Council Grounds & The NHAL - Northern WI

[sped372]

We got back yesterday from another stint up north. We spent one night at Council Grounds State Park near Merrill, WI and then two nights further up in the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest (what a mouthful!).

The water was very high at Council Grounds. The river was raging and the swimming area was closed, for good reason. Many of the bases of the trees were under water.


The hydroelectric dam seemed to be spilling more water than (what we assumed would be) normal.


We liked the campground more than we thought we would... it's a small park but well maintained. The firewood was very fairly priced... we filled up the interior of the bus with two bundles! It was good for making pizza in the dutch oven.


Saturday morning we departed and drove up to the NHAL. I have no idea how we didn't know about this place... it was awesome! Seriously some of the best campsites I've seen anywhere. You can walk down from your site to your own little section of beach on a crystal clear lake. Beautiful, relaxing, and well worth the effort of a six hour drive.

Camping heaven:




We did some hiking and biking too... all around it was a great weekend. Great food, perfect weather (mid 70's with no humidity), and even the bugs weren't too bad. There were some deerflies but the skeeters pretty much left us alone.




We will definitely be back to this area at some point in the future.

[Ryno]

NHAL is our favorite camping area, the fall in Vilas county is perfect camping. Nice write up Sped!

[deschutestrout]

Always cool to see scenic shots from another part of the country! Dutch oven pizza is the best! Thanks for posting!

[Sylvester]

Very nice shots, and write up. Can't get that down South hear in Georgia! Boy I don't miss those damn deer flies though.

[Sluggo]

Looks Beautiful!

[yondermtn]

We are thinking about a trip up to Northern Highlands this summer.

For those who have been up there(Sped/Ryno)- what campgrounds have you used or do you recommend?

How busy do these places get? We tend to go for the non-reservable "primitive" style campgrounds because a.) we don't plan far in advance and b.) we like to be far away from big RVers and partiers.

I'm pretty familiar with the Vilas County area and the lakes, but I haven't been camping up there much recently.

Also, anyone been to the Spearhead Point Campground in the Chequamegon-Nicolet Forest near Medford? That place sounds nice too.

thanks for any advice!

[sped372]

The National Forest sites are much more primitive and off the beaten path. You can start your research here:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/cnnf/re ... 7&actid=29

I've been to Luna-White Deer and it was a very special place.

If you're willing to give up a bit of the primitive feel (you'd like to have showers, etc.) the NHAL State Forest has some great "family style" camping. You'd have to get crazy lucky to get a great site just showing up, though. We liked the Crystal Lake campground the best but Firefly Lake wasn't bad either. The waterfront sites are some of the best State-Park sites I've ever seen. There weren't many big-rigs when we were there, I think the lack of electricity keeps 'em away.

NHAL Camping Link: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/StateForests/nhal/camping.html
There are some "rustic" campgrounds in the NHAL but I have no experience with them.

[Ryno]

X2 on Crystal lake and firefly. We go up there after labor though. It is take your pick of spots then though.

[yondermtn]

Thanks for the responses. Getting excited here! We have a site booked at the Crystal-Musky Campground for a couple of nights in July. The plan is to secure a site at one of the other first-come-first-serve campgrounds for a few more nights once we're up there. Also considering one of the sites that you canoe into.
Of course, trip report will follow.

[sped372]

We'll be up there late August. Just got back from a drive-about trip to the Apostle Islands... trip report forthcoming...