Cutter's Chronicles

Wisconsin ATV Vacation: by Dexter Luck

        A couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to run across a young lady by the name of Jessica Priem. However, at the time she was going by Muddychick, her user name on an atv forum. Jess and I exchanged several messages and then phone calls and soon we had planned a ride I would not soon forget. Jess and her Husband Brian put together a ride that would be based out of Lake Hilbert Campground in northeastern Wisconsin. The date was set for mid August and now we had to wait it out until the time came to leave for the northland. I calculated the mileage from our home in Bloomington to Lake Hilbert and just about everything else you can imagine. I was like a child waiting on Christmas, had to stay busy or I wouldn't be able to bare the wait.

     Finally, the day came to leave. We had the toy hauler loaded, atv's safely loaded in the back, truck filled with fuel and even loaded our neighbor Louie and his atv. We did let Louie ride in the truck as long as he agreed to behave himself. We pulled out and headed north for what would be one of our favorite atv vacations. Ten hours later we arrived at the campground and located a camping spot that suited everyone, however there was consider discussion as to which was best.  We got the hauler parked and as we were in the process of leveling it, up walked a female figure dressed in olive drab trousers and I had no doubt I was about to meet Muddychick for the first time. I was not disappointed, she was everything I thought she would be and more. Full of excitement and bubbling over with hospitality.

     We got settled in and then it was time to get to know everyone. We spent the rest of the evening and into the night meeting those who had come to join us for this adventure. Even as we talked, more rigs pulled in to join in the fun. Ok, enough chatter, tomorrow we ride, so off we went to our respective campers with anticipation of the morning and the ride.

     Morning did come but none to soon. I was up early and Louie and I walked to the Lake Hilbert snack shack and had a fantastic breakfast. The owners of the campground had decided to treat the atv visitors with a breakfast buffet. We filled ourselves with plenty of eggs, hash browns, and bacon, as well as other tasty en treas. After eating our fill we didn't forget Bernice. We took her a order of biscuits and gravy but had to rouse her as she wasn't quite as excited as we were about the morning ride.

     The weather was perfect as we gathered our quads and lined up, ready to roll. There were around forty atv's total so we broke into two groups, one being lead by Brian, Jess's husband. We lined up in Brian's group and headed out. Brian lead us eastward along sandy trails lined with rich vegetation mixed with pine trees. We were on our way to Brian and Jess's cabin which was located near Pembine. We traveled through tall pine forests and over rolling terrain. One thing that stood out about the pine forests were the beautiful ferns that lined the forest floor. The ride to the cabin seemed only to have begun when we arrived, three hours later. The quads were parked and we were about to be treated to a outdoor barbecue of brats and hot dogs.

     Jess delegated the chores and things moved along smoothly. The smell of the brats started circling my nose and my mouth was watering. In no time we were chomping on the brats and chips and sharing our impressions of the ride to the cabin. Jess gave us a tour of the cabin and it is just what you would imagine a cabin in the north woods of Wisconsin should be. Very homey and nicely decorated. Saddle up! Someone shouted, and we were on our quads with engines running ready for more adventure.

     Brian lead us through twisty, winding trails filled with more fantastic scenery. I wondered if I might injure my neck as I turned my head from side to side taking in the sights. Mile after mile we enjoyed the scenery of the great north that had not been destroyed by buildings and urban sprawl. The bright sunlight soon turned into overcast and sprinkles that in turn changed to thunder and pouring rain. A quick stop for our rain gear and away we went, headed west and to Lake Hilbert. A short gas stop at Dunbar and we were back on the trail. Dips in the trail were now large puddles of water. Brian started opening up the throttle in an attempt to get us back to the campground as soon as he possibly could. A hundred miles later, we rolled into the campground, wet, tired and cold, but not deterred. We parked our atv's under the canopy and hustled into the camper, turned up the heat and took turns in the hot shower to get the sand off and get warm. We snacked on food we had brought from home and then off to bed for tomorrow was another ride.

     The next morning brought a light mist and cool temperatures. Louie and I started a campfire and huddled around it after we had again indulged in breakfast at the snack shack. Bernice joined us and others were beginning to emerge from their campers and tents. This was a hardy crowd and the rain wasn't going to stop us from riding. Nine o'clock sharp and we were lining up. Today we would go in another direction for more breathtaking scenery. We would stop by a trout stream that looked like it must surly have been featured in Outdoor Life for a lunch break, then off again, covering miles of trail lined with magnificent pine forests, stopping occasionally for breaks and snacks. All too soon we were back at Lake Hilbert. I thought to myself, that was a pretty short ride until I looked at my odometer and saw that we had traveled just short of a hundred miles.

     The evening was filled with laughter and smoke as we gathered around a campfire at Brian and Jess's camp site. Some of our Wisconsin friends had prepared some scrumptious specialties for us to share. Carmen, who uses the name Gotmud on the web sites, had brought some pickled hot dogs she had canned herself. Now I had never eaten pickled hot dogs before, but they were tasty. There were several ears of corn roasting over the open fire and I can tell you without hesitation, they were very good. The laughter grew as friends shared the days events, telling of other adventures they had experienced and enjoying the evening together. The rain had ended and expectations of tomorrow were beginning to build.

     Day three would take us across wild rivers, to waterfalls and to the Wisconsin-Michigan state lines where we looked across to the Iron Mountain Ski resort and viewed the ski jump, which at one time, was the highest in North America. Today we were riding in Florence County, which is iron ore country. On our first stop I noticed the reddish color on the wheels of my atv and was informed that it takes a lot of scrubbing to get it off. I later found that was good information. We stopped at a play area where we climbed a sand hill and raced through a large water hole. The entire group was behaving like children and loving it. My favorite memory of this days ride was Washburn Falls. We had to park and walk back a path for about fifty yards to the falls. As Bernice and I traveled the path to the falls I noticed something on the ground that caught my eye. I stopped abruptly, and pointed to the ground. Bernice asked, what is it? I simply said, it's warm, smells bad and was left by a bear. From that point to the waterfalls both Bernice and I had our eyes wide open and paid attention to our surrounding's  The waterfall was not large by most standards but beautiful none the less. A few photo's of the falls and of our group and we were ready to return to our quads, knowing that a bear would probably not bother a large group, but just the same, we weren't taking any chances. The light was fading as we returned to Lake Hilbert. We had spent three days with some wonderful new friends exploring the north woods of Wisconsin and had gained memories we would cherish forever. Another night around the campfire, spending as much time as possible reliving the past three days was all that was left of our adventure. Tomorrow would come too soon.

A special thanks to:

The staff of Lake Hilbert Campground Debbie and staff of Richard's in Dunbar (great food). Brian and Jessica Priem Carmen. A big thanks to Vicky Young and her husband, whose name I had written down and lost, for guiding us on the last day of the ride. And all the other great friends we met at Lake Hilbert.