The Tour de Nicolet is a bikepacking trip that I organize each year. I send out invitations to a few of my friends and like to keep it to no more than 12 people. Each year I make the route a little different, this year being a loop, each day being about 70 miles in length, wandering and weaving throughout the Nicolet National Forest. This year as like last year we would be starting and ending at Jack Lake.
The Commute
My plan was to ride from Wausau to Jack Lake after my work day ended at 3:00. The west wind makes it a relatively quick 56 mile ride to get there. After eating a burrito for dinner and saying goodbye to my family I took off making it to camp by 8:00. Kelly Longtine, who was driving from four hours away, told me he would meet me there to camp with me. When I got there I was surprised to not see him there already. With the daylight being the longest of the year at the end of June I easily had enough time to set up camp and gather wood for a fire. During the time that I was setting up camp Kelly did arrive and he brought a few beers, a nice treat while sitting by the fire.
Day 1
Packing up in the morning was quick and easy and I met the rest of the group at Jack Lake singletrack trailhead parking lot. It was a straight shot of two miles on a decent fire lane road. We had a plan to meet up and leave by seven but this turned closer to eight as we stood and talked a while before setting out.
The sun was shining and we had perfect weather as we rolled past familiar places such as Augustyn Springs, Crotch Vegas, and Kent fire tower. Shortly after grabbing some sodas out of the bear proof remotely placed cooler of Crotch Vegas we saw our first bear of the trip standing in the road. We were coming around a corner so we actually got very close to it.
Soon after Kent fire tower I mapped the route in areas new to the others. A mass of county owned land between highway 52 and highway 64, roughly 8 miles from top to bottom, provides me with ample opportunities of endless miles of logging roads and fire lanes to work with that criss-cross the forest. This forest road I used is one of my favorites. It is bench cut into the side of a massive hill, hills that are numerous in this area. It then hooks up to a lesser traveled logging road with giant wash outs on the descents and hard climbs with baby head rocks. It was on this road that we saw a giant moth. It was like no other that I’ve ever seen before with a body the size of my thumb and wingspan of 6-8”.
Leaving the county forest we immediately connect to the Wolf River State Trail. This multi use trail took us into White Lake, a tiny town most people never go through. The town has an historic train museum but most importantly for us is the deli at White Lake Market. The food here is amazingly inexpensive and has huge portions. We all had some form of a sub that comes in a giant roll. The market is a step back in time with its jars of pickled meats on the deli counter and variety of items for sale that are home made by locals. I picked out some chips, a chocolate milk and a homemade cookie to round out my meal.
After fueling up our bodies we had a few miles of fast rolling blacktop and then some singletrack through the unique Nicolet Roche with its giant boulders on the singletrack. Rolling over them with our loaded bikes is challenging and fun!
We exit the singletrack onto some forest two track roads that lead us to a slightly better road. Lots of creeks and small rivers in this area meant we were jumping in one of my favorite hidden spots, a nice relief on this hot summer day that was pushing ninety.
Fifteen miles of paths consisting of sand roads, active logging roads and ATV trails were in front of us before we’d roll into Mountain. The active logging road is what gave Chris a tire puncture that should’ve ended his ride if not for Candace’s Dynaplug bacon strip tool. The stick that went into Chris’s tire was about a half inch in diameter.
Candace was quick with the largest bacon strip loaded into the Dynaplug and as soon as Chris pulled the stick out she had the bacon strip in and stopped the leak immediately. It was a pretty amazing fix to what looked like a hole that was way too big to plug!
We stopped in Mountain for some resupply at the gas station while Eric looked around the small town for a store that had loctite for a stubborn seat bolt that kept loosening. He came up empty handed as the local hardware store was already closed. Our camp was only a few miles away and after setting up camp and a second swim of the day in the river we all went to the Weatherwood Supper Club, a favorite stop for those that go on this trip throughout the years.
Chris likes the place so much he brought a black tie knowing we would stop.
But seriously, the great thing about this restaurant is that they have a soup and salad bar. I’m a big fan of getting fresh vegetables whenever possible on a bikepacking trip. By the time we got done with dinner and made the two mile ride back to camp it was time to sleep.
