Tour de Nicolet

Bikepacking boulders, gravel and singletrack from Wausau to Watersmeet

This route was developed by Shane Hitz, who maintains the North Central Wisconsin Gravel and Bikepacking Facebook page. Shane was bitten by the bikepacking bug after going on one of the first organized Tour de Chequamegon trips. Since then, he has been developing routes closer to his home turf of Wausau.

Story and Photos by Dave Schlabowske

Thanks to the last glacial period 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, the 1.5 million acre Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin is a bikepacker’s dream. A network of beautiful rolling gravel forest roads, rough two-track and well-maintained mountain bike trails pass by thousands of small lakes and streams. This route through the Lakewood-Laona and Eagle River-Florence Ranger districts includes some fun, intermediate single track at the Jake Lake and Nicolet Roche Mountain Bike Trails. Roche is french for boulder, and the forest is littered with big erratics left behind when the glaciers receded.

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11 people pose next to bicycles outside a restaurant — The group outside the patio of La Taqueria just before we saddled up and started riding.

This 320 mile point-to-point route through some very remote forest, where riders may be lucky enough to see black bears, elk, bald eagles, porcupines and lots of deer. There are plenty of places to camp, but the recommended sites where we stopped are all on water, perfect for fishing and cooling off after a hot dusty day in the saddle.

Shane was nice enough to invite me to tag along with a group of 12 friends, mostly from the Wausau area for the 2020 Tour de Nicolet trip he organized. It was great to finally go on a ride that someone else organized where all I had to do was pedal and take photos!

Husband and wife sit in an oversized wooden chair — Chris and Candy Schotz enjoy the shade and comfort of the patio at Roadhouse 139 in Long Lake.

People should be able to eat at least one meal each day at any of the well-stocked gas station convenience stores, taverns and restaurants marked on this route. Of course during non-pandemic times, there are even more options to eat at restaurants and taverns.

Food and beverage highlights on this trip for me were the smoked ¼ chicken with two delicious homemade sides for $8 at the Roadhouse 139 in Lakewood and the amazing craft beer selection on tap and homemade pizza at the Thirsty Bear Pub, overlooking Long Lake, about 13 miles north of Antigo. Be sure to pack at least one meal a day you can prepare at camp though.

Most of the riders shuttled the trip using a rented school bus from First Student in Wausau. Shane has a commercial driver’s license, which saved us the cost of hiring a driver. The other riders either shuttled themselves or had a friend or spouse pick them up at the end.

three people bicycle past a field of yellow flowers — This field is planted.

a person on a bike rides past an old truck

riders stopped by bicycles outside a tavern by a lake — Our first stop at the Thirsty Bear Pub had an amazing craft beer selection, great homemade pizza and a big patio overlooking the lake where we could spread out.

a person riding in the distance on a gravel road — This makes social distancing look pretty good.

bear skin mounted to the ceiling in tavern

Three people sit at patio table overlooking lake — The tables on the big patio at the Thirsty Bear allowed us to eat and distance.

early morning mist on a lake — Early morning mist on High Lake.

riding past a puddle on a gravel road — It rained before the trip, but only once at night on the trip.

man at table with pint glass listens to advice from a man in the background — Getting the local 411

Sign for Jake Lake Mountain Bike Trails — The MTB trails at Jack Lake are awesome.

people sit outside Bob and Joni's hot dog stand and bar — Bob and Joni’s is a gas station, grocery store, ice cream stand, and tavern, all in one!

Daiseys in the foreground with people on bicycles in background — Summer wild flowers are popping

Three people on bicycles ride through a puddle — How deep is it? You never know until you ride through the puddle.

Tower firelane, fraley Rd, Private Rd — Roads have so many names, downloading the GPX tracks is key to not getting lost.

Two men sit next to bicycles and a cooler — We are guessing this cooler runs off propane.

bicycle next to ATV directional signs — ATV/UTV groups do a great job promoting local businesses on their trails

A group of cyclists next to tables, chairs and a cooler on the side of a gravel road — This was not what I was expecting to see in the middle of the forest.

Welcome to Crotch Vegas, WI sign — First Osh Vegas, now this?

An open refridgerated cooler in the forest next to three people with bicycles — Hey, somebody close the fridge!

reaching into cooler for soda and snacks with bike leaning on cooler — All soda and snacks are on the honor system with a pay bucket, so bring some dollars and quarters!

people on bikes ride past 10mph ATV sign and "Crotch of the Virgin Pines refreshment sign. — The name is a little suspect, but the cache of ice cold soda and snacks is amazing.

