Wisconsin NCT: Day Three

 Day Three

Monday, September 8, 2025 

Trail Junction Parking to Copper Falls State Park, estimated 19.3 miles

The second full day of hiking promised to be warm, but it was a chilly 37 degrees at the start.  Today was Matt's birthday, and we had a tiny cupcake celebration in the motel before heading out.  Matt was a good sport and wore his birthday hat and pin all day.  Prior to hitting the trail, we hit the Kwik Trip.  This was my first experience with a Kwik Trip, and I'd place it closely on the scale of a Sheetz.  Am I becoming a gas station store connoisseur?  We grabbed a few last-minute snacks, some breakfast sandwiches, and most importantly, coffee. Having stashed my car at Copper Falls State Park the night before, we just had a short drive into Wisconsin to get to our starting point.

The days started with a steep uphill climb on a connector trail to get to the NCT.  I didn't mind it one bit this morning, as it really helped to warm me up!  Once on the official trail, we settled in, hiking among the mushrooms and moss and slowly changing leaves.  Soon, we came upon an old gold mining area.  Some of the equipment had been left behind, as well as some deep holes that I am quite certain would swallow you up if you weren't careful.  This area was also quite rocky, providing a bit of a change in scenery from the day before.

The trail was single-track in this area, and the three of us spread out and enjoyed the morning.  Now and then we'd catch up to each other to tell a funny story or share an observance, and it was a lovely, peaceful start to the day.

We came to Gold Mine Overlook and paused briefly to take in the view.  The sun was warming the day quickly, and I imagined how this spot would be so beautiful at fall's peak.

Around 9am, we came to the Wren Falls area.  This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  To me, this section reminded me a lot of the Marquette section of Michigan, filled with giant rocks and fantastic views.  There were so many little side trails in this area, and it would be easy to spend a day here exploring.  I saw a little bridge in the distance, and soon enough, we were crossing it!  The falls were beautiful, and we had the whole place to ourselves.

Then we came to another logbook, and as you can see, Matt's hands were freezing!  It took him a long time to get his hands warm on this chilly morning.  Also in the book was this entry.  You don't see that kind of writing very often!  A ChatGPT search tells me it is written in runic script, resembling the Elder Futhark runes.  This was an early Germanic alphabet used from the 2nd to 8th centuries.  

The day was finally starting to warm up, and I hung out at the back of the pack, taking in the sights.  Tall, tall trees, berries, fantastic bridges, mushrooms, and moss all seemed to be competing for the spotlight.

There were even some gigantic ferns, and things got a little weird there for a second!

At Bad River Overlook, there was another logbook, and I opened it to find the neatest, most perfect handwriting I had ever seen!  This section definitely wins for unique logbook entries!

And then we were badly in need of a break.  We found a little resting spot with a couple benches, and it felt so good to relax for a few minutes.

We then traipsed through a section of trail that was not my favorite.  Tall, tall grass covered the trail, and I am still surprised that none of us got any ticks from that area!

Here and there, pops of color caught my eye, and I filled my time horsing around with leaves and mushrooms.

It had been a long day, but we were finally nearing Copper Falls State Park.  Matt claimed we were only about a mile from the finish (which could actually mean three or more miles), so we stopped to do a birthday Fireball shot.  Happy Birthday, Matt!

Copper Falls State Park was gorgeous.  How big is this park?!  There were so many different waterfalls, and several different trails within the park.  The tricky part was that the NCT was not marked here, so we relied heavily on our GPS maps.  We even got an overhead view of where Tyler Forks and Bad River combine.  If you're ever in northern Wisconsin, this would be a great camping location!

After nearly nine hours of hiking, we finished our day.  Thankfully, my truck was where I had left it, unticketed to boot!  

Our original plan for this night was to camp at Copper Falls State Park.  We had been watching the weather very closely, and a storm was predicted to hit overnight, with strong winds, lightning and potential hail.  It was a tough decision, but in the end, we decided to make the drive back to our motel and stay one more night in Ironwood.  Tomorrow we'd be switching gears and loading our packs for a three-day backpacking adventure.

Wisconsin NCT: Day Two

 Day Two

Sunday, September 7, 2025

Michigan/Wisconsin Border to Trail Junction Parking, estimated 20 miles

That 5am alarm came quickly on Sunday morning, but with a bit of prodding, Tanya and I managed to get Matt out the door just after 6am.  We whipped through the McDonald's drive thru and headed to where we'd begin our day.

