Hi Folks!
It’s been awhile since I’ve blown the dust off of this blog to post an update, so I figured it was time to update y’all on some recent hiking activity that I’ve undertaken. Over the course of the past year, I’ve been busily working and saving up for future hiking endeavors (more on that later). After a laborious summer of long hours peddling pizza and coffee in Hayward, WI, it was high time to break away from the world for another peaceful excursion into the woods. Notably, though, this time I was hiking right here in Wisconsin, and I was accompanied by my friend Matt Ostrander for his first backpacking trip!
So, what is the North Country Trail?
For those who don’t know (and I’ve come to find that’s a great many people), the North Country Trail (NCT for short) is a roughly 4,800 mile trail that runs from North Dakota in the west to Vermont in the east. It actually terminates where it meets up with the Appalachian Trail, just outside of Killington, VT. Just about 212 miles of the NCT passes through northern Wisconsin, making it really accessible for somebody that lives in Hayward.
Since finishing the AT in December 2024, I had not been on an overnight backpacking trip of any sort. I was delightedly surprised when Matt asked me if I might be interested in accompanying him on a hike on the NCT. As this was his first backpacking trip, it was necessary to meet up a couple of times before leaving for the trip to discuss gear needs and hiking logistics. We thru hikers love to discuss gear, so I was more than happy to help out! After a shakedown hike on the 34 mile American Birkebeiner ski trail, we had our gear dialed-in and were ready to set off on the NCT on September 21st.
Starting the Trail: Michigan Border to Tilted Gabbro campsite (18.2 miles)
Our journey began at the Michigan/Wisconsin border, making our hike a westbound trek (WeBo for short?). Matt’s wife, Buffy, was kind enough to take the time to drive us from Hayward to the border, so a major shoutout to her for being our first trail angel! On the way, we realized that Matt had forgotten his tent stakes. This would be the first tent stake mess-up of the trip (more later…). After picking up some oversized nails at the general store in Mellon, Buffy dropped us off at the MI/WI border in the only rain that we’d see for the entirety of our hike. With that, we were off!
This really was the only rain we’d see the entire hike. Somehow, we were blessed with what can only be described as perfect weather for this trip. Each day had about 70 F for a high, 40’s-50’s for lows, partly cloudy or sunny, and dry. After our first half hour of hiking, the rain quit while we took a quick adjustment break at a marina on Lake Superior (the only time we’d see the lake).
One important thing to note about the NCT is that it’s not 100% trail; some of it is still routed over road. In Wisconsin, the areas near the MI and MN border in particular have some lengthy stretches of road-walking. Our first day ‘on trail’ had us walk about 15 miles of road; some paved, and some dirt logging road. The last 3-ish miles, though, were actually newly constructed trail along the Tyler Forks River, which offered surprise waterfall scenery and brand spankin’ new campsites. We camped our first night at Tilted Gabbro campsite.
Day 2: Rolling on Fumes into Sandstone Ledges (19.5 miles)
Our second day on trail would have us entirely on trail, fully immersed in the dense woods. I found the winding dirt pathway of the trail to be much nicer than plodding along on blacktop. Beginning the day with a steep climb away from the river, we were treated to a great view that showed us that fall colors were only just beginning to show. Another highlight was the site of an abandoned gold mine. I later learned that this mine was active in 1901, and reached a depth of 130 feet. Now, it’s just a collection of old pits, dump piles of junk rock, and some discarded equipment. Definitely neat, though!
You might think that autumn in Wisconsin would be a busy time on trail, as the temperatures were perfect for hiking, and the bugs were virtually nonexistent, but we really didn’t see many folks out there. We did cross paths with a couple of ladies that volunteer with the NCT, who informed us that we’d soon be crossing a newly-constructed bridge; a mighty construction that did not disappoint.
I must say, it took me a little bit of time to get used to hiking with somebody. On the AT, I hiked with others in the sense that I met up with them at the end of the day, but I almost never actively hiked during the day with those folks. During this hike, Matt and I spent the majority of our time hiking together. It was great having somebody to converse with. Matt is a great storyteller, and seemed never to be at a loss for some topical anecdote or something humorous or educational to add. He was very fun to hike with.
