I have enjoyed bike riding for many years but when the pandemic hit I put my bike away not realizing how much my life would change over the next year. In the middle of Covid I changed jobs, packed up my entire life, moved across the state and started the next chapter in my career and my bike moved with me but sat in my garage for over a year. When spring rolled around and restrictions started to lift I pulled it out of the garage and got back on the road discovering some new trails near my home. As I started logging more miles I decided I needed a bigger adventure so I thought I would try some bikepacking and talked a friend of mine into doing the Tour de Chequamegon, a three day ride in northern Wisconsin, with me because it looked “easy enough” on the website! This would be both of our first times taking a bike into the middle of nowhere and camping.

The Tour de Chequamegon is a 3 day loop through the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and it gives you the entire bikepacking experience. Varying difficulty of gravel roads, sand, single track trails and lakes to camp on. Gear was a big concern of mine. I didn’t want to overpack but I had no clue what I would need. Eventually, I gave in to the inevitable that since I was brand new to bikepacking, it was guaranteed I would overpack. It was just something I would have to experience and learn from. I ended up going with a handlebar bag, tank bag, frame bag and saddle bags. I can see why bikepacking is blowing up when I started shopping for bags. Your bike is a tool and with the bags you can customize it however you want. No two bikes will look the same and each adventure will require a different setup.

Day 1 - Cable, WI to Moose Lake

Nothing could have prepared us for what we would experience on the first day. We started in a gravel parking lot behind the Brick House Cafe in Cable, WI, loaded our gear onto our bikes and made some last second decisions to leave a few things behind. We noticed that rain was in the forecast in the afternoon but figured that we could make it to the campsite before it started (if everything went to plan). On the first day you can expect to tackle some rougher gravel roads, some sandy spots, a stretch of single track and the bulk of elevation change for the trip. I thought I was prepared for all these things, but we ran into a few hiccups along the way.

We started the journey heading south on Randysek Rd. A perfect warm up to loosen up the legs before turning onto the gravel roads. Before long we hit the worst of the roads with rocks the size of your head. It was pretty easy riding but I didn't take into consideration what it would do to my gear. All of the bouncing and shaking ended up loosening the bolts on my rear rack and about 5 miles into the 106 mile trip my rear rack detached from my bike and was dragged by the few remaining bolts that managed to hang on. That's what I get for buying the quickest and cheapest rear rack, which shall remain nameless, on Amazon. At this point of the trip, I'm wondering how far it is to walk back to town? There is no way that this rack can hold on for the next 100 miles. Luckily, we found all of the bolts that came loose and had a few extra bungee straps to help hold the rack to the seat. We were back on our way in no time but it wouldn't be long before our next hiccup.

You’re in the 1.5 million acre Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest so you share the road with atvs/utvs, park vehicles and at this time of year, people training their dogs for bear hunting. Near as I can figure, you put a radio collar on the dog so you can track it and turn it loose in the woods. We ended up coming across one of these dogs on the trail and we hoped if we just kept moving the dog wouldn’t follow us. Unfortunately, it ended up following us for the next 10 miles. We eventually gave up on it going back to its owner and we started stopping to give him drinks and let it lay down and rest (which worked for me because I also need the break). We made a plan to call the owners when we got back into cell phone range on highway 77 and hopefully have them come get him but we were only about half way there and this poor dog was looking beat. So we slowed our pace a bit, took more breaks and waved down a few atv and utv riders hoping someone would volunteer to take him. We ended up getting lucky with some sanitation workers out on the trail. They were heading back to cable,WI and would call the owners when they got into town. So we said goodbye to our trail friend and got to work making up for lost time.

The rain started when we got to highway 77. It’s a short stretch of road before going back on the trail and I remember thinking how much easier the road is to ride on and that I should’ve bought dirt tires instead of going with these hybrid tires. We made some good time until it started to downpour. The gravel turned into slop and before long it was impossible to coast. I kept on having to look down at my tires because it felt like I was riding on flats. Eventually we made it to camp at Moose Lake and got our tents setup. I spread out my clothes in my tent as much as I could to try to get them to dry knowing that there was no way they would dry out before morning. An interesting first day but we made it.

Day 2 - Moose Lake to East Twin Lake

It has been unseasonably hot in Wisconsin this summer so I packed a sleeping bag liner to sleep in instead of my usual sleeping bag in hopes of lightening up my load for the ride. That was a rookie mistake, it turned out to be unseasonably cold overnight and I ended up freezing! I got maybe two hours of sleep and my friend got even less, so we hit the road early on Day 2. For this day, the weather report, thankfully, was sunny and 75.

What you can expect on this stretch of the trail is pretty easy gravel roads with a few hills to climb. Around the halfway point you will come across highway GG. When we came across it, it looked brand new so we decided to ride all the way into the town of Clam Lake for food before going to our next camping spot. It was a smooth ride with little traffic and provided a welcomed break from the gravel roads. Once you get to Clam Lake you should stop at The Ransoms Place. We ended up ordering the menu. I feasted on a double cheeseburger, chicken tenders, cheese curds and a beer while enjoying the air conditioning for a while. Once we finished up lunch, we made our way to the gift shop across the street to buy some blankets so we wouldn't freeze overnight again. Finally, we loaded up on Cliff Bars at the gas station and made the short ride to East Twin Lake to camp. We got in at around 2:30 and spent the afternoon swimming off the pier and drying our clothes and tents out. This day was the exact opposite of the day before. Perfect weather, perfect ride and it made the food taste even better. Then we just relaxed and rested up for our last day of bikepacking.

Day 3 - East Twin Lake to Cable, WI

I was up early this morning, around 4am, so I walked to the pier to listen to the loons on the lake. Definitely recommend doing this. They seem to be really active at this time of day. We took our time getting going. The weather was perfect and the bugs weren’t super active yet. The name of the game on this day was hills. If you love them you will be in heaven. If you hate hills just remember to pace yourself and take breaks. That's exactly what I had to do. You can expect about half gravel and half pavement on the last day and since you’ll be going back into civilization you will run into more cars so just be aware on the roads. Once you are back in Cable, WI make sure you go to the Brick House Cafe and order the pulled pork sandwich and don’t mind the rest of the tourists staring at you because you're covered in sweat and dust.

For my first bikepacking trip I don’t think this trip could have gone any better. I am hooked! We ran into a few hiccups on the first day but it wouldn't be an adventure without something going wrong. At least everything happened on the first day. The next time that I go tackle this loop I will pack less gear, bring less food (you can restock food in town on day 2) and make sure that the weather is all clear. Since there are so many different roads and trails I think I will modify the route a bit. Just to see some new roads and challenges!