Another glorious day in the Northwoods.
I started my day by warming up and relaxing in the sauna at ROAM. There was plenty of heat from the night before, so I didn't even need to restart the wood fire. All I needed was to just get the chill out of my bones. Before long I was throwing a leg over my Cutthroat and beginning my trek to Perch Lake campground north of Drummond.
A healthy dose of singletrack was on the menu for the day. I have been riding mountain bikes in the Chequamegon National Forest since the early 1990s and it has been fun to see how many trails there are now in this area. I had modified the route a bit to mix in stretches of gravel in between singletrack to make sure I could continue at a decent pace. Most of the leaves in the area had fallen at this point covering much of the trail so that combined with a heavily weighted down drop bar mountain bike made riding old classic trails like Rock Lake quite interesting to say the least.
As I exited the singletrack I was a little leery going in of the detour I had made. I was trying to put a lunch stop on the route and the only ones that made sense were on a paved stretch of road (County Road D) and I was concerned with being buzzed as it didn't offer much of any shoulder. That said all my worry was for nothing as I had very little traffic to contend with and even saw another cyclist out getting some exercise on their tri bike. Lunch (bacon cheeseburger no 8), was enjoyed at Loon Saloon which also served as a place to charge up as many batteries as I could, having gone without electricity for the last couple of days.
After lunch I jumped on stretches of gravel from the bikepacking.com Tour De Chequamegon loop, which I have ridden previously, and made for a great afternoon seeing sights that I was familiar with.
I had originally intended to get dinner in Drummond but decided that as it was already getting later in the day and my lunch spot wasn't all that long ago to opt for the gas station, loading up on gummy bears, crackers, meat, cheese curds and a 24 ounce can of Budweiser.
Five more miles and I had made it to Perch Lake Campground. The campground is divided into two sections, the southern being right along the road, and the northern part being further off. I opted for the second section and was the only person in either camp.
