Pine Lake Bikepacking

Pete parked in our driveway and we worked on getting ready to bikepack up to Pine Lake.  Pine Lake is a little lake in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest maybe 13 miles from our place.  While we were getting ready a cloudburst let loose.  It was a mostly clear day and no rain had been predicted.  We just stayed under the porch and continued getting ready.  After a bit we had everything on our bikes and were ready to take off - thankfully the rain had quit and things were sunny again.

About 5 minutes down the trail it started to rain again.  So we hunkered underneath a pavilion for a few minutes - and then kept riding under blue skies.

Both of us were riding Surly Krampugs.  Both of us also hate wearing too much on your back.  Pete had a small camera bag on his back (he'd taken it off during this picture) and I was wearing this kind of oversized waist pack thing.

Another cloudburst rolls to the south of us.  Thankfully it missed us because 1) from here on out we had no more shelters to hide under and 2) I had gone like a moron and not put any of my gear in dry bags.

The ~400 foot climb in the CNNF starts

Nearing our campsite at Pine Lake

Home for the night.  

Post-sunset light on Pine Lake 

I set up just off of the clearing where Pete had set up his tent

A time lapse of taking down my hammock and putting all of my gear on the bike.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see the maker of the tracks.  This is bear hunting country (which, I gotta say, I have mixed feeling about especially because they use dogs) and that means that the vast majority of bears around here are terrified of humans - the few I've seen I've mostly come upon and surprised them (if they knew I was there they would have made themselves scarce before I could see them) and have all but turned themselves inside out to put distance between us.   I admit that I kinda like bears being scared of me.

The last several miles were on the Tri-County Corridor.

Riding to the Start

On my tank of a Krampug (complete with frame bag, handlebar bag, "gas tank", and rear rack [that today was carrying a hammock and pillow]) it takes me about an hour and a half to get from our front door to Long Lake.  Maybe if I was so inclined it'd take me less but today I was just doodling along.  You see, I was riding there to meet up with a group ride, so I wanted to have some fuel left in the tank for that.  It only takes 30 mins to drive this but riding lets me, you guessed it, ride my bike (which I love) and not ride in a car (which I hate, especially when it's a bike able distance and I'm not hauling a cinder blocks or sheets of drywall.  Also: this is my little protest against having our society being virtually totally dependent on fossil fuels).  

Blueberries are ripe!

I wasn't sure, when I left, how long it would take me to get to Long Lake so I took my hammock so I could lay in it and kill time.

The wintergreen are ripe!

The ride to Horseshoe Lake started on some sandy ATV trails

Everybody swam in Horseshoe Lake.

After leaving Horseshoe the group rode back towards Long Lake where they were parked.  I rode with them most of the way and then turned around and headed home.

Shortly after I parted ways with the group it started to sprinkle.  It was light enough that just my wind vest kept me fairly warm and dry.

Mid August and signs of fall are around already here in northern Wisconsin.

Seepage

Put a map in front of me and I'm happy for hours.

Considering my love of maps it's surprising that it took me so long to realize that on the way back from my parents-in-law's place, if I don't go too directly, takes me to (or within sight of) five lakes.

They're all small lakes varying in size from 9 to 19 acres with a max. depth of around 20'.  With Lake Superior (20,288,000 acres and max. depth of 1,333') less than 30 miles away they're pretty small potatoes - but they're also quite lovely.  These are all seepage lakes in the sandy soil so they don't have streams flowing in or out.




John and I took off for a ride and by the time we got to the second lake he thought it was about time to head for home while I continued on to our place.

As far as I know there's no road/trail down to the lake...which is really quite intriguing. It seems like everything these days has to be accessible by a motor vehicle and when they're not it piques my curiosity.

On a day like this (mostly sunny, warm, and oh-by-the-way the saturday before memorial day) I'm sure the beaches on the Big Lake were busy.  Not so much here.

The managers of the CNNF love to log.  I understand that it's their job and national forests are tasked with this.  I just like big old trees and it bums me out that when I ride (or hike through) a nice stand of old trees in the CNNF I know that before too many years go by they're probably going to get the ax.  And to be fair there actually are a number of places with decent-sized trees that have been there for a while.  But there is also a lot of weedy  regrowth where they've cut things down and the pioneer species is aspen - and so there are a zillion 2" diameter aspen in a year or two - almost a monoculture.

I came to this lake a few years back to do some fishing with my friend Bill Heart.  At that point it was a short drive from the main road on a closely wooded two track and the lake was ringed with nice trees.  Now that two track is mostly open and the ring of trees is mostly gone.  Maybe there's some regulation that they can't cut right down to the water but the hillsides above the lake were sure cut.  

A few weeks back I got a Spot GPS tracker.  The thing has a GPS unit it it and four buttons.  One tells your specified recipients that you're OK. Another notifies them that you need help, and another notifies emergency services that your life is in danger and they should come and get you.  (The fourth one is the On/Off switch).  Anyway that's a little background about how I came upon this scene: I was riding along a paved connector road when I saw a little unlabeled two track leading off into the woods.  I'm curious by nature but being a family man I hesitate a bit to go off into the woods by myself where chances of anyone finding me, if things go south, are slim - my family needs me to be around.  But with the Spot I tend to go for it more.  And that's how I ended up riding my bike down a crumbling, overgrown stretch of what I presume to be the old road bed.  I had ridden by this stretch dozens of times and despite this stretch being close, and running parallel, to the present road I have never even had an inkling that this old roadbed is here.

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