Before actually starting the North Country Trail that morning, we had one quick stop to make.  We were soooo close to the westernmost point of the Upper Peninsula, along with Superior Falls, and I had never been to either.  After a short hike down a steep trail, we were on the shore of Lake Superior.  The sun was just thinking about rising for the day, and the view to the east was amazing!

We took the beach to the west and there we were, standing on the edge of Michigan with Wisconsin just a stone's throw away across the channel.

As if all of that wasn't amazing enough, just around the corner from that was Superior Falls.  If you follow the little shoreline far enough, you'll find yourself almost completely surrounded by huge rock formations and the waterfall.  It was beautiful.

This whole area, just a half mile from where we had left the car, was simply breathtaking.  It honestly felt like a little piece of heaven.

Then we had to climb the trail back up and away from the shoreline.  I swear this squirrel was laughing at me.

Okay, enough horsing around, it was time to get going.  It was already after 7am and we had a long way to hike today!  We started out with a bit of a road walk before officially getting to Wisconsin.  This deer stood and watched us as we walked by-I'm sure she thought we were crazy.

Crossing the Montreal River meant that we were leaving Michigan and entering Wisconsin. We were gifted with a beautiful view as we crossed!

And then we were there!  Hello, Wisconsin!

We knew the first half of this day would be on roads, so we settled in and made good time.  It was a quiet Sunday morning with very little traffic.  Soon, we were approaching Saxon Harbor, which would give us our last view of Lake Superior on the NCT this trip.

The road turned to dirt as we made our way away from Lake Superior, and I caught a little lovebird moment between Matt and Tanya.  Say it with me, "Awwwwww..."

Three hours later, we were still trekking down the road, which had turned back into pavement.  Under a bridge and up a hill and we came to Gurney Community Park.  If you find a bench, you must sit.  So, we sat.  And then we noticed some basketballs over on the basketball court, so Matt spent some time working on his hook shot.  I found a little nest that had blown from a tree, which always makes me a little sad, but I brought a homemade Rice Krispie Treat, which definitely cheered me up.

Soon enough, we had to bid the little park farewell.  We continued down the road and crossed the Potato River.  I didn't see any potatoes, though.  Bummer.

Finally, it was time for the trail to leave the road and be an actual trail!  This first section was all new trail, and we were so happy to be back in the woods, which was filled with so many different types of mushrooms and fungi.  Tanya knew the names of some of them, but I'm pretty sure she was making some of the names up as well.

We came to the first log book of this trip, and Matt was so happy to sign it.  Of course, he signed all of our trail names: Three More Miles, Thicc Cold Brew, and Pioneer Woman.  

While Matt was signing the book, Tanya and I followed signs that indicated there was a bathroom of some sort.  We weren't expecting more than an outhouse pit toilet, but were surprised to find just the pit toilet, with no surround of any kind!  I guess the trees gave enough cover if you really wanted to use it!

We continued on, past the little mushrooms, over well-built bridges, on some great single-track trail.

Then came a really fun part!  We passed by Copperhole Falls, Latimer Falls, and Foster Falls. This was a beautiful section, and there was enough access on the west end that even families could do a pretty short out-and-back to see all of these falls.

Finally, we came to Upson Lake Overlook.  I tend to not get too excited when overlooks are noted on our maps because they are often so overgrown we end up looking over nothing.  This was a pretty great view, and I'm sure it'll be breathtaking in a few weeks, at the height of the fall color season.

The next few hours are a bit of a blur.  I'll tell you, we made great time for the miles that day.  We even got a little turned around in the last mile, unsure of where the spur trail to my truck was.  But we did, in fact, make it to my truck.  We were pretty beat.  Then we had to go get Matt and Tanya's car.  Then we decided that it would be best to go drop my truck off for the end of the next day's hike.  I left my truck at Copper Falls State Park, after buying a day pass that would expire at 11pm.  I ended up leaving a note in the windshield explaining that I'd pay for the next day if needed when we arrived at my vehicle after hiking. (Please don't give me a ticket!) Then we beelined back to the motel in Michigan where Tanya and I took the two fastest showers known to mankind.  Then we high-tailed it to Bessemer, the next town over to meet up with Matt's family and catch the second half of the Lions/Packers game.  All of that happened in about 2.5 hours.  We were getting really familiar with that Michigan/Wisconsin border area!

We ate way too much food and watched the Lions lose to the Packers.  But it was nice to meet Matt's family in their little town!

That brought us to the end of Day 2.  We headed back to the motel where we once again prepared for the next day's hike.  We set those early alarms and passed out.

