Black River State Forest - Snowmobile trail

     There are several miles of dedicated hiking trails in the Black River State Forest.  The Wildcat & Smrekar trails are located near Millston at the south end of the forest.    The Levis and Trow trails, north of Hatfield are not technically in the State Forest, but are in Clark County land.  Still both systems provide some nice hiking and skiing.

     There is also a system of ATV and snowmobile trails throughout the forest.  One ATV trail in particular I’ve travelled a few times.  There is an intersection not far from the North Settlement Rd ATV parking area where a snowmobile only trail heads north while the ATV trail either heads south or west.  I’d never been on that snowmobile trail, since I’d only been on an ATV.  I thought that might make an interesting hike.

GPS Track File Download

     The snowmobile trail leaves the ATV trail about 3/4 mile south of the Wildcat Flowage and Kling Rd.  After crossing Kling Rd the trail generally heads due north for a few miles before meeting the ATV trail again.  The last mile and a half (roughly) follows the ATV trail to a parking area on Hwy 54 east of Black River Falls.

     This trip would once again entail a bike leg and a hike leg.

     I spent the day of July 14^th working (from home as I do currently).  When I would take a break for food or to visit the bathroom I would take a minute of two and prepare for the trip.  During a 20 minute lunch break I loaded my bike.  By 15:45 I was ready to sign-off and head out.

    The plan was to park the car at the Hwy 54 parking area.  Bike south down Wildcat/Spangler Rd and then east on Kling Rd to the gate of the snowmobile trail.  I’d stash the bike in the woods and hike the trail back to the parking area.

     Since I was unfamiliar with any of the roads north of the Wildcat/Smrekar trails I wanted to drive to the starting point on the trail and then head up to the parking area.  Considering it was very likely I’d be driving to retrieve my bike in the dark I really wanted to know where I was going.  Plus, the bike is very tough for me.  If I had an idea of landmarks then I’d have an idea of how far I have left to go on the bike.  Uncertainty kills morale.

     There are a couple ways to get there and I took a way I knew and looked like it would be shorter.  Shorter, yes.  Faster, no.

     Take HWY 27 from Sparta north past Cataract.  At the county line hang a right on Cty O.  Follow Cty O past Shamrock and into Millston and Hwy 12.  If I had to do this again here is the route I would take from this point.  Turn left on HWY 12.  Follow HWY 12 north Castle Mound Rd (aka W 7^th St).  Turn right on Castle Mound Rd.  Follow Castle Mound Rd for about 6 miles to Wildcat Spangler Rd.  Turn left and after 4.2 miles (yes, 4.2) stop at HWY 54.  Turn right on HWY 54.  After 0.2 miles the ATV parking lot will be on the right.  Castle Mound Rd and Wildcat Rd are wide gravel  roads.  I found 35mph easy to do.  A person could go a whole lot faster, but there are many things to run into on that road; deer, coyote, fox, frogs, ATVs, and guys biking to their hiking trail.  I make mention of the quality of road for a reason.

     The route I took from HWY 12 was to turn right and then after a quarter mile turn left on the continuance of Cty O.  Another quarter mile I took the left turn on N Settlement Rd.  This goes past a popular ATV parking area.  After 3/4 mile N Settlement Rd forks right while Stanton Creek Rd forks left.  N Settlement Rd is wide enough for two cars and is paved part of the way.

     Stanton Creek Rd begins as hard-packed gravel, but after passing the ATV trail crossing becomes pot-holed, sandy, and rough.  After the second ATV crossing, the road deteriorates even further.  After a few miles and two sharp turns Stanton Creek Rd ends at Hunter Haven Rd.  I turned right on Hunter Haven Rd and initially the road looked like a good quality gravel.  That is, until I hit the first dip at 25mph. 

     Okay, there is something you need to keep in mind.  I am driving a 4dr Honda Civic with a bike rack off a trailer hitch.  There is about maybe 2.5cm of clearance on that car.  Sure, exaggeration that is, but still, dips must be driven over very very slowly.

     The earlier part of Hunter Haven Rd is shared with ATVs.  The road is a sandy rutted mess.  I was fortunate that there had been no rain for several days.  Had there been rain that day or the day before I would have been asking one of the few ATVs that came by to pull me out of the muck.  These roads are navigable in a small car, but only in excellent weather conditions.  I really need a truck.

