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I got out of Copper Falls pretty early this morning. The sky was a blanket of low clouds, but they all burned off by the time I made my first stop in Glidden. The rest of the day was sunny bbut cool, with a light southeast breeze that didn’t help but wasn’t too hard on me either.My bigest challenge and frustration today was, in fact, renewed chafing soreness on my posterior. I think I need to replace my padded undershorts with something else. I have no idea what.
It was 16 miles from Glidden to Park Falls, and I made it there about 10:30. I was already ahead of what I had planned, which was to camp 20 miles east of Park Falls at Fishtrap Campground. Instead I decided to have lunch at Fishtrap and continue on to the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest east of Woodruff. As it turned out, there was no sign on Shady Knoll Road for Fishtrap Campground, so I missed it entirely. I had lunch a couple miles further on at Round Lake Recreation Area.
Round Lake was the site of a restored logging dam, a big wooden sluiceway with gates that can be closed to build up water behind it, then opened to release the water to carry logs downstream. It itsn’t used anymore, but was restored as a museum piece, a relic of an ugly era of boundless greed and careless destruction of the great pine forest. After eating lunch, I hiked the interpretive trail over the dam and along the river, appreciating the loaded blackberry bushes much more than the works of man.
I hit the road for 24 more miles east on highway 70 to Woodruff, where I picked up a few groceries and enjoyed a giant ice cream cone from the local sweets shop. Three miles further east in the state forest, along County Highway J, was Carroll Lake Campground. I would have stayed there, but you had to register at a different campground that would have meant backtracking and getting off my route. So I continued on another few miles to Buffalo Lake Campground, a much prettier spot a bit off the highway where I could register on site.
My first order of business at Buffalo Lake was a swim in the clear water. My campsite came with its own steps down to a narrow, sandy beach. It was the perfect spot. I cooked a hearty dinner, registered with the camp host, then went back to the shore to relax and write. As I was getting ready to head into the tent, my neighbors in the next site over arrived and invited me over to have a beer and relax by their campfire. I took them up on it, and enjoyed a couple more hours of social time.
Tomorrow I’m hoping my butt doesn’t hurt as much and I can get down to the first campground along the Wolf River, a longish ride. This will mean I’ll be able to get to Shawano or somewhere south of there on Tuesday and not have to ride too far on Wednesday to end up in Fond du Lac, giving me more time to spend there with my friend Lucas.