Wisconsin NCT: The Journey Begins

 As you all know, the Appalachian Trail holds a special place in my heart, and I've made several trips to hike sections of it the last few years.  But before the Appalachian Trail, came the North Country Trail.  Among my "ultra" crazy running friends is Matt.  Back in 2019, he started posting in a Michigan running group about running the North Country Trail (NCT) in Michigan, section by section.  I had never heard of this trail, which is 4,800 miles long, spanning from North Dakota to Vermont.  The Michigan portion of the NCT is 1,200 miles, and Matt wanted to run all of it.  He started posting section runs, covering 20-40 miles, one Saturday per month.  Over time, and even through the pandemic, these runs gathered more participants.  Over the last few years, I have joined in on as many of these runs as I could.  Sometimes it was just Matt and me, and sometimes we'd have groups of nearly 20 runners.  As the trail took us farther and farther north, the runs turned into two-day events, to get more miles out of the distance we'd have to drive.  When the runs took us to the Upper Peninsula, there were just a handful of us who continued to make the trips, but man, did we have some amazing adventures.  I honestly cannot even think of a single bad day I've had on the NCT, including my many falls, and despite all of the crazy weather we have endured!

In the winter, when running across the U.P. would've been pretty tough, we headed down to Ohio to gather NCT miles in that state.  I have to say, Ohio on the NCT is quite different than Michigan!  Last year, Matt completed every mile of North Country Trail in Michigan and, along with Tanya, began to set his sights on other states, too.  We've kept Ohio as our "winter" NCT spot, but we have gotten a good portion of Pennsylvania covered, and Matt has also gotten some New York and Minnesota miles as well.  It is not my goal to cover all of the NCT on foot, but I do love to join in on his trips whenever I can.

This year, after covering a good section in and around Hocking Hills in Ohio, and then about 85 miles of trail in Pennsylvania, I decided to join Matt and Tanya on a bit of a different style of trip to Wisconsin.  Wisconsin is home to 212 miles of North Country Trail, and we planned to complete the whole state in just two trips.  Here was the plan: 

Day 1: Drive to Ironwood, Michigan and share a hotel

Day 2: Hike 20 miles from the Michigan border west into Wisconsin and stay at the hotel

Day 3: Hike 19.3 miles west and camp at a campground

Days 4-6: Backpack 56ish miles west, finding places to camp along the way

Day 7: Drive home

It was a lofty goal, with some long, high mileage days planned, but the three of us were up for the challenge!

Day One

Saturday, September 6, 2025

Today was road trip day!  I am a huge fan of road trips in general, but anytime I get to road trip across the Upper Peninsula, I get extra excited.  There is something about crossing the Mackinaw Bridge and getting to that glorious northern land that just does it for me.  Oh, and regarding the crossing of the bridge...I saw a backup on the bridge on my map and thought it was either a slow down at the toll booths or some sort of accident.  Imagine my surprise to find that bridge traffic was narrowed to one northbound lane because it was Tractor Day on the bridge!  Hundreds of farm tractors of every size and age filled the right lane!  Okay, I guess I could share the bridge with these cool people!  It was a chilly, overcast morning with a stiff wind and they looked sooooo cold on their open-air tractors!  I bet they will remember that ride across the bridge for a long time!

And then I was in the U.P.  Ahhhh.  Deep breath in and out and ahhhhhhhh.  I opted to take the northern route across to Ironwood because I cannot resist that Lake Superior shoreline!  Through Germfask, Seney, Munising, Marquette, Ishpeming, Merriweather, Wakefield, Bessemer, and finally I was in Ironwood!  

Our reservations for the next two nights were at the Royal Motel, and let me tell you, it was sooo Royal.  Haha!  It was a classic U.P. motel and it suited our needs perfectly.  And the bathroom?  The bathroom says it all.  See how there are 12 different surfaces, all different in color, but then the shower curtain just magically ties it all together?  That's Pure Michigan right there.

We got ourselves unpacked and headed to the next day's finish spot to drop off my truck.  I am always slightly nervous when we have to leave our cars in such remote places, but we have never had any issues (knock on wood.)  It's hard to imagine anything bad happening in this peaceful location, right?

 Then it was time to head into town for dinner.  We ended up at Don & GG's Food and Spirits for our meal.  We were in a strange land of a combination of Michiganders and Wisconsinites, but much to our delight, both the Michigan and Michigan State football games were on their big screens! We had a really great dinner, watched some football and chatted about our upcoming adventure.

And then we were back at the motel, making final plans and packing gear.  Tomorrow we'd be heading into Wisconsin!