Ice Conditions

Snowshoes: Not worth it
Skis: Impossible
Book Hiking: Nice
Bikes:

• Harrison: Marginal snow on land and clean ice on lakes 
• Underdown: Good trails, clean ice on lakes, lumpy bogs

Good Conditions

The Underdown ski trails have tracks set.  Snowshoe trails are well established to the Big Bog and fair to Dog Lake.  I rode a regular bike with 2.2" studs and did some hiking up hills, but it wasn't terrible.  There are rumors of wolves around Mist Lake.  I don't know about that, but there were some canine tracks around Dog Lake tonight that couldn't be explained any other way.

The Beaver Trail area in Harrison Hills will be a bit rough on a fat bike, but a worthwhile challenge.  I'll try Bradley Park tomorrow.

Powder

Underdown country has 3 inches of beautiful powder.  Ski trails have been skied in, but we'll probably have to wait until Friday for grooming.  Snowshoe trails all have tracks with solid lakes and improving tread across bogs.  Fat bike conditions are fair at best, but improving through next weekend.
The Beaver Trail in Harrison Hills has some cool routes for snowshoeing and back-country skiing.

Snow

The Underdown got 4 inches of new snow.  The green ski trail is dragged, but not tracked yet.  Snowshoe trails all have tracks and signs.  Bike riding conditions will be poor for a while except for A&Z and the lakes which are frozen solid.  Bogs need a lot more snow.  Tomorrow will be a day to check the lakes on the Beaver Trail backcountry in the Harrison Hills.

Snowbound in the Underdown

10AM  The solo race will follow as much as the snowshoe trail system as conditions permit,  hopefully past Dog Lake counter-clockwise all the way to Mist Lake for 8 miles of snow single-track.  This is the race for series points.

1PM The 3-person team relay will run for 3 hours on trails A & Z  for 2 funky miles of snow single-track.

$15 will get you into either race or both. 

ENTRY FORM Print a copy and bring it along if you want, or fill one out in the cold on race day.

Amenities: 

• Fire and miles of unique trails over hills, bogs, and lakes.  There may be more, but this event is really all about the trails.  
• Feel free to bring your favorite number plate or we can assign you a circular one.
• Guided group ride of the Beaver Trail back country Saturday night or Sunday morning.  Either way.

While you're in the area, visit our map sponsors.
For snacks: Prairie Pines Country Store on the north end of Gleason  at 17 and X
For burgers and pizza: Lighthouse Bar and Grill south of Gleason on X

Trail conditions.

Maps here.

Wisconsin State Fat-Bike Series Race Series

May

Saddle Switchback

Ghost Ride

 5PM Saturday, October 27

Poker Run

Capture the Flag

Spooks

New Trail

Beverage

Fire

WANTED

A Wausau rider to show up early to hide the flag

Loser pours

Bring your extra items to give away as Poker Run prizes.

So far we have an Ergon saddle and gourds.

 10 AM Calling All Cordless Drills

70 foot  boardwalk to be built on the Saddle switchback 

Ride Hemlock Hill

Trail CC is done except for the last climb.  Steve, Paul, Beth and Randy came out in the rain and got a lot done this weekend.  Monday afternoon and Saturday morning look like good times to come out and help finish it up.

Leaves are still coming down, but we'll get rid of them in a week or so.

New Trail Day

Please come on out to build a funky new third mile of trail.  This will be your last chance to build new trail in the Underdown for at least 5 years so don't miss out.

Come any time on October 13th and 14th and work as long as you want.  I'll be there the whole time with a good collection of digging tools.

Drive or walk in on the trail X double track from Loop Road and climb the Saddle hill on trail XX and C.  See trail CC in red on the map below.

Be prepared to be scared on the October 27th Ghost Ride at 5PM. This is your chance to ride the new trail in the dark and win an Ergon titanium saddle and other fabulous prizes.  Start saving your used goodies to add to the poker run pot.

Support Our Map Sponsors

Lincoln County: Always something to do

Knight Lake Serenity: Quiet cabins just south of the Underdown

Red Eye Brewing: Wausau

Rib Mountain Cycles: Wausau

TC Teardrops: Super sleek campers

Bikes N Boards: Rhinelander

Giant: Fast machines

Changing Gears Pedal and Paddle: Tomahawk

Builer's Cyclery and Fitness: Wausua

Rhinelander Area Silent Trails Association

CoVantage Credit Union

 

Prairie Pines Country Store: Gleason

St. Stephen's United Church of Christ: Merrill

The Lighthouse Bar & Grill: Gleason

Uniquely Schotz: Quilts, beads and fiber adventures Irma

Subway: Merrill, Tomahawk, Antigo

Merrill Veterinary Clinic

Mel's Trading Post: Rhinelander

Tomahawk Surplus Store

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.