Pacing, though, was something we sort of had to feel out over the first few days. Left to my own devices, my hiking pace tends toward 3 – 3.5 mph with limited breaks, usually a mid-morning, a lunch, and a mid-afternoon break. When hiking together, though, individual styles need to be compromised. Matt is a touch older than I am, and tended to hike a bit slower, and perhaps not as far as I would have done solo. That’s not to say that he is not a strong hiker, though. I was really impressed with how well he jumped in and adapted to backpacking, and certainly think he could outpace most folks. At the end of that second day, though, he was a little bit worse for wear as we finished our 19.5 miles at Sandstone Ledges campsite at the north end of Copper Falls State Park.
When we arrived at Sandstone Ledges, I figured nobody would be there. After all, we’d seen virtually nobody our entire time out. To our surprise, though, there was a solo woman named Teresa that had the site reserved. She turned out to be very kind, though, and allowed us to share the camp. She is a ‘weekend warrior’ hiker, but has aspirations to thru hike someday, so she and I had plenty to chat about. Matt took a quick dip in the river, hung up some clothes to dry, and he and I played cribbage to close out the night, as would become our usual custom pretty much every night.
Day 3: Copper Falls, our first Trail Town, and Penokee Ski Trail Shelter (12.7 miles)
Having done some pretty high-mileage days from the outset, we elected to do a shorter day for our third day. The plan was to hike through Copper Falls state park, stop for lunch and resupply in Mellon, and then hike on the Penokee Ski Trail shelter for a shorter day. This entailed first crawling out of the hole that Sandstone Ledges camp is situated in (seriously, it’s deep out of the way of the trail). For those of y’all that haven’t visited Copper Falls, it’s a fantastic park with trails of varying difficulty, and makes for a great day trip if you’re in northern WI. We saw more folks here than anywhere we had on trail up to that point.
After leaving the park, a large, low-lying meadow separates you from the first trail town of WI – Mellen. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say this stretch of trail was one of the lousiest sections of trail so far. It’s probably an issue inherent to any meadow-y section, but you’re almost guaranteed to get your feet soaked as you high-step it through the tall grass here. We were both relieved to escape from the snarl of tall grass and enter into a boardwalk section north of Mellen.
Unfortunately for us, there were no restaurants open at the time and day that we arrived. Instead, we treated ourselves to some fresh-sliced deli meats for sandwiches at Northland Foods. For such a small town, this little grocery store had plenty of options for resupply, albeit a bit pricier than you might find at a larger store. All the same, the staff was very friendly, and let us sit in the store to recharge electronics and sort our resupplies into our bags.
After Matt tended to some blisters, we began a road walk out of Mellen to finish off our day. Eventually, the road became trail again, and soon shared trails with the Penokee ski trail system. To my immense pleasure, the ski trails have a warming hut that can be used as a shelter, and reminded me exactly of an Appalachian Trail shelter. We finished our day here, even though the water source was dried up, and I had very little water to speak of. Matt was kind enough to share his, and we dry camped. Since we ended the day early, we built a fire to enjoy and dry out some of our wet clothes. It turned out to be a very relaxing evening.
Day 4: Shelter-hopping to the Marengo River (16.0 miles)
Our fourth day was another beautiful day. The first thing on our agenda was to pack up and head about a mile down trail to Trout Brook campsite, where we could get some water and enjoy breakfast. It was a nice little campsite.
On this day, we played around a bit with hiking apart, but meeting through the day at water sources and other meeting spots. This entailed me hiking ahead, waiting for Matt to catch up, and taking a break. I believe this was the only day we did this before reverting back to hiking as a pair. This stretch of trail had some beautiful overlooks; some of the last we’d see for a bit. I really enjoyed stopping to take in the views, with the first of the fall colors starting to touch the treetops in the river valley. Also in this section there are the remnants of an old Swedish settlement that you can explore. Definitely worth checking out.
We were lucky enough to be treated to yet another Adirondack-style shelter at the Marengo River. With easy access to the river, I took my first opportunity to wash some clothes and wash myself a bit while I watied for Matt to arrive. It was much needed; the amount of grime I was able to wash out of my socks was almost nauseating.