Man inside underground bunker signs a book — Sign the log book if you visit the Hillbilly Hilton.

Man wearing helmet walks up stairs from underground bunker next to bicycle — The “Hillbilly Hilton” is on the Ice Age Trail.

man drinks a beer while other people on bicycles watch — Getting rid of some excess weight left over from the previous night’s stash at High Lake campground.

Distance signs on gravel road. — Rare Northwoods wayfinding!

Woman rides past a boulder in the forest — The Nicolet Roche (boulder in French) MTB trails are amazing.

hands next to bicycle tire and rim — Being able to fix a blown sidewall on a tubeless tire is a skill you need to bring along, just in case.

Hand reaching for bicycle tube and tools next to a flat bicycle wheel that was set up tubeless — Using part of a bag from a dehydrated meal and some gorilla tape to make a tire boot.

homemade tire boot on Hunt rim — The DIY tire boot patched the torn sidewall, add a tube and we are back on our way!

people dining in restaurant — The staff at the Waubee Lodge took our temperatures before we could enter, wore masks and seated our group away from others in the restaurant.

taxidermy bears, elk, bee hive and lynx — Requisite taxidermy at the Waubee Lodge.

Man rides away from a fire lookout tower — The Mountain lookout tower is definitely worth riding up the hill to visit.

Man climbs the stairs at base of firetower with informational signs and bicycle below — Climbing the Mountain Fire Lookout Tower, one of the few still open to the public.

looking down on forest with trees blown over — Remnants of a powerful storm in 2019.

people at campsite with tents and fire pit — One of the campsites we reserved at Bagley Rapids Campground.

bicycle parked next to a pile of logs — The requisite bike next to log pile photo.

Man crossing rapids by walking on log — This nice rapids was next to a dispersed campsite along our route.

Man riding through two track and puddles in forest — Some of the two-track on this route is always wet and deep puddles are almost unavoidable.

three deer cross the river — It is hard to see, but there are two small fawns swimming across the river with their mom.

Garter snake coiled up — This garter snake was sunning on a rock next to my tent for hours.

man smiles holding small fish on hook — Smoked chub for dinner anyone?

man walks past tent and bicycle — We were able to camp next to water every night.

three men sit on rocks in river — Rinsing off in the Peshtigo River next to our campsite on night three.

Man rides through forest with dramatic light — The sun was already pretty high by our 7:30am departure each morning.

Man smoking chicken on bbq — The Roadhouse 139 Saturday special is BBQ 1/4 chicken and two sides for $8!

Chicken and two sides next to a can of beer — The homemade potato salad and coleslaw were amazing. Others said the same of the Mac and Cheese.

maple sapling growing out of hole in picnic table bench next to cup of coffee — Maple trees have to be the most aggressive seedlings in the forest.

Dragonfly sits on hand holding water bottle — Hey, for keeping the mosquitos down, sure you can rest on my hand.

People at beach on Franklin Lake — The Franklin Lake Campground is amazing and has a great beach.

Can of beer next to beach — Because our campground didn’t sell food or beverages, I bought two beers to go before I left Lakewood and stashed them in my framebag.

Turtle crossing pavement markings on the old Military Road.

deer in woods — Good morning to you too!

bicycle wayfinding signs next to gravel road — Eastern Vilas County has nice wayfinding signs on the gravel roads.

sign for bait and tackle — Ronda’s famous Rodatails!

Social distancing sign — Yep, a bike is about 6ft long!

photo of lake — Lac Vieux Desert is a great fishing lake.

informational sign about La Vieux Desert — It is worth the very short trip off the route to visit the headwaters of the Wisconsin River.

A gaggle of geese swim past the Wisconsin River headwaters.

Wild flowers next to bicycle tire — The summer wild flowers were amazing on our trip.

Man rides bicycle onto trail under entering Michigan sign — This trail gets pretty rough with washboard and loose gravel, but you can bypass it on the road if you want.

Man sits next to bicycle and school bus — Shane waits for his flock at the bus.

The route for this trip is mostly gravel roads. There are a few sections of two-track/ATV trail that are rutted with deep puddles, but they are relatively short. The paved sections are on scenic, low-traffic roads. While I always try to avoid paved roads on my bikepacking routes, including a little bit of pavement is almost unavoidable. And when I do end up on asphalt, I often enjoy the brief extra speed for the same effort.