     Hunter Haven Rd heads north for about 3 miles before coming to Castle Mound Rd.  I turned right on Castle Mound Rd and within 100ft there is the intersection for Wildcat Spangler Rd.  I continued east and the road becomes Kling Rd.  The road also turns to a narrower gravel road.  This road is highly pock-marked and rutted.  Driving fast, unless in a Wrangler or something of that nature, is really not recommended.  Honda Civic is not the car for this road.  Navigable, but a constant worry about undercarriage damage.  Kling Rd takes a sharp right turn after a mile and then becomes sandy (and rutted).  The road seems to become more sand and more narrow as it goes along.  2.6 miles after starting on Kling Rd (yes 2.6!) the entrance to the Wildcat Flowage is found.  Across the road is the gate for the snowmobile trail.

     I had not yet reached the sharp left turn on Kling Rd when only about 100ft in front me a bear crossed the road.  I marked that spot well as I’d be back here later, but on a bike.  Having scouted the spot I turned around with a careful multi-point turn and made my way to Wildcat Spangler Rd and then Hwy 54. 

     At 17:24 I was in the parking lot and ready to head out on bike.  Clear Sunny skies, a light SW wind, and 84 degrees.  The short spell on the bike on HWY 54 had me wait for two vehicles to pass by and then I was on the gravel Wildcat Spangler Rd.  The gravel consists of large black shale rock.  This makes biking, even on a mountain bike, a rugged experience.  The road was just a very slight downhill heading south, but for all practical purposes, all these roads here are flat.  Except for the ruggedness the biking was pretty easy.  The stretch of road from HWY 54 to Kling Rd I marked at 4.4 miles.  Shortly after passing Little Bear Rd I got off the bike and walked for about 5 minutes.  This was really to give my left leg a little break as biking plays a number on that hip and leg.  I did not want to walk too much as I did have 7 miles to bike and 6.5 miles to hike.  Darkness would come to the woods around 9:00 and although prepared to be in the woods after dark, I’d rather be out.  I also knew from scouting Kling Rd that the last mile or more of the bike would be in sandy conditions.  That would mean walking the bike a considerable bit through that sand.  Even before all these sciatic problems biking in sand like that… I usually walked it (recalling a mountain bike ride on logging roads in Northern Michigan in 2004).

     While heading down Wildcat Rd, a pair of sandhill cranes flew low overhead.  I was met by only one motorist while biking down Wildcat.

     Oddly enough the biking on Kling Rd was far easier.  The first part of Kling Rd was hard-packed sand and while heavily pock-marked the bike navigated around those easily.  The first bits of sandy stretches after the sharp turn were manageable, but that last mile I mostly walked the bike.  My leg was tiring fast and the sand was enough to make it hard to keep the bike upright.

     There was no bear sighted along the bike portion.  I was secretly hoping to have another sighting.  Instead of being eaten by a bear I was being eaten by dozens of deer flies.  I am not exaggerating when I say dozens.  While on the bike they left my head mostly alone.  Occasionally, one would get caught under the brim of my hat and I’d have to swat it away.  By keeping my arms and hands moving every so often I was only bitten a few times.  I was sprayed from head to toe with deet, but that is of little consequence to flies and gnats.  Deet is flavoring to them.

     I made the trail at 18:25.   The bike leg averaged 7mph which I consider pretty good these days.  I’m not sure I’ll ever see the day again where a 7 mile ride was a short 20 to 30 minute hop.

     I stashed the bike about 100 ft into the woods and locked it to a tree.  I took note of a stump landmark, something I’d be able to see in the dark from the trail and then headed out on the trail.

    The sprayed once again for mosquitoes and they seemed to hold back some.  Around my head buzzed at least 8 or 9 flies.

Trailhead on Kling Rd.

         A little more than 10 minutes down the trail another trail joins from the south-east.  The trail is wide, but overgrown with weeds and grass.  Often, the vegetation is knee high providing a perfect launching pad for ticks.  The trail runs through forest at this early part.  The majority of tree are jack pine with some oak intermingled.  The red X’s on a large number of trees indicates there will be a harvest here in the coming months.

     If you were to look at a USGS topographic map you’d see quite a bit of differences in the locations of these roads from maps of today.  The USGS maps were last done in this area in 1980.  The topo map would show that most of this trail makes use of an old railroad grade.  As the trail moves from forest to swamp that becomes very evident.  I make this connection after about a half hour on the trail.  The trail narrows a little, standing about three feet above the swamp on either side.  There are low spots on the trail, that in wet weather would have you walking through shin deep water.  I would suspect in early Spring you’d be up to your knees and not able to discern the trail at all.

Swampy trail

     The flies have become aggressive enough around my head to necessitate putting on the head net.  I’ve had to do that before to ward off gnats during a hike.  Head nets work great, but they have a drawback.  At 19:06 in the evening the sun is low enough to be in your eyes and the net reflects that nicely leaving you nearly blind.  I used my hand as a visor, but the flies would land on my hand and wrist and bite.  A constant adjustment by both sides.

