See trumpeter swans on Wisconsin lake

Trumpeter swan lands on Nepco Lake in central Wisconsin.

First and Second Loops map. Click for larger version.

Day hikers can watch majestic trumpeter swans on a fishing lake in central Wisconsin.

During summer, trumpeter swans often stop at Nepco Lake County Park to feed and raise their young. Five trails crisscross the county park; combining two of them for a 1.9-mile hike allows you to walk near Nepco Lake where the swans swim.

To reach the trailhead, from Adams-Friendship, drive north on Wis. Hwy. 13 and cross into Wood County. On the outskirts of Wisconsin Rapids, turn right/east onto Griffith Avenue. Enter the park on the entry road on the right/south. Follow the park road to where it dead ends at the parking lot.

From the lot, walk back onto the park entry road then turn right/east onto the First Loop. Veer right/east to stay on the loop’s southern portion.

The 125-acre park opened in 1977 after Nekoosa Papers donated the site to the county. It hugs the north shore of 496-acre Nepco Lake, which has a maximum depth of 29 feet. It’s a popular lake for fishermen, and ice shacks pop up on it in winter. The lake sports largemouth bass, northern pike, panfish (especially blue gill), smallmouth bass, and walleye.

The two ends of the loop meet at another park road. Cross the asphalt and take the stem to the Second Loop. When the trail splits, go right/south. This takes you along Nepco Lake.

Trumpeter swans have been spotted on the lake during summer. The heaviest bird native to North America, adults usually weight anywhere between 15–30 pounds. To achieve flight, they require the continent’s largest wingspan of any bird; it usually ranges 6-8 feet but has been known to exceed more than 10 feet.

Despite their size, like other swans they possess a graceful shape and elegant coloring. Mature adults are a pure white with a distinctive black bill.

As the Second Loop curves to its northern side and away from the lake, the route junctions with the East Loop, then twice with the Third Loop, and once more with the East Loop. Continue straight each time to remain on the Second Loop.

During the Great Depression, the trumpeter swan appeared doomed. Fewer than 70 wild trumpeters were counted during 1933. Reintroduction efforts during the past few decades, however, have turned that around. During the 1800s, they ranged from Indiana to Oregon, but in the Midwest, they mainly can be found in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, Michigan and northern Ohio, and Iowa.

Once the Second Loop meets its other end, go right-straight/north. Recross the road back to the First Loop. Veer right/north to take that loop’s north side.

Trumpeter swans feed almost entirely on aquatic plants. They dig as well into the lake’s muddy bottom to find roots and tubers. Younger trumpeter swans also eat insects and small fish.

Even if you don’t see a trumpeter swan, you’ll probably hear one. Quite loud, their musical cry sounds like a playing trumpet.

Once back at the park road, walk it left/south to the parking lot and your vehicle.

Most of the trail is shaded. Pets are welcomed at the park.

Trail passes flowers beneath quartzite bluff

Wild oats blooms beneath Powers Bluff.

Potawatomi Nature Trail map.
Click map for larger version.

Hikers can explore the edge of a forested bluff rich with wildflowers at Wisconsin’s Powers Bluff Maple Woods State Natural Area.

The 1.05-miles Potawatomi Nature Trail loops through the state natural area and part of the adjacent Powers Bluff County Park & Winter Recreation Area. Both public areas protect 1472-foot tall Powers Bluff, Wood County’s highest point.

To reach the trailhead, from Wisconsin Rapids take Wis. Hwy. 73 northwest. Turn right/north onto Wis. Hwy. 186. In Arpin, go left/west onto Pine Road then left/south onto County Road E. Next, turn right/west onto Bluff Drive then right/north onto Park Road. Take the next right/east and park in the lot.

Head north on the trail. In 0.05 miles, you’ll pass a campsite.

Powers Bluff
The trail next heads around Powers Bluff’s eastern base. Rising 300 feet above the surrounding plain, the bluff is made of erosion-resistant quartzite, similar to that found in nearby Rib Mountain and the Baraboo Hills. The quartzite is about 1.6 billion years old.

Pink quartzite pebbles and boulders broken off the bluff can be found up to 12.5 miles away from it. A glacier moving over it during a recent ice age stripped off and broke down some of the quartzite then carried it south.

At 0.25 miles, the trail curls east and then heads south.

In addition to looking down at the quartzite sparkling on the ground, be sure to look up. Sugar maples and yellow birch dominate the forest, making for a beautiful sight in autumn. Some of the sugar maple is quite old and because of that very large, both in trunk diameter and height. Also covering the bluff’s slopes is bitternut hickory, ash trees and basswood.

