This is going to be a post about my road trip up to Iron Mountain on my motorcycle. Every year my family spends a week at Lake Antoine Campground. Unfortunately I was only able to spend one night up in Michigan with them this year.
Usually I try to get a couple of hikes in while we are up camping. I did get one hike in with my wife at a place called Strawberry Lake. I’ll save that one for next week though.
The day we left to go up to Iron Mountain we packed everything up in the larger SUV and my wife drove it up. Since for the last few years I have only been going up part of the week I have always had to drive a different vehicle. Because I have a motorcycle now, the gas cost was way down. I spent a little more than $30 for the trip up and back.
However because I am still new to riding motorcycles I opted to find a way up to Iron Mountain that avoided the four lane death road that we call Hwy 41.
My route was fairly simple. I took Hwy 47 north out of Appleton through Black Creek to Bonduel. From Bonduel I took 117 to Cecil.
At Cecil I made my first stop. A BP gas station for a beverage and to check my GoPro. I had used up about half of my battery at this point so I figured that I could continue on to my next stop before swapping batteries.
Leaving the gas station I hooked up with Hwy 22 to go north. But, Hwy 22 at Gillet was closed due to construction, so I took a shortcut my family has been taking for years.
The Cnty Hwy R short cut has been used by many people over the years to bypass Gillet on the way to Mountain. So to avoid the construction I zipped up Cnty Hwy R to Cnty Hwy M were I took a right and connected up with Hwy 22 again.
Then it was another 10 miles north toward Mountain. Not to be confused with Iron Mountain, Mountain is a town in northern Wisconsin with camping and winter skiing destinations. Just before Chute Pond however I turned right onto Hwy 64.
This route would take to me Pound, where I could hop onto Hwy 141 with only a half mile of four lane highway before it dropped down to two lanes. From there it was only a 10 mile ride to Crivitz where my second stop was planned.
At Crivitz I stopped to fuel up my bike. After I fueled up I moved my motorcycle to a parking spot just as it started to sprinkle. Which would be fortuitus. As I had been driving north my helmet had started to gather splattered bugs.
Part of my stop at Crivitz was going to be to find something to clean off the visor. However I couldn’t find anything at the Kwik Trip. So I instead grabbed a napkin and hoped I could get the bugs off without smearing them. Because of the sprinkles I was able to get them off with the napkin.
After this brief rest I started north again. Following 141, I drove through Wausaukee Amberg and Pembine. The last town on Hwy 141 before you cross into Michigan is Niagara. However the drive through Niagara is a 3.5 mile stretch of mostly 25 mile a hour speeds.
So instead just before I got to Niagara I took a right onto Hwy 8. Taking this path I cross the Menomonie River and drove into Norway. Norway, Michigan that is. A small town proud of their Scandinavian heritage.
From Norway I jumped onto Hwy 2 headed west, past Fumee Falls till I got to Lake Antoine Rd. Lake Antoine Rd is a curvy road leading to the county park. I cruised down the road, leaning into each and every curve with my bike. Finally I reached my destination.
Rolling into the park I stopped my motorcycle at the campsite and helped my family unpack. I spent the night enjoying the fire with my wife, kids and my wife’s extended family.
The next day we woke up and ate day old Jersey Bagels we brought from home. Then my wife and I took our hike at Strawberry Lake, which happens to be in Norway. Then I had to pack myself up to go home.
But before I left for home I decided to join my family at the Iron Mountain Ski Jump. The photos posted to this blog are from the top of the hill they call Iron Mountain. But eventually I had to start home. After they had made the hike down and back up the stairway at the ski jump, 500 down and 500 up, I said my good byes and wished them a fun week. I mounted up on my bike and started down the mountain.
On the way back I did go through Niagara. Crivitz as usual was a mess on a Sunday afternoon in the summer. Whoever thought a stoplight was a good idea in Crivitz was crazy. Traffic headed south was lined up for miles.
After fueling up again in Crivitz, I returned south once more. But this time I decided to brave the 4 lane highway for a while. I traveled all the way to Green Bay before I decided to get off the highway and use back roads.
Taking my trusty short cut of Hwy E from Hobart through Freedom and finally to the north side of Appleton I was home.
The journey usually takes about two hours if you go up 41 through Green Bay. My back roads trips only add about a half hour to 45 minutes to the drive. Frankly they are more interesting though. Little back roads take you through interesting forested areas. Small towns that don’t normally get the traffic that main roads bring to them.
So hopefully you like my clips from the ride and the pictures from the top of Iron Mountain. Feel fee to leave a message in the comments below.