Like the guy in the “WKRP in Cincinnati” song, I’ve spent most of my time recently packing and unpacking and was looking forward to some down time in the woods.
Once the essentials have been taken care of, there comes a point where you have to step back and let some stuff stay in boxes so your brain can reset. Getting outside is the best way for my own brain to reset and I was glad to have a chance to do that last week in the Northern Highlands-American Legion State Forest.
Home base was the public campground at West Star Lake, complete with a cat, Walter, who loves adventures and a hybrid camper without any bungees or Velcro that would allow him to be truly adventurous and escape. Star Lake is a beautiful lake with some interesting logging and railway history that visitors can explore, and a very oddball general store with a statue of a Komodo dragon in front for no apparent reason.
At least around the campground, there were nowhere nearly as many birds as I’m used to at my usual haunts at Starrett or Big Musky lakes or in my own yard. The little merlin who was hanging around might have had something to do with this (it also dispatched the one chipmunk that was Walter’s main source of entertainment). I was heartened to hear a couple of the ovenbirds that I’ve missed this spring around town, but nowhere nearly in the numbers I usually notice in the area.
Hikers in this region might be familiar with Eric Hansen’s guides to Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (not to be confused with YouTube hiking and backpacking personality Eric Hanson, although he is also a lot of fun). I was excited to be camped out right next to the trailhead for Hansen’s favorite hike in the state: the humbly named Star Lake Nature Trail. This is an easy-to-find and very manageable two-mile hike that may take you a while if you stop to enjoy the consistently spectacular scenery and natural history signs along the way.
The trailhead is at the end of State House Road off Highway K, or you can access it from the campground. It winds around a peninsula and much of the longer “red” loop follows the shore. If you take the left fork at the trailhead, one of the first things you see is a very strange red pine forest. There’s no undergrowth and there are hundreds of trees all lined up like matchsticks.
According to the interpretive signs, this is the “control plot” planted in 1911 to demonstrate the benefits of forestry management. The managed red pine plantation next to it is full of big healthy trees and a richly diverse understory. This plot was started by Wisconsin’s first state forester, E.M. Griffith, who worked to demonstrate that the Northwoods is best suited to grow trees, not the corn and wheat that were already failing in the area’s depleted soils.
Indeed, it’s hard to imagine what this gorgeous area looked like when it was completely logged out and burned over in 1911. Most of the photos from that time show a lot of bare scrub, rocks and mud. I’m glad we had people like Griffith who saw the potential in this destruction once all the money had been made from the old pines.
There are several fascinating features on this short hike. The beautiful “Black Lagoon” (containing no creature that I could see) that was cut off from the main lake by sediment shoved by lake ice was my favorite, other than the voracious mosquitos. Boardwalks lead through some spruce bog before leading to the lake shore where the insects were tolerable. There’s a lovely picnic area for hikers or boaters (it looks like a great place for a swim as well) and some spectacular glacial erratic boulders along the shore.
The weird tree formations on the south-facing shore are very cool; there’s an ancient cedar tree growing atop a large boulder and two pine trees that should have died in a windfall but that just decided their branches would now be trunks and just kept on growing. And as Hansen notes, the views of the lake and shoreline are just lovely.
This trail is not disability accessible, but is appropriate for most fitness levels. There are enough rocks and roots that sturdy footwear is recommended. And make sure to stop and visit the Komodo dragon on your way out.
Sarah Morris is a bird-watcher and outdoorswoman who explores northern Wisconsin from her home base in the town of Gingles. She can be reached at morrisoutside@gmail.com.
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