Day 2
Day two was a tough day, probably the toughest, with a lot of sand roads the were exceptionally soft because of the lack of rain this year. One reprieve from the sand at about the halfway point at Butler Rock was welcomed. We sat there for a good while soaking in the breeze on the high overlook on yet another hot day. Down in the forest the breeze was almost non existent.
Some more sand roads were ahead of us for a few more miles, a few instances of pushing bikes up the hills. The reward ahead of us was a hidden waterfall at the old fish hatchery. A fish hatchery that has been closed for a while but still owned by the National Forest and gated off a mile from it to keep cars out. It is just a super amazing hidden place that I found by accident a year ago. I think we all went into the super cold water. The temperature was now about ninety but within the mist of the falls it dropped to about sixty.
The falls itself was a double drop with areas at each level to wade in. I took the time to filter some of the crystal clear water out of the falls but I suspect filtering was not necessary given the clear nature of the water.
The property has a bunch of old buildings still standing and gives a haunted vibe with its state of abandonment.
Leaving the falls behind we had to climb the big hill back up to the gate.
A difficult climb in the heat up to thunder mountain, which was maybe a 600 foot climb, and then a stop at Thunder Mountain Lodge for a coke and some air conditioning. We didn’t make the stop long because we haven’t made very many miles so far, but needed the break from the heat. With refreshed bodies we set out from there and headed deeper into the national forest, through some really great ATV trail. This one made better with the dry conditions, a little bit of a flow singletrack feel to it. After this it was a fifteen mile stretch and we were at Wabee Lodge. This place also had a soup and salad bar. It’s a must stop if in the area. The last stretch of our day was 25 miles through some of the most beautiful areas in the national forest.
The gravel is always really fast rolling here. The only downside was the relentless black flies. It seems that they were out a week later this year. Our camp for the night was at Goodman Park, a small county campground that also is home to StrongFalls. The river is not so good for swimming and cleaning up, because of the combination of fast flowing water and rocky and slippery conditions, but better than nothing. To our surprise Goodman Park had firewood for sale on an honor system pay can. Eric and I happened to grab a site that a turtle resided in.
We gave her plenty of room to lay her eggs and pitched our tents at a distance. With our tents set up we sat around a nice fire with good campfire conversations on the day that we had.
Day 3
Morning routine was as usual, pack everything up, eat some breakfast, which for me was a bar and an apple that I still had in my feed bag from home, and fill up on water. We had about fifteen miles of good forest road to get to Armstrong Creek, which was home of one of the best convenience stores around. Lots of typical gas station hot food options. All of this day was typical forest gravel roads for easy and fast riding.
A favorite stop on this section is Morgan Lake, a national forest campground with a great swimming beach. A little rain came down on us after Morgan Lake. By this time we were really close to our lunch/dinner stop at the Roadhouse139.
This place has great smoked meat specials on Saturdays. This being a Saturday I ordered the quarter chicken special and their amazing homemade sides. They also have a great outdoor area, one of the positive things that businesses put in during the pandemic. We sat there for a couple hours while the rain came down. It was the only day of rain we would see on the trip, here at the roadhouse and a little more during the night at camp. A few of the locals came and asked us about our adventure and our bikes. One guy that was talking to me thought we had e-bikes. He thought my frame bag was the motor. I guess a frame bag does look a little strange to people that have not really looked at a bikepacking setup.
Unfortunately this was also the end of Kelly Longtines trip as he came down with something and felt too ill to go on further. Deciding to call a friend a couple hours away, he was picked up.
Leaving the roadhouse left us with only ten easy miles to the campground at Lost Lake. Once there we set up and went for a swim. After our swim Eric and I cut up a dead tree for our fire. We also found a few 12” diameter blocks of wood, one of which was our all nighter in the fire pit and the others were repurposed as chairs.
Another night of great campfire conversations but once the rain started up around ten everyone went off to their tents. The sound of rain on the tent was, as always, a nice way to drift off to sleep.
Day 4
The start of our ride on day four was a stop at Chipmunk Rapids, a couple miles from Lost Lake, to fill up our water at the artesian well. The water runs continuously and is such an amazing hidden secret up there. With full loads of crystal clear water it was off to Long Lake for breakfast at Grandma Sally’s. Generous portions for a low price is always a standard there. After ordering the pulled pork scramble I went outside and laid out my tent and other wet stuff in the sun to dry from the previous night’s rain. With the completely clear skies and the high summer sun it didn’t take long to dry out. It also seemed like the previous night’s rain pushed any humidity out and we were given a perfect summer day.
