Chequamegon National Forest

Kieran,

There are some beautiful trails in Northern Wisconsin. Particularly the North Country Trail. I spent a weekend backpacking near Mellen, WI on the NCT.

Here is a link to maps of this area:

http://www.northcountrytrail.org/che/map1c.htm

Here are some photos I took on the trip:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walloftvs/sets/72157612275827007/

I would second Sam's suggestion of the North Country Trail. The stretch from Mellen to Solon Springs is complete with good tread and reasonably good signage. Ticks, flies and mosquitos can be bad in May and June, so July, August, and September could be considered "prime" hiking season. But the trail is hikable year round if you plan accordingly.

Sam, you must have been in Montana long enough to forget your Wisconsin geography; your hike was closer to Solon Springs than Mellen ;)

Thanks for the info guys, just what I needed. One more question – about how crowded is it on the North Country Trail?

You can purchase a decent map of the Chequemegon/Nicolet forest at many of the Sports stores in Hayward or from USGS site:

http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/catalog/setCurrentItem/%28layout=6_1_61_50_2&uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails&next=seeItem&carea=0000000214&citem=00000002140000000002%29/.do

It's a really cool map.

Also, Eric Hansen's "Hiking Wisconsin"

Personally, one of my favorite areas is near Black Lake – http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/cnnf/rec/trailsntours/che_black_lake.html

It's just one of the great hikes on the Chequamegon side.

The entire forest is criss-crossed by old logging roads, some of them are great hikes by themselves. Some trails double as ATV routes (Flambeau) – the North Country Trail isn't one of them. The NCT passes through Marengo semi-primitive and the Porcupine Lake Wilderness – lots of solitude.

Another possibility would be the Ice Age Trail – I was just reading about a planning outing for Fall colors in October:

http://www.thebackpacker.com/trips/trip/994.php

I love northern wisc :)

You got me there, Stuart. I had to dig way back into my brain and check some of my computer archives to remember as much as I typed for my post above ; )