The North Country Trail, one of eleven National Scenic Trails, crosses through the northernmost counties of Wisconsin between Upper Michigan and Minnesota. The portions of the NCT in Wisconsin can be broken down into distinctive sections. The Lake Owen Section connects directly to the Porcupine Lake Wilderness section heading eastbound on the trail and to the Drummond Ski Trails Section heading westbound. It is an easy 4-mile footpath that is well-traveled as it rolls over small hills and courses beneath tall hemlocks. The trail follows the shoreline of Lake Owen for nearly half of this 4-mile distance. The Lake Owen Picnic Grounds anchors the west trailhead for this section. The Two-Lakes Campground is connected to the NCT via a short spur trail at the east end of this section.
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| View of Lake Owen on the North Country Trail |
The Two Lakes drive-in campground in the Chequamegon National Forest is phenomenal. There are dozens of lake front sites on the peninsula between Lake Owen and Bass Lake. The skies are dark and the crowd is very quiet. On a busy Labor Day weekend most campfires were extinguished before 10pm and the few of us who stayed up to chat in the moonlight were treated to that unusual silence where your ears strain to hear just one rustling leaf.
The next morning, after snagging a few bluegills and bass out of Bass Lake my buddy and I set out to hike a bit of the North Country Trail. Four miles is just a bite of a trail for me these days, but a 2-hour hike was about 1-hour more than my friend was accustomed to. We drove a car up to the Lake Owen Picnic Grounds, which is a serene site for a picnic of all things, and hopped on the trail headed back towards our site at Camp Two Lakes.
The spur trail from the picnic grounds is well marked, but you might miss it because it leads off from the back parking lot by the restroom building, not the main one in front of the picnic shelter. The quick spur led up a hill to a pond where there is a trail registry at the intersection. From there the North Country Trail rises on a wooded bank beside Lake Owen.
A few interpretive signs told the history and ecology of this neck of the woods and a few benches are placed at opportune vistas. The woods grew taller and taller around us till we were hiking in deep shade beneath hemlocks.
As the trail snakes inland from the lake the forest mixes with deciduous cover and the hills become more pronounced. After a longer climb the trail meets Porcupine Road and a signpost dedicating the Porcupine Lake Federal Wilderness Area. This is where we turned off and took the spur trail back to the Two-Lakes campground. We had just enough hiking to thoroughly enjoy lunch and a lazy summer afternoon beside the lake.
If you are backpacking this section and are determined to primitive camp there is said to be an obscure campsite on the grounds of a former resort. I think I’ve spotted it from Google Earth view, but I didn’t want to add an extra half mile out-and-back to scout it out in person. Otherwise, there are a pair of great sites on the shores of Porcupine Lake only another couple miles eastbound of the Lake Owen section that you can be sure are premium free-camping. Or just treat yourself to pre-filtered water, ice, and split firewood and set up at Two-Lakes, there’s almost always an open site, even on busy holiday weekends.
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| View of Lake Owen on the North Country Trail |
North Country National Trail - Lake Owen Section
COUNTY
BAYFIELD
COMMUNITIES
DRUMMOND
TOTAL MILES
4-MILES POINT-TO-POINT
DIFFICULTY
EASY-MODERATE
LOWEST ELEVATION
1400 AMSL (NORTH LAKE OWEN DRIVE)
HIGHEST ELEVATION
1525 AMSL (PORCUPINE ROAD)
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN
800 FT
NEXT NCT SECTION WESTBOUND
DRUMMOND SKI TRAILS SECTION
NEXT NCT SECTION EASTBOUND
PORCUPINE LAKE WILDERNESS SECTION
CAMPING
TWO-LAKES CAMPGROUND
Directions and Trail Map
If viewing on a mobile device, open the trail map above to load into Google Maps App by touching the expand rectangle in the upper right corner.
Address for your GPS: Picnic Grounds, Drummond, WI 54832
| coordinates: 46.30691206811842, -91.2162500234128 |
| From Milwaukee | 6 Hours |
| From Madison | 5 Hours |
| From Green Bay | 4.5 Hours |
| From Wausau | 3 Hours |
| From Minneapolis | 3 Hours |
| From Chicago | 7 Hours |
Photos
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| A drive-in campsite at Two Lakes Campground in the Chequamegon National Forest |
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| Along the Lake Owen Section of the North Country Trail in Bayfield County |
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| Along the Lake Owen Section of the North Country Trail in Bayfield County |
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| Interpretive sign on the Lake Owen Section of the North Country Trail in Bayfield County |
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| Interpretive sign on the Lake Owen Section of the North Country Trail in Bayfield County |
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| A hemlockery on the North Country Trail Lake Owen Section |
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| Along the North Country Trail Lake Owen Section |
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| Along the North Country Trail Lake Owen Section |