Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, and Vilas County are known for their biking trails. 52 miles of paved bike paths stretch from Boulder Junction to St. Germain. With biking in mind, we planned a short trip with the motorhome there, staying at Camp Holiday Campground for three nights mid-July.
It was an easy drive and we had good weather. Unfortunately, a dump truck passed us and either kicked up a significant rock or one flew out of the back. We heard a loud crack and felt shards of glass hit us! It was a strange break, mostly on the inside and barely visible from the outside. We carried on after cleaning up the glass shards and arrived at Camp Holiday late afternoon just before rain came in.
After setting up camp, we headed out to find a bite to eat since we had skipped lunch. It was a Monday and not much was open from what we could see online. Mental note here, Mondays and Tuesdays seem to be common days for restaurants to close which is not surprising; just not something we thought of when making the reservations.
The Ice Shanty was open and we headed there. Turns out the Ice Shanty is a drive-in that had good reviews. The pizza burger was meh, fries were good and ice cream ok. We got back to camp before it really started raining. An early bedtime was calling us and the rain beating on the roof made for good sleeping. We also had left Harris the cat home which no doubt helped as well!
Camp Holiday was about 3.5 miles from a parking lot at County H & K where the biking trail went through. We opted to park there as County H had no shoulder to ride on and had a decent amount of traffic. That was a good choice! Our route for the day was south to Manitowish Waters – about 13 miles.
The paved bike path was beautiful and maintained extremely well. The grass on either side of the path was mowed and signage prominantly displayed where driveways crossed the path. There was a restroom about half way to Manitowish Waters near a school. We also noticed another parking lot about 4 miles from H & K which we might use in the future since the lot at H & K was very full.
When we arrived in Manitowish Waters, we discovered that the few businesses that were there were closed on a Monday and Tuesday. Dixie’s Coffee House was open luckily and we popped in for a bite for lunch and some iced tea. The young gal behind the counter was clearly more interested in her phone than in serving us. We were eventually taken care of and enjoyed a small sandwich. The bike ride back to camp was uneventful so we just enjoyed the weather and smooth trail.
The next day we met some friends at the parking lot of H & K and biked in to Boulder Junction from there for coffee. It was no doubt an easy, short ride but enjoyable nonetheless. Boulder Junction Coffee Company offered a good selection of coffee, bakery and the like in a homey atmosphere. Our friends were not up for a longer ride so we headed back and took a drive to their home in Presque Isle to hang out for the afternoon. It was a very scenic drive on remote roads.
We were in the area very briefly so I can’t comment on much other than to say we would definitely come back to do more biking on the paved and scenic trails! Perhaps even stay at Big Bear Hide-Away if we came without CC (our motorhome).
Adventurer on the Go 