A few riders did riders on this trip did opt to ride HWY 45 into Watersmeet instead of taking the trail, which was pretty rough as it is primarily used by ATVs. There are quite a few sections of typical washboard and the gravel is pretty loose and soft. Also, HWY 45 is good pavement and has a five-foot-wide shoulder, so it is not a bad option at the end of a long ride.

Shane’s route here also includes some nice singletrack in the Nicolet Roche and by Jack Lake. While a mountain bike is ideal for these sections, none of them are overly technical, so a gravel bike is fine. As you can see by the feature photo at the top of this story, even if you want to ride over some of the optional obstacles along the MTB sections, skinnier tires and drop bars will not stop you.

Below is a suggested itinerary for a five day trip:

Day 1, 60 miles, Noon Gran Depart from La Taqueria 520 S 17th Ave, Wausau, WI 54401, camp at High Lake Wilderness sites or Jack Lake Campground.
Day 2, 62 miles, 7:30am Gran Depart in front of the war memorial and flag poles at Jack Lake Campground, camp Thursday night at Bagley Rapids National Forest campground.
Day 3, 76 miles, 7:30am Gran Depart at the BP gas station at mile 127, dispersed camping on the Peshtigo River at mile 203.
Day 4, 72 miles, 7:30am Gran Depart from Camp Three Lake State Natural Area at mile 204, camping at Franklin Lake Recreation Area Campground.
Day 5, 43 miles, 7:30am Gran Depart at the large hiking trail head parking lot at mile 272 on the right side of the road.

HIGHLIGHTS
MUST KNOW
CAMPING
FOOD/H2O
TRAIL NOTES
ROUTE STATS

A great mixture of gravel roads, ATV trails, and some singletrack with a river crossing.
Climb the Town of Mountain Fire Lookout Tower.
Sign the log book in the Hillbilly Hilton underground bunker.
Crotch of the Virgin Pines, AKA Crotch Vegas rest stop.
Camping by water every night.
Visit the headwaters of the Wisconsin River at Lac Vieux Desert.

Download the route as you will not have cell service for much of the route.
Forest Service paper maps of the ranger districts and the state bike map both show all the unimproved roads, much easier to use for detours and short cuts than the small screen on mobile devices.
Best time to go: October when the fall colors are in full effect
Best time to go if you want to swim: July and August, but black flies, mosquitoes and ticks are in abundance during the summer months so bring DEET.
Highly recommended is a head net and a lightweight long sleeve shirt treated with permethrin that you can wear if the flies are bad, and to avoid ticks when riding through heavy forest.
Do a tick check each night!
November is also a good time to go, but Wisconsin’s nine-day rifle season for deer hunting begins the Saturday before, so avoid that or wear blaze orange when you ride.

There are many National Forest campsites and county campsites along the route. Many of the sites are on lakes or rivers.
Dispersed campsites are first come, no reservations.
Free dispersed camping is allowed anywhere in the National and County forests, but you must camp 200 ft from water, be aware of current fire restrictions and follow these Leave No Trace guidelines.

There are numerous places to eat or resupply food stocks along the route, but not at any of the campgrounds.
It is a good idea to pack one meal for each night, but you will be able to eat out at a tavern, restaurant or convenience store each day.
There are many campgrounds to get potable water, but if you run out, it helps to have a filter as there are many clean rivers and streams along the route.
The ice cold artisanal spring at Chipmunk Rapids Campground runs year round.

We recommend 5 days for this trip. Although the daily mileage is never great, most of the gravel forest roads and trails allow ATVs, which creates a loose surface difficult to maintain higher speeds.

Because of the many soft gravel trails and some singletrack, a mountain bike is the ideal choice for this route, but it can be ridden on an all road bike with 40mm tires.

There are several points were riders can bypass singletrack and rough ATV/UTV trails if desired.

DISTANCE: 316 miles
DAYS: 5
% UNPAVED: 74%
% SINGLETRACK: 4%
DIFFICULTY (1-10): 3
% RIDEABLE (TIME): 100%
TOTAL ASCENT: 11,724 ft
HIGH POINT: 1,843 ft

DISTANCE: 316 miles

DAYS: 5

% UNPAVED: 74%

% SINGLETRACK: 4%

DIFFICULTY (1-10): 3

% RIDEABLE (TIME): 100%

TOTAL ASCENT: 11,724 ft

HIGH POINT: 1,843 ft

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