Wisconsin area events- THIS WEEKEND: kayak camping.

Ohhhh

 

Hmm

 

I think out loud a lot

 

I’m definitely not going to make this trip. I’m half way through the process of moving and then I’ve got like 4 weeks of traveling for work so I’m not going to have much time other than weekends to get settled in.

On the plus side it’s only a 20 minute drive to get some spotted cow now.

 

20 minutes to get spotted cow?
Lucky.

 

And dope motorcycle roads right next to me.

 

So I couldn’t run the pipeline with @Thatbassguy and @ajmogen the other day, but due to a random change of plans for me this weekend, I ran it Sunday, as much of it as I could sort out through the mess of closed roads and whatnot. I played in a few deep mud bogs, deep sand, found one small rock to crawl up. And drove the rocky hill (downhill), that shit was tough... (see below)

Trip report will be below:

I’ll be very curious about the route you guys settled on...


I ran it
from here:
45°02'31.7"N 88°20'43.0"W
https://goo.gl/maps/5GqUtk3jV5FhhorYA

To here:
45°18'56.8"N 88°18'33.1"W
https://goo.gl/maps/1Yhe9jktz291Mno46

The KML file which you can open in google earth or other programs should be attached to this post...


Seems like 90% of the actual pipeline trail FS 55552 was closed and has been for years (fenced or trees blocking the way). And nearly every marked FS road I tried was blocked anywhere from 100 yards out to miles. I have several long back tracks due to closed roads. I suspect it has to do with all the active logging out there. It was a damn hassle. The whole trip took me like five hours with maybe a dozen back tracks due to closed roads. I’m glad I had my forest service and usgs quad maps downloaded on my phone.


Over all I drove on 41 miles of dirt. Mostly graded gravel and very easy. Many of the FS trails I tried were two track, easy driving but narrow and very scratchy. I definitely have new pin stripes.

Where I started the pipeline on the southern end, you have the option of driving on the soft sand and through mud bogs or taking the graded gravel road 50 feet east of the pipeline. I ran some of the sand and mud. The sand was fine, not deep enough to need four wheel drive, the mud bogs though... I made it through a few really easy, but the first time the water splashed over the hood, I bailed to the gravel road and watched a razor go into the next puddle and it flooded over his doors. Maybe now I can convince the wife I need a snorkel... watching the water spash over the hood is a nerve wracking ordeal. But I was fine. Just don’t slow down in the mud...

Quite quickly the pipeline trail disappeared and I had to explore a variety of FS trails to keep trying (unsuccessfully) to get to the pipeline. Every time I could reconnect with it it was closed, long abandoned. Eventually I drove on jack pine road and west butler rock road where I found the fun little rock to crawl. Near Crooked Lake further north, you pick up some other forest service road that connects to the pipeline again. This is where the rocky hill is.

The Rocky Hill
I will say this to everyone planning on going. That rocky hill is not fucking around. I scoffed looking at the video. But I should have remembered after my Moab trip... photos and videos rarely do justice to the grade of hills or the difficulty of the terrain. Those rocks are huge and they move. I’m lifted 3” on 34” tires with rock sliders and factory skids (those will be my next mod I think). I used them several times. The skids and sliders have new scratches for sure. I went down the rocky hill, but I’m not sure if I could make it up... it’s steep, with soft sand/mud between large rocks.

I’m going to say, pretty or newish stock tacos should carefully consider if they want to try that hill. There is definite possibility of body damage if you don’t have sliders or skids, it also feels just aggressive enough, if the wrong line is chosen, to break shit like cvs or rear drive shafts...

I will add that you can just drive around the rocky hill on an easy little two track, so it does have a bypass.


Anyways that’s that. I drove around, played in mud and water and sand and 100 yards of steep rocky shit in what is otherwise a sea of bland dirt roads in the woods.

I am looking forward to the trip with you guys, drinking beer and bullshiting and hopefully Thatbasshuy and Ajmogan have a more logical route that doesn’t involve so much back tracking and does take us to some mud, my one rock, and the rocky hill.

 

Excellent report man! That sounds nearly as tough as the curbs I tackled this week, so we'll see what happens..

Looking forward to the trip as well!

 

I walked the rock hill and said no thanks. Props to you for running that. It disabled a jeep that ran it just before we got there. We also heard some horror stories about some of the mud bogs along the trail. There are some spots that are no joke.

 

We pretty much plan on just running the section from Buck's Ranch road south, taking the bypass and back tracking towards the top of the rock hill.

If anyone wants to attempt the rock hill, we can meet back up with them on the other end. I won't attempt it without full skids.

After that I was going to play it by ear. I would definitely like to take a ride over to the big rock on Butler rock road for grins and give everyone a shot at taking some pictures up there. It was different than usual this past Friday as someone had put a downed tree in the usual path I take. I squeezed through the little opening and went up anyway.

Those sections off of Jack Pine road were open until recently. All of the trees blocking those sections fell this summer when tornadoes and storms came through.

Also, the trail is FS55552

 

That rock is fun!

 

Yeah that’s the road I kept trying to find 55552. The Jeep guy I talked to mentioned a number of rocks to crawl near crooked lake. But several of the trails I tried were closed. So who knows if we could find them. I also thought that that rock would be good for guys who’ve never really offroaded or rock crawled. It’s steep enough to be exciting.

 

Definitely! I am a novice at best. I looked at it last year and was afraid to drive up it with the Tacoma. I took the 4runner up several times now, and it's always entertaining. The tricky part is turning around up there! Probably easier with a spotter.

Maybe we can exchange notes on the trip and come up with a plan for the group run on the 14th. @ajmogen and I were trying to get to Crandon, so we only looked at the section off of Buck's Ranch. I'm curious to see what you found further south. There are so many dead-ends, it's tough to decide. Plus a lot of areas are too narrow to turn around, so backing out with a group would be a real clusterfuck.

 

There are sections of the trail that are closed in that area. You can't even get from HWY 64 to old 64 on the trail.

 

On 64 going north there are a lot of trees blocking the road. It is impassable, I think due to the storm a couple weeks ago that brought the tornado to Green Bay. You can download my kml track and look at it in google earth. I tried to hit the trail between 64 and old 64 in a couple places. It’s completely blocked the whole way. I think that about 80% of the pipeline trail is closed these days. We will likely just be exploring random FS trails. A Green Bay jeep guy told me about some rock crawling around crooked lake. Maybe I’ll go ask him better directions.

 

Correct. There are areas there that have been closed previously. But, there are areas that are open but impassable due to the storm damage. I was going to clear trees last weekend, but there's just too many.

I might go up there for a weekend in October and try to work on it. I'd like to get some help if possible. Maybe we can discuss this next weekend.

@deekyn , when are you planning on arriving next weekend? I'd like to incorporate some of your route into the trail run. I'm hoping we'll have some time to discuss this Friday night or Saturday morning.

 

I am planning on showing up Friday afternoonish.

 

If anyone would like to convoy/caravan from the greater MKE area, let me know - I'm planning on heading out late afternoon on Friday. Could also meet up somewhere for grub (maybe along 41/43) and head north from there.

 

approx what time are you thinking?
its about an 8 hour drive for me to Milwaukee area
a caravan from somewhere familiar would probably be easier for me not to get lost or Stuck in Minnesota (which i was originally planning to go to get there)

 

Damn, that's quite the haul!

I was thinking of leaving by 4:00pm from the Lake Country area (where I work), which is about 30 minutes west of Milwaukee. If there's interest, I could set a rendezvous point for all - a diner or restaurant along the way would be easiest.

Edit: I may be able to leave by 3:00pm, the sooner the better obviously.