Day 5: The Big Push to Drummond (22.1 miles)
There had been some discussion on how far to push this fifth day, as we knew that we needed to end up in Drummond at a reasonable time to meet either Buffy or my mom for resupply. Drummond is situated on Highway 63 about 30 miles north of Hayward, so it’s the closest point on the trail to home. After an easy last two days, I thought we could make it the full 22 miles in one shot. We decided to wing it, and see how far the day would bring us.
There was plenty of neat stuff to break up the day, though. We got some final views of the valley, and then plunged into the deep woods of the Chequamegon-Nicolet national forest. On this day, we adopted a new hiking style where Matt took the lead and set the pace, which we kept up for the remainder of the trip. Honestly, he was a great pace-setter, and I think it worked pretty darn well.
At Porcupine Lake, we took a break while we listened to acorns plunk into the water from an overhanging oak tree. I think it was around here that I realized that after thousands of miles of hiking, I’d finally lost my tent stakes…. I knew exactly where they were likely to be: back at the Sandstone Bluff campsite in Copper Falls. After all, the at was the last time I’d used my tent, as we’d been in shelters the last two nights. It was something I’d have to remedy in Drummond.
We ate lunch at Two Lakes Campground, where they had luxurious running water! From here, we were pretty sure we’d make it the full 22 miles to Drummond. We took one final, mid-afternoon break at the Lake Owen recreation area picnic grounds. Here, as I was the one with the map, I think I’d said we had just 2 miles left, where it was actually 3.5. I didn’t break it to Matt until he became suspicious. That was fine, but the final road walk into the Drummond Lake Campground made Matt a bit sour. It was a long day, so I was more than willing to cut him some slack.
Our night in Drummond was luxurious. The campground has a hot shower that you can pay for with quarters. It took a little bit of convincing, but i was eventually able to buy some quarters from the clerk at the gas station with the promise that I could get him some the next day. Here, I also got some comically oversized tent stakes (plastic yellow ones, I presume for nailing down circus tents), to hold me over until my resupply tomorrow. I got some snack food at the gas station, we washed ourselves and our clothes in the hot, hot showers, and we ate dinner at a local bar (KD’s) while we recharged ourselves and our electronics.
I have one quick aside about bugs in northern Wisconsin at the end of September. We really didn’t have any issues with mosquitoes aside from this one night, and only while setting. Up camp, too. Oddly, they were hellacious just at sundown, but we were able to play a game of cribbage outside after dinner without being accosted at all.
Day 6: Rainbow Lake Wilderness, and the “Waterless” Stretch (20.6 miles)
Waking up in Drummond, our first order of business was to resupply. My mom and our friend, Cathy, were kind enough to meet us in Drummond with our resupply boxes, which were full of goods like summer sausage, trail mix, and appropriately-sized tent stakes. We topped off our supplies, grabbed a quick breakfast at the gas station, resupplied them with quarters, and caught a ride back to the trailhead.
The first ten miles or so north of Drummond are dotted with a number of small lakes, which made for a very pleasant morning. There was always something to look at as we winded our way through the hills in this stretch.
Looking at the FarOut app (the main means I use to navigate on trail), it appeared that there was a long section with no water after Tower Lakae (a typo, clearly, on the app). So, we filled up all of our water bottles, and set off down the trail encumbered by many pounds more than we’d have liked to carry. As we would discover through the day, though, there really were water sources ahead, just not identified on the map. I would sourly point this out every time we passed viable water.
Toward the end of the day, we ran into a bit of trouble finding a spot to camp. As the sun began to get low in the sky, we started scanning the woods for any spot that would be flat enough and clear enough to set up a stealth camping site, but we were stymied mile after mile. Finally, at Bob Nolan overlook, we were able to find just enough room to squeeze in our tents. I set mine up open what was obviously a deer bed in some long grass. If it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me. In the middle of the night, I’d be woken up by a buck making its way by my tent; surely cursing me out for having taken his spot.
Day 7: The Crossing of Hwy 27, Trail Magic, and the Twine Ball (22.9 miles)
Leaving our campsite at the overlook, the NCT begins heading south on its way toward the next trail town: Solon Springs. As we hiked on, the biome made a noticeable shift away from dense deciduous forest to open, sandy terrain covered in popple slash and pine trees. It was really neat to have seen such diverse terrain over the almost 100 miles we’d hiked so far. Our goal today would be to cover most of the ground to Solon Springs to have an easy day into town tomorrow.
