BURGR 2013

Bill Underdown's Roubaix-style Group Ride will start and finish at the Lighthouse Bar & Grill next year.  The course will measure 95.5 miles including 66.2 miles on gravel.

Ice Age Trail Fall Hike

Saturday, September 22, 2012

10 A.M.

Northwoods Chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance will have there Fall Color Hike in the beautiful rolling hardwoods in the Harrison Hills  of Lincoln County.  Hike will be approximately 2 ½ to 3 miles in length.  Cookies and refreshments will be served.

Public is invited

Meet at the Recreational parking lot on Highway B

Time:  10.A.M.

Bring water

Directions:  Take Highway 64 East of Merrill to Highway l7. Go north 19 miles on Highway 17 to Highway B.  Turn right(west) on B.  Go 1 mile to the Ice Age Trail Trail-head at the Recreational Parking Lot.  Follow Ice Age Trail Event signs.

Any questions Contact Ruby Jaecks  brjaecks@airrun.net or 715-443-3586

Pitch Black Photos

Photos from David Swanson

Photos from Coleman Retzlaff

Heineman Fire

This is one map of the extent of the 1910 Heineman fire that wiped out the town of 400.  Other accounts tell of fires moving south from the Underdown and narrowly missing two homesteads on Yanda Ave.

Thanks to Robert Rusch.

Railroads and Ghost Towns

Major Historic Railroads of Lincoln County

Dunfield Townsite just north of the Underdown on County J near Alta Junction where the Long Lake Line split from the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad System

Major railroads and logging railroads including the Wright Lumber Company line into the Underdown with Camps 1 & 2

Thanks to Robert Rusch of Rib Lake for the research

Old Underdown Railroad Map

 

A few days ago Irv Bork and I compared notes about historic sites in the Underdown.  As a kid Irv herded milk cows in the Underdown so he knows it well.

Lumber Camp 1 was found on the Wright Brothers rail line just east of county forest land.  Most of that line was graded by horses pulling slushers which were drags that would pull dirt from hills and drop it in the fills.  The Greek Fill was actually done with shovels and steel wheelbarrows.  The rail company had  immigrants work off their lack of a sponsor by filling in that low part of the rail grade with manpower.  The Kelsey (spelling unknown) Branch of rails was a good place to retrieve the cows in early summer when food was abundant.

The lumber camp just north of Underdown Lake was Camp 2, and Camp 3 was somewhere in the vicinity of Loop Road near trail X.  The bike trail crosses the Camp 3 branch at the Monster Bridge and Blackwater Bridge.  The location of Camp 4 is a mystery, but it was somewhere west of the others.  My hunch is somewhere near Henson Lake.

The stone foundation and furrowed pine plantation first believed to be the home of Bill Underdown is actually the Scheidlow (spelling unknown) Homestead.  The concrete and stone confirms it to be a more recent structure.  Most earlier homesteads were just logs laid out right on the earth.  A story I had heard recently was confirmed.  Underdown's homestead was on the grounds of the current Lincoln County Landfill.  The pine plantation north of the main Underdown parking lot was farmland at one time, and there was another homestead near the little parking lot on Loop Road.  There is barbed wire and a balsam plantation on the site.  I've also found barbed wire on the Roundtop Hill where the frost comes out early so the Borks could plant corn two weeks earlier than anywhere else before the county acquired the land by trade.

Before Camp Squawberry was a Girl Scout camp it was the Anderson homestead.  A silo, foundation and chimney can still be found on the site.  Not much is left of the Heineman ghost town that was leveled by fire in 1910.  Some stone from the mill foundation hides in the brush near the railroad bridge pilings south of Heineman Road.

Where is this?

Go ride!

Radio Shows

Wegener
Lund
Schotz
Ek

Go Ride

August mowing is done.  The hornet's nest on trail U has finally been found and destroyed.
Try something new like trail V or trail M around the hollow.

BURGR Results

1. Joel Hynes 96 miles in 5:40
2. Chris Schotz a bit later
3. Mike Curtes some time later
4. Randy Wegener s.t.

Back next year.  Maybe a Lighthouse start-finish.

Single Speed Awards

Custom Awards by Karie.

Bill Underdown's Roubaix Style Group Ride

This a 96 mile, self-navigated, unsupported, free "group ride" through the wilderness dirt roads of Lincoln, Langlade, and Oneida counties.  Like with any other training ride, you will be responsible for yourself and should not count on rescue from anyone.  You will be on the road for 7 hours or more and will not pass through any town for the final 90 miles.  You will be in bear and wolf territory most of the time.  Your phone will work most of the time.  All traffic laws and laws of nature apply.

Start: 10AM July 14th Underdown parking lot

Gear:

• This is a cross bike ride.  Mountain bikes would make it, but without compromise tires they will be tougher to ride that far.  Road bikes will not survive some fire road segments.
• I'm using the same 700x32 tires that got me across Iowa.  Sometimes those aren't quite enough, but overall they are an efficient and durable choice.
• You will receive a cue sheet with turns, road names, and mileage.  You will need an accurate computer unless you plan on never getting dropped from the group.  You will need a way to hold your cue sheet whether a stem bag with a window, clip board, binder clips, or the cuff of your shorts.
• Because the route really doesn't have to be top secret, and I don't want anyone getting stranded: Map Joel's Ride 
• Depending on temperatures, start with 3 or 4 bottles and put the same in your drop bag.
• Sunday should be a good day to pick raspberries in the Underdown.

Wausau Recaptures Thunderdown Cup

Wausau 315
Rhinelander 301
Madison 186

Results
Photos

You're Not Alone Out There

Low flying eagles and deer at Oktoberfest
Loons on Underdown Lake
Bear tracks on U and KK
Ducklings on Dog Lake

The short course will run up Loop Road to visit the Round Top aid station instead of using trail X.

Where?

Long Course Profile

Data collected by Jason on Saturday: about 2000 feet of climbing per lap.


TEST LAP- 1:29 by #11
Someone will finish a lap around 1:20.

Building a new deck?

Why not donate the old one to your local trail builder?  Thanks Beth and Paul.

Steve and I gave White Lightning a new top today.  He's always up for some crazy trail project.  Between the two of us, the race course got mowed.

Any Questions?

Just like last year, the race will split on the top of the climb about 2 miles in.

Free Book Download

Underground in the Underdown will be free on Sunday, June 24th only.
It's not about bikes.  It was just written on one.

Group Ride June 23rd 10AM

By then the trail will be mowed, cleaned and partly marked.