After breakfast we made our way through the dense pine forests of the Popple River headwaters portion of the Nicolet. In the center of this section of forest is the giant MacArthur Pine log. It lays on its side with a plaque in front of it, lightning taking the tree down in 2003. In the 40s it was considered the largest white pine in the world at 17’6” in circumference and stood at a massive 140’. In the shade of the dense pine forest I cannot imagine this log will last for too many years.
The forest starts to thin out a little as we approach Argonne and cross County Highway G but we quickly go back into the forest after G. We are now on some pretty amazing roads as we close in on Otter Springs single track trail system.
The road hugs the edge of a small creek for a little ways. Once to the singletrack we had the option of riding the trails or staying in the gravel to bypass the single track. Chris and I decided to ride a new line on the singletrack to test it out for his Crystal Bear bikepack race next spring. The others would meet us a few miles up the road at Johnnie’s Resort.
Johnnie’s Resort is another must stop location on the route. They serve a brand of frozen pizzas called King Pin. They’re made in Green Bay and are super yummy. If you’re not sitting inside at the bar overlooking beautiful Wabikon Lake you can sit on the great outdoor patio with a nice view of the lake. We sat outside on this occasion and ordered three pizzas. The pizzas along with a New Glarus was a great combination on this amazing day.
As we rolled out I noticed a gated snowmobile trail and on my Garmin it looked like it would connect us to the road we would eventually be on so I convinced the group to take it and add a little scouting adventure to our day. Turned out to be a lucky guess, however we did end up on the snowmobile trail a little further than I thought from looking at the map. It was a super fun little section, maybe 3-4 miles in length. The grass was a little long in spots and made for a fun detour that brought us to where we needed to be.
Back on our original route we had about fifteen more miles with a wide assortment of riding surfaces. There was the hilly gravel we were on followed by a few miles of asphalt, a quick section of ski trail to short cut some of the asphalt, then some really great snowmobile trail, and finally an ATV trail that took us into Wabeno. You don’t want to skip Wabeno because of the gas station for resupply and all of the interesting historical pieces they have along the main street. It’s an old logging town and they take great pride in preserving that history. They have a logging museum that is free of charge and a giant logging train sitting out front. As you travel further down the street you pass an old log built library that still functions as one, a small historic church, and a one room schoolhouse. It’s really a cool town that most people never travel through.
Leaving Wabeno is a quick asphalt ride to the campsite at Richardson Lake National Forest campground. With it being a Sunday night we had our pick of sites and we got our best one of the entire trip. It sat high above Richardson Lake with awesome views of the sunset. Collecting wood for our campfire consisted of a combination of foraging through the forest around our site and me riding around on my bike, going site to site and collecting firewood from the previous weekend’s campers leftovers. I would use my front rack making quick time on hauling pieces back to our site.
Our combined efforts netted us with a giant pile for one final night’s fire.
The fire was great, the conversations greater and our backdrop was of a beautiful lake. The wind was high when we got there and a few sprinkles moved through but once those passed it became calm and peaceful for our last night.
Day 5
Today being the last day everyone was a little antsy to get back to Jack Lake. I, on the other hand, had to ride all the way back to Wausau making it a solid 100 mile day for me. Most of the roads are very easy on this day. We exit the National Forest and into the Pickerel area consisting of many more lakes and vacation homes on those lakes. Despite the fact that there are more asphalt roads on this day, the twisting and turning in and around all the lakes make for a memorable experience. We stopped at a small little dam and snapped one final picture of our group, minus Kelly Longtine.
Before departing as a group and me going my separate way back to Wausau, Chris and I take one final deviation from the route, a shortcut that I spot, which uses an old logging road. It was a great little shortcut that led us up an enormous hill neither of us could climb. Once at the top it connects to a snowmobile trail which would be where Chris and I went our separate directions.
After saying our goodbyes I was off for 50 or so miles to get back home. One stop at a gas station in Summit Lake and later on, one river fjord, I made quick time of the last leg of my journey.
This was an amazing year five of the Tour de Nicolet. Although it was smaller than the previous two years, it was a great group of friends making memories to last a lifetime. And now, time to start working on next summer’s route…
Shane Hitz Biking Adventures 