This would turn out to be one of my favorite days of hiking on the trip. I think it was the combination of great views from the hillsides, great weather, and really falling into a great stride hiking with Matt. The day just seemed, well, seemless. We crossed highway 27, which, for some reason, felt like a milestone to me. At one of the dry road crossings, we even encountered some trail magic in fe form of a couple jugs of water placed on the trail with a note. I’d like to give a special shoutout to those anonymous trail angels!
We set up camp for the night in the pine forest near Highland Town Hall, where we were pleased to be greeted by potable running water and JFK’s world famous ball of twine! I hadn’t known the ball had been relocated here from lake Nebagamon, so it was truly a surprise treat to find such a piece of oddball history out on the trail. Fascinating stuff.
We leveraged the town hall’s water to wash some clothes, wash our gross selves, and fill up on water without the chore of filtering. We built a nice fire before bed, and played some cribbage by headlamp. I forget exactly what our win/loss count was at this point in the trip, but I think this is the night the cards turned against me and I fell behind.
Day 8: The Brule – St. Croix Portage, and Striking-Out in Solon Springs (16.5 miles)
We woke up the next morning to the sound of bear dogs barking off in the distance; a sound that would be with us for the first few miles of the day. After the first few miles, the NCT begins to follow a portage trail connecting the Bois Brule River to the St. Croix River, a path that is marked by a number of portage stones. This is a portage that would allow folks to get from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, and it was neat to walk that same path.
After the portage, we were treated to the Brule Bog boardwalk, an impressive boardwalk nearly a mile long through low-lying marshy bog land. Walking over those planks, I had a real sense of gratitude for all of the trail maintainers and volunteers that make infrastructure like this possible. It had to have been a ton of hard, uncomfortable work to put something like this into place so that we could cruise through this bog and appreciate wilderness that we otherwise wouldn’t have been easily able to. Thanks, NCT volunteers!
After the boardwalk, we had a bit of road walking before arriving in Solon Springs. Our first stop was at the St. Croix Inn, a hotel with a bar and restaurant situated on Upper St. Croix Lake. The bar maid could not impress upon us enough how limited their menu was, almost to the point that isn’t seemed she was trying to dissuade us from eating there. Nevertheless, I got a pizza, Matt got a burger with a scab of bacon-esque substance, and it was infinitely better than ramen and kielbasa. It was nice to enjoy a meal on the patio on such a beautiful day.
From there, we set up camp in Lucius Woods county park, a well-maintained park in the middle of town. There was nobody at all there, so we selected a nice spot and set up camp. The day was September 28th, and their website said camping was allowed through the end of the month, as did a paper sign posted at the entry to the park. Despite this, we were accosted by a a timid park ranger that didn’t directly come out and say he was kicking us out, but did heavily imply it. Begrudgingly, we began to pack up camp to head outside of town to the nearest backpacking site. Before leaving, we were able to use the park’s free showers (which were really quite nice), and I walked to the grocery store only to find that it closed early on Sundays. What a drag.
Shortly after crossing US Highway 53, we camped at Leo Creek campsite. Here, we shared the site with the only other backpackers we’d meet on our trip, a father and son pair about 350 miles into their trip on the Superior Hiking Trail (310 miles from the US/Canada border to the WI/MN border), the WI NCT (the 215 miles we were doing), and finishing at Lake of the Clouds in Michigan. They were just as surprised to see us, and we exchanged notes on the trail ahead rom each of our perspectives. It was refreshing, especially after being ushered out of Solon Springs unceremoniously.
Day 9: My Last Day on Trail, the Bird Sanctuary, and Gordon Dam (9.7 miles)
For me, this would be the last day on trail. I had to get back to work, so I would be unable to make the entire trip to the Minnesota border. The day’s agenda was a short hike to the Gordon Dam County Park, where we were planning to meet Buffy, who would give me a lift back home.
