Northren WI fishing and hang

[Dux]

Proposed Site: Boot Lake and Jones Spring Trail Area

The main route I've been looking at so far for a combo hiking/fishing/hanging is to park at Boot Lake (the boat launch or the public campground, need to ask the DNR about overnight parking at those locations) Friday afternoon/evening, hike 3/4 mile west to Fanny Lake. Fish and hang Friday night until a set time, such as 9am Saturday morning, then hike and fish about 2 miles to Wichser Lake, possibly continue on another 1-1/2 miles to Perch Lake. There are backpacking camping sites at both lakes. Sunday hike back north, fishing along the way, by the same route if we liked it that much or by a route east of Saturday's hiking to have different scenery. The east route has more hills (none more than 150 feet) and less water thus less fishing spots.

The most interesting thing about maneuvering in this area is the trails. They are an eclectic conglomeration of snowmobile, cross county ski, hiking, fire lanes, etc. Thus virtually zero trails go directly to a spot. We'll end up taking a hiking trail south then snowmobile trail northwest then a cross country ski trail southwest then a fire lane south east, etc, etc to get where ya want to go. Well, the routes I'm looking at so far are short (3-1/2 miles as the crow flies, maybe 5 miles on the ground, each day on Saturday and Sunday at the longest), we'll be interspersing fishing with walking and the scenery will be gorgeous.

If the group agrees that this is a good idea for the 2015 WI Spring Hang, we can then start working on the finer details. Such as checking with the WI DNR about overnight parking, posting a map with the proposed routes in this thread, whether blazing (marking with trail tape) some or all of the route is desired, what time we plan on leaving Fanny Lake (if some are coming up Saturday morning rather than Friday evening, it'd be good for them to know approximately where we'll be and when), what fees (State/National Park, Trail, etc stickers or passes are required), etc. I am a big fan of getting free maps, especially snowmobile maps in these types of areas, from the local tourism boards. I'm also going to get a topo of the area this week and fine tune the routes and mileages because this is an area I will be going to many times.

For me this is a super easy, super laid back trip. I figure that's best with a group of people who have unknown (to each other) physical, skill and wilderness comfort levels. By way of comparison, if solo I'd be covering a lot more miles. For example Boulder Lake to Perch Lake to Fanny Lake and back to Boulder Lake looks like a medium (about 25 miles) weekend of mostly hiking with a little fishing to me.

Rose Lake Area map - overview of the area showing trails and sites.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_...rdb5330980.pdf

Jones Spring Trail map - tighter view of the trails and sites.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_...rdb5196622.pdf

Jones Spring Trail topographic map aka topo.
http://www.trails.com/topomap.aspx?trailid=HGM067-034

Jones Spring Trail Guides:
http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail...lid=HGM067-034

[grizzly outdoors]

I am still around this week has been crazy. I will be fine with what ever works for others.
thanks DUX for all the extra work!!!!!
I will try to make it to what ever works for most.
I looks like this one will be in May so I will try to make it. If not I will be hanging in June or July more of a summer hang.

[Dux]

You betcha. Glad to hear I'm not boring everyone too much with all my blathering on and on. lol. Hopefully the info in these threads and a trip report from the last weekend in May (which is when I'm planning on going so far) will encourage others to get up there in June and beyond.

[grizzly outdoors]

Do you have a location yet ??? I would still like to make the end of May it all just depends on work load.
The more hangs the better !!!!

[Dux]

Updated post #21 in this thread to have the following title for clarity's sake. "Proposed Site: Boot Lake and Jones Spring Trail Area".

Here's a shorter version for those who "tl;dr" my more detailed posts.


Short Route:
If the group prefers short hikes with lots of fishing and hanging we can park at Boot Lake then hike about one mile to Fanny Lake and fish/hang Friday night/Saturday morning. Sometime Saturday (thinking leave Fanny Lake about 9am depending upon people arriving and the fishing) hike either trails or along the rivers. Preferably the rivers, fishing along the way. If the rivers, we'd be following Mary Creek most of the way. We can still fish some of Jones Spring and some of a branch of the Oconto river if we want. Either way, hike down to Wichser Lake. Fish/hang at Wichser Lake. Sunday morning back up to Boot Lake, either back the way we came or a route east of the rivers, over the hills (to grandmother's house we go!! lol). Easy peasey, about three miles of hiking each day on Saturday and Sunday.

Medium Route:
Same as Short Route except we press on past Wichser Lake to Perch Lake. About Five miles of hiking each day on Saturday and Sunday.

Long Route:
If the group is heck bent on covering ground we can hike from Boot Lake to Fanny Lake on Friday. Saturday hike to the backpacking campsite by Boulder Lake. Sunday hike back to Boot Lake again. About ten miles of hiking each day on Saturday and Sunday.


This time of year, with lows in the 40sF (and the possibility of 30s), clothing and bedding adds signifigantly to most people's pack weights. (Those with plenty of downy goodness won't notice anything - lucky dogs!) Thus I'm keeping the miles per day down. In summer I'd think we could up the mileages from half again to twice these. I can come up with a nearly infinite number of routes if the group has a certain mileage they'd like to hike each day. In most spots it'd be easiest to have three full days of hiking and make a triangle-ish route. Out and back on a weekend making Sunday's hike a little shorter and covering a different route each day is much more challenging.

Thought he said short...

[Dux]

I totally agree about the more hangs the better!! Maybe follow up the May 30&31 with a June 20&21 ???

[Eiscir]

I've hiked the jones spring area and it seems like a great place to camp.

As for the fishing I have no experience with the lakes in the area. I know the DNR has old lake surveys that have estimated fish populations. Some of these surveys are hella old though.

I know the group that we've had the past fall and winter has been very good at being stationary. Granted we were at Porcupine Lake an there really isn't much for trails apart from the NCT. That being said if we're spending time fishing and the usual campsite fire/chatting then the milage should be lower.

I'm up for anything but I figure I'd chime in with things to consider. Obviously we'd have more daylight this time around too.

[Dux]

So.... we're agreed on the "Short Route" at Jones Spring Trail on May 30&31 ???

[Dux]

This week I emailed the US Forest Service, WI DNR, Langlade and Oconto boards of tourism, etc. Asked every question I could think of, and for every free map they'll send me, to make this trip go as smoothly as possible. When I get those issues (overnight parking and fire restrictions are the biggies) settled I'll see about making a map with the route highlighted. Not sure what can be done on an iPad mini, but we'll give it a whirl.

[Dux]

Y'all know me... of course I couldn't wait to start playing with more maps.

Thanks to this thread here on good ol' HF, marking up a map with a nice blend of info and topo was easy. A big shout out to TallPaul for suggesting Hillmap.com.
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...tes-trails-etc

Jones Spring "Short Route":
http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGx...BiAgICgzf-4CQw

If you click on the "paths" tab it will show y'all the whole trip is roughly 7 miles. That is with a mile each way from Boot Lake campground to Fanny Lake. There is a parking lot at Fanny Lake but I'm waiting to hear if we can overnight park there. We know for sure we can rent a campsite ($12-$15/night) and park the vehicles in Boot Lake campground so that's how I'm planning it for now.

If we hang at Perch Lake instead of Wichser Lake (aka the Medium Route) that adds another mile each way.
http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGx...BiAgICgraSlCgw

Pretty cool seeing that my eyeballed mileages off a topo on the internet were within 0.2 miles. Not bad for an old school old fart.