     About that time there was a fork in the trail.  A sign sat at the crook of the for showing the trail curving right.  That did not seem correct from my review of the maps and terrain.  I was certain that the trail continued straight at this point.  I went down the right fork to investigate and after about 200 yards I could see a wall of short spruce trees blocking the trail.  I went back to the fork and took the straight like I knew it should be.  The trail never did curve to the right and the right fork dead ends at the trees.  I’m not sure what that sign is meant for, but ignore it.

     At 19:20 I stopped at a cleared area for a short break.  My lower back was starting to feel the stress of having had the pack on for the last 90 minutes and frankly I’m just not in very good shape!  A stronger breeze was blowing through the logged clearing and gave me a very brief respite from the flies, but not all of them.  A head net is an absolute must.  People might think them to look goofy, but if the choice is wear one or stay off the trail you can be sure I’ll be wearing one.  In fact, we picked up a 2 person mosquito net at Gander  the day after this hike.  At 12oz it’s light enough to pack for my day trips and should allow me to more comfortably take a break.  I only rested for 5 minutes and really needed about 15 minutes.  The flies and mosquitoes were too much to be standing still.

Break time.  No swamp!

    This logged forest was but a brief area of the trail that was not swamp.  Immediately after that break it was back to the swamp and waist high grass.  The trail at this point heads NNW and the sun is low at 19:45.  The swamp is full of trees, but they are short trees and do not block the sun.  The trail is muddy.  The grass is high.  The flies are all over and the sun makes seeing with the head net very difficult.  I adopted an adornment of having part of the net pulled up over the front brim of my hat.  That left my eyes, nose, and mouth unprotected, but I could see.  Most of the time this worked well enough.

     Somewhere not far off to my right (east) a heron was making quite a racket.  If I could have waded through the trees and swamp there would have likely been a pool of water with a heron or two. 

     Also at 19:45 there is another fork in the trail.  The orange diamond sign for the snowmobile trail is on the left fork and that is the one to take.  I had thought that the trail should start heading more sharply to the NW about that point and it did.  Incidentally, the right fork is still the old railroad grade and the trail leaves it here to head towards Little Bear Rd.

Still swampy....

     As the sun was sinking lower the temperature cooled slightly as well.  I was really hoping that would be the signal for the deer flies to go away for the evening.  And, in fact, they did.  I rounded a corner that was slightly more swamp than not and the flies just disappeared.  There was this odd humming noise that I could not quite figure out.  So I stopped and lifted up the head net.  The humming was a swarm of mosquitoes around my entire body.  A literal cloud of them was around me.  Head net went down and feet went back into motion.  In younger fitter days I would have started jogging away.  The mosquitoes did let up, but were from then on a strong presence.  The flies returned within minutes, but not in as a large a number.  At 20:00 I made the gate to Little Bear Rd and the Little Bear Flowage.  I took off the pack and sprayed down again.  I had hoped to have another 5 minute break, but that was exactly what the bugs wanted me to do.

     At 20:21 the ATV and snowmobile trail merge.  I sat by the side of the intersection to wait for two ATVs to fly past and the sand dust to settle a little.  The last mile and a half of the trail is ATV trail and that means deep rutted sand.  That further means pretty tough hiking, especially on tired legs.  At 20:30 I crossed Battle Point Rd and the final short stretch of trail.

Neat!

     The trail is nice and wide allowing the fading sunlight to provide ample visibility.  I would not need to break out the head lamp.  That daylight is a good thing as at that 20:40 a wolf gave his wake-up call about 100 yards into the tree line.

     Seven minutes later I was back to the parking lot.  I quickly packed up, put on a dry shirt and headed back to pick up the bike.  Complete darkness fell as I turned on Kling Rd.  The bike was right where I left it and then I headed back up to HWY 54 and Black River Falls.  FOOD!  Then home.

     Seven miles of biking and 6.4 miles of hiking went well.  Without the head net I’m not sure the hike through the swamp could have been done without serious agony.  With the head net and the dry conditions the hike was easily done.  I’m glad to have done the hike, to have been there, done that.  I’m pretty sure I don’t need to do it again.  The trail is flat and through un-interesting swampland.  Had the trail run past an open flowage or climbed a mound or two, or crossed an interesting waterway there may be more to be said.  There are other roads and flowages and some logging trails that might prove interesting in future days.

     With any luck, the next hike will be back in the Porcupine Mountains of Northern Michigan.