Putting some distance between us and the highway, we hiked on into the Douglas County Wildlife Area, AKA the “Bird Sanctuary.” This was a very open area awash with tall grass, shrubbery, and, yes, a lot of birds. We even happened upon a couple of birds in the act of making more birds (a Google image search would later suggest these were northern bobwhites). We also saw ducks, geese, swans, a heron, and many other birds.
In the midst of the sanctuary is a campsite at Rover’s Lake. We stopped here for a break, and it looked, to me, like one of the nicest, most picturesque sites on the trail so far. It would have been a great place to spend an afternoon or an overnight stay.
We hiked on, and as we drew close to Gordon Dam, settled, finally, on a trail name for Matt. As it had been his nightly custom to string a line to dry his clothes, as well as to hang clothes on the outside of his pack as he hiked, we decided on the trail name Clothesline. It was an all too obvious choice after constantly hiking behind a shambling mound of underwear and socks for nearly two hundred miles.
We arrived at Gordon Dam park around midday, and I was greeted by none other than the bashful park ranger that had kicked us out of Lucius Woods. “I see you made it here with good time,” he quipped. I could have punched him.
While waiting for Buffy, we played some games of cribbage, at which time I won some games and evened our score. Neither of us having gotten the leg up on the other, we decided that we could still be friends. When Buffy arrived, I packed up my gear and bid good luck to Clothesline (the hiker formerly known as Matt) as he shuffled away on his westward trek to the Minnesota border.
Days 10, 11, and 12: Clothesline Breaks for the Border (55.7 miles)
Though I sorely wish I could have stuck around to hike the final miles of the WI section of the NCT, I had to go back to work. Nevertheless, I can share some of the details of what the final leg of the trail entails, and share some photos that Clothesline shared with me later.
Clothesline stayed that night after we parted at Scott Rapids campsite on the St. Croix River, which he attests is perhaps the nicest site on the WI NCT. From there, there is a lot of road walking (nearly 32 miles) before getting a bit of a respite at Pattinson State Park, home of Big Manitou Falls, the highest waterfall in Wisconsin. Nearby the park, he got what looked to be the best burger on the trail at Manitou Inn Bar and Grill.
The NCT passes through a couple of “towns,” if they could be called that, through this road walk, but not much of anything else. It had to be pretty brutal hiking this particular section, as the monotony of walking over straight, flat-ish, paved roads can take a toll on your mind and your feet. To be sure, Matt was looking a little sore when we met him at the end.
On the last day of his hike, I rode with Buffy to the Minnesota border to meet Clothesline at the end of his successful first backpacking trip. He looked tired, sure, but also glad in what he had accomplished. We went out for a celebratory meal at Longbranch Saloon in Minong. With that, the trip was done for the both of us.
TLDR: Summary, Conclusions, and Takeaways
On our trip through Wisconsin, I was able to hike 158.3 miles, and Matt was able to complete a successful border to border section hike of 214 miles. We saw just how dramatically the biomes of northern WI could change as we hiked through rocky waterfall country, the dense Chequamegon Nicolet national forest, the Brule-St. Croix River portage, and the open, prairie-like bird sanctuary. We were challenged by long days on trail at first, but fell into a rhythm in our second half that made 20+ mile days seem easy.
I was sure glad to have had the opportunity to share this adventure with Matt, later Cloothesline. From the initial process of selecting gear and cooking his very first package of ramen noodles, to limping into camp on Day 2, to setting the pace through 20 mile days, to finishing the trail solo, it was a joy to watch him come into his own as a hiker. I hope to be able to endeavor future trips with him, too, as I sure had a lot of fun.
I’d like to once more thank the hordes of ambitious folks that volunteer their time to make trails like this possible. Without y’all, it’d have been much harder to do a trip like this. Thanks, NCT volunteers!
This trip may not have been a cross-country thru hike, but it was still a fantastic journey. Even if you have just a week, you can get out and discover the diverse, challenging lands that exist as close as your own backyard. No backpacking experience? No problem! Find a friend and get out there! I proved to myself yet again just how much I love being out in nature, and was able to share that with somebody else. I can’t wait to get out there and do it again sometime soon!
Thanks for reading, folks!
Tingo Hikes! 
A great duo!
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A great duo!
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