…the rest goes downe our throats, eating heartily these things most abhorred,” Radisson wrote.

From the lakeshore, walk back to Forest Road 1919 and turn right/south onto Forest Road 1919B. The trail heads through a Northern hardwood forest, a beautiful hike in autumn when gold, orange and crimson leaves dominate the skyline.

In 1659, a group of Odowa (Ottowa) Indians came across the two explorers. The Odowa gave them new clothes and most importantly provided a banquet of wild turkey and rice as well as other fowl. Groseilliers gave “a speech of thanksgiving.”

Saved from certain death
Where the trail splits, go left onto Forest Road 1919BA. This heads to the edge of the West Fork Chippewa River. The bulk of the hike is on FR 1919BA.

Upon reaching the river, to the northwest are marshlands surrounding Chippewa Lake. Downstream, the fork meanders before joining with the East Fork Chippewa River and forming the Chippewa River proper, which flows for 130 miles into the Mississippi River.

Just as the Wampanoags had saved the Pilgrims from starvation by showing them how to raise crops such as corn and squash, so the Odowa similarly saved the French explorers from certain death by the sharing of food. With that gesture, Radisson and Groseilliers were able to return to their base in eastern Canada. The Wisconsin Historical Society considers it the state’s first Thanksgiving celebration involving Europeans and Native Americans.

From the West Fork Chippewa River’s shoreline, return the way you came to your vehicle.

FR 1919BA is a primitive trail, so you'll need to wear jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. Being so near to the lake and wetlands, you'll also want to don and carry mosquito repellent.

Read more about day hiking Bayfield County, Wisconsin, in my Day Hiking Trails of Bayfield County guidebook.

Wooded day hiking trails abound in Clam Lake-Glidden, Wis., region

West Torch Trail

Cabin-goers will find a number of quality day hiking trails in the Clam Lake-Glidden, Wis., area. Trails include:
g Ashland County Forest hunter walking trails – Several walking trails for hunters as well as jeep trails crisscross the 40,000-acre Ashland County Forest near Glidden and Butternut. Wildlife is abundant in the forest; watch for signs of black bears.
g West Torch Trail – Three stacked cross country skiing loops make up this trail in the Chequamegon National Forest; try the middle loop for a 3.7-mile round trip hike. The trails are off of County Road GG east of Clam Lake.
g Little Pelican Lake Trail – In the Flambeau River State Forest south of these two communities, a short trail loops through the woods west of Little Pelican Lake. The trailhead is in a parking lot off of Snuss Boulevard immediately south of the State Hwy. 70 junction.

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

West Torch Trail loops offer great forest day hike in Chequamegon N.F.

Towering pines on West Torch Trail.

Fairly flat trail offers
primitive hiking experience

Hikers can get escape into a thick, serene woods on the West Torch Trail south of Clam Lake in the Chequamegon National Forest.

Wild Torch is a stacked loop trail system with loop lengths of 0.8, 1.7, 3.7, and 5 miles. The longer two loops offer some hilly terrain, but combining the 0.8 and 1.7 loops makes for an easy 2.2-mile hike (the loops share a stretch of trail).

Trees and wildflowers
To reach the trailhead, from Clam Lake take County Road GG south for 2.5 miles. The parking lot is located on the road’s left/east side.

From the lot, go left/northeast to do the trail clockwise. This is opposite of the way cross country skiers would do the trail in winter. The terrain is mainly flat with a few gentle rolls.

About 0.15 miles in, you’ll reach a trail junction; keep going straight (Going left takes you on the longest of the four looping trails.). Trees nicely shade the entire walking path, which are narrower than jeep trails but wider than most backcountry trails. Species lining the trail are common to the Chequamegon and include pines, mixed hardwoods, aspens, oak, paper birch, and sugar maple.

Upon reaching the next trail junction, about 0.15 miles later, continue straight/northeast. From there, the trail curves south and then east. Watch the ground for a number of different wildflowers that blossom through the year. Common blooms in the region include the downy yellow violet, the large-flowered bellwort, the large-flowered trillium, and the wood anemone.

Woodland animals
Continue right/south at the next trail junction (If going straight, you’ll end up on the third longest of the loops.). Red squirrels particularly like this section of the forest, but don’t be surprised if you spot other woodland animals, including white-tailed deer, chipmunks and rabbits. A variety of small birds also fill the air with song through the day.

At the next trail junction, go right/west. You’ll pass one more junction, at which you go straight/left back to the parking lot.

The trail is primitive so during summer and early fall you'll want to wear jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. As you're close to a wetlands, be sure to don and carry bug spray as well.

A final note that while hiking the trail is free, a recreation pass is required for parking anywhere in the Chequamegon.

Read more about family friendly day hiking trails in my Headin' to the Cabin guidebooks.