Spring wildflowers
The trail at 0.43 miles feet joins the ski route used in winter. Continue southeast. You’ll soon enter the state natural area.

A number of spring wildflowers usually bloom here around the second week of April. Among them are wild oats, bloodroot, Dutchman’s breeches, white trout lilies, spring beauties, wood anemone, red columbine, blue cohosh, violets.

Wild oats blooms from March to June. Each stem begins as green in color but its upper part can turn reddish-purplish when flowering. The flower consists of six pale straw colored tepals – a combined petal and sepal – that are bell-shaped, about an inch long, and droops. One flower appears per stem. Wild oats are found across much of Wisconsin except the eastern and southern edges.

Another of the first of the wildflowers to bloom here in spring is bloodroot. Sometimes it pops up from soil that has just thawed. It sports a large white flower, about 1.5 inches wide, with 8-10 petals and a yellow center. The red orange juice in its stem has been used over the centuries as a dye and an insect repellent. It grows all across Wisconsin.

Trout-lily, mayflowers
Dutchman’s breeches is plentiful here as well. It blooms in April. Its white to yellowish flower is a four-parted heart- or triangular-shaped spur that is about 5/8 of an inch long. It flourishes on slopes, needs the shade of trees like sugar maple, basswood and red oak, and grows throughout most of Wisconsin.

White trout-lily blooms April-May. On each stalk is a hanging yellow flower, about an inch wide, with three petals and three petal-like sepals that curve backward. It can grow all across Wisconsin but typically is found in the southern two-thirds of the state.

Carolina spring-beauty blooms from April to June. Each of its half-inch wide flowers consists of five white petals with pink-purple veins. It’s very common in New England, the Appalachians, and the Upper Peninsula. In Wisconsin, it grows mostly in the northeast, on the north side of a line from Bayfield to Door counties.

The wood anemone, also known as the mayflower, blooms in spring here too. It bears a single white flower, about an inch wide, with five petal-like sepals rising above the leaves. Wood anemones with flowers are older than those without; sometimes the plant doesn’t flower until it reaches five years old. It grows throughout Wisconsin.

Trillium and columbine
An incredible array of large-flowered trillium bloom here in mid-May. Among the state’s prettiest wildflowers, its blossom consists of three white, wavy petals that are two- to four-inches wide. The flower turns pink with age. Ants carry their seeds to underground homes but strangely enough don’t eat them, allowing the wildflower to spread. The large-flowered trillium is found all across the state and is a protected species.

Standing out in May and June is red columbine. The striking blossom has yellow petals with red spur and sepals. It is about one- to two-inches long and nods on a stem above the leaves. Nectar sits in the spur’s round end, attracting butterflies, ruby-throated hummingbirds, and bumblebees. During early summer, the caterpillars of Columbine Duskywing feed on the leaves, which are fern-like and grouped in threes.

The wood violet is Wisconsin’s state flower. Ranging in color from deep violet to lavender, the flower consists of five distinct petals with three veined lower petals, and measures about an inch wide. The flowers usually grow on their own stalk and stay beneath the plant’s heart-shaped leaves. The latter is high in vitamins A and C, and should you ever be lost in the woods with no food, know that they can be eaten raw.

At 0.62 miles, the hiking and ski trails separate. Go left/southeast.

Summer flowers
Spring isn’t the only time to see wildflowers along the trail. During summer, blue cohosh blooms here.

Often blooming near white trout-lily is the blue cohosh, a 1-3-foot high bush. A cluster of yellow-green flowers with six petals sits atop the plant, which grows throughout Wisconsin. Don’t eat its blue berries, which are poisonous.

Also keep an eye out for the endangered goblin moonwort, a fern. Its shiny yellow-green leaves are extremely small. its fertile frond is an erect spike. The fern prefers old growth or mature second-growth forests. It usually is easiest to spot from mid-July to mid-August.

At 0.8 miles, the trail reaches the park road you drove in on. Cross the road.

Forest animals
Scampering under trees and among the wildflowers are a number of forest animals. You’ll very likely see gray squirrels, chipmunks, and white-tailed deer.

The trail arrives back at the road just crossed around 0.95 miles. Cross it. In quick order, you’ll come to the ski trail as well. Continue straight/northwest.

Powers Bluff was long inhabited by Potawatomi Indians. A group lived there until the 1930s. They called it Tah-qua-kik.

At 1.05 miles, the trail comes circle at the parking lot.