As they have for decades, shrieking swarms of gray and white herring gulls pinpoint the commercial fishing boats that still battle their nets from the Great Lakes` deepest, coldest and most dangerous waters.
On the main street, mansions of past magnates stand above the docks and look down at the shops that serve the deepwater sailboats that silently cut through the harbor.
Like most of the communities in northwest Wisconsin that sit below the rough bluffs and outcroppings that line Lake Superior, Bayfield has maintained its link to the lake.
Wherever a visitor goes in this part of the state-whether it`s to experience the fishing village world in the small towns and communities that have survived along the lake; to wander the backroads through the tracts of hardwood, aspen and pine, searching for wildlife, waterfalls or some pristine scene deep in the trees; or to just enjoy the unique landscape-the link is everywhere.
It`s a link to the land, to the waters and to the forest. The best way to experience this is to make a circle drive through Douglas, Bayfield, Washburn and Sawyer Counties.
The area, more or less surrounded by the almost 900,000-acre Chequamegon National Forest, has all types of lodgings and offers camping, hiking, boating and sightseeing.
Sitting below the 22 Apostle Islands, at the south end of Chequamegon Bay, is Ashland. Even though it is not in the four-county area (it`s just outside the east boundary of Bayfield County), Ashland is a good place to begin, as it has access to the Lake Superior circle-tour route that runs along the lakeshore.
Since 1854, Ashland has survived timber barons and the lumber booms that stripped virgin forests, as well as the mining booms that peaked and died as ore prices plummeted. It is surviving, still, the uncertainty of the shipping industry.
There are interesting spots along the road through town. But start with the Northern Wisconsin Interpretive Center, 400 3rd Ave. W. (715-682-6600). Its wall-size regional map, complete with lighted highlights, is great for route-planning. The center is open Wednesday-Sunday from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and from 6-8:30 p.m.
Fine views
Just west of Ashland, Wisconsin Highway 13 turns north through some of the finest scenery on the lakeshore, the long sandy beaches and the intricately eroded stone bluffs of the U.S. Park Service`s Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
The highway winds through the coastal communities of Washburn, Bayfield, Cornucopia, Herbster and Port Wing.
Bayfield is called the ”Gateway to the Apostle Islands” and as Wisconsin 13 twists down the bluff to the sheltered bay at lake level, the first view is that of a harbor full of sailboat masts silhouetted against the wooded mound that rises sharply behind them.
Shops and specialty restaurants line the short main street, Rittenhouse Avenue, which runs in a straight line to the harbor. Side streets lead to a past when commercial fishing was the business in Bayfield. Many preserved and restored homes and buildings remain from that time. Some have lakeside cupolas from which anxious families watched the horizon for a first sight of the returning boats.
Many structures are on the National Register of Historic Places. The Apostle Island National Lakeshore headquarters is in one of them, a two-story brownstone built in 1883 that was once the county courthouse. It`s at 4th and Washington Streets, and is also the location of the Carnegie Library and houses the museum`s collection of local history materials.
If visitors need information about the Apostles, the headquarters is the place to find it; telephone 715-779-3397.
Bayfield is also the home of the Booth Cooperage, Wisconsin`s only old-time barrel factory. From Memorial Day to mid-October, visitors are welcome to stop at the Washington Avenue location to watch workers form and hand-fit staves into finished barrels.
Idyll at the beach
After exploring the town, head north on Wisconsin 13. Thirteen miles northwest of Bayfield, past the lower Apostle Islands and the Red Cliff Indian Reservation, is Sand Bay. Long and unbroken, Sand Bay`s natural sand beach seems to curve along the forest all the way to the Apostles. It`s a fine spot for beach walking, for watching Lake Superior whitecaps or for picnicking.
There are also a ranger station, boat launch and moorings. Farther west are Cornucopia, Herbster and Port Wing. And, like Bayfield, they are lake-oriented. Along the way, too, you`ll pass the Boise Brule River, a
wilderness canoe route. Numerous accesses are available along the entire length of the river.
You can follow the marked access road north from Wisconsin 13, following the Brule to its mouth at Lake Superior; or follow County Trunk H and then Wisconsin Highway 27 south into a bald eagle nesting area, the Brule River State Forest.
Continuing west on Wisconsin 13, the route reaches Superior, Wis., which, with its sister city, Duluth, Minn., offers many activities. Just outside Superior, though, are two spots that everyone should experience, the top waterfalls in Wisconsin: the Manitou Falls group in Pattison State Park and the Amnicon Falls group in Amnicon Falls State Park.
What is it about waterfalls that causes people to stare, sometimes for hours? Their power is as real as the power of the blurred water that curls over them. Sometimes, the waterfall just vanishes.
Even when it`s there, the soft sound made by the thin flow of water over the gray-brown rock is most often missed by those who have come to see the three big falls nearby. For more than 30 miles the Amnicon River gathers water and twists, downward, toward Lake Superior.
But before the fast water reaches this largest of the Great Lakes, it reaches the outcroppings of billion-year-old basaltic lava in the Amnicon Falls State Park. The river forces its way through narrow, million-year-old, erosion-worn cuts in the rock and it drops 200 feet in three cascades of falls.
Sometimes, there are four
When river conditions are perfect, the small fourth waterfall appears in a dim, grotto-like bypass channel about 100 feet off the main river.
Visitors can walk wooded, groomed trails along the lava and sandstone-walled river gorge. They can stand on the covered wooden bridge that spans the river just above the lower falls, watching the white water. Or just enjoy the forest-like scenery.
The park is 10 miles southeast of Superior, on County Trunk Highway U, just off U.S. Highway 2. It was the ancient volcanic activity and the 20 mile- thick glaciers of the Ice Age that created the landscape for waterfalls in northwest Wisconsin. Their forces were so perfectly joined, in fact, that they combined to formed the highest waterfall in the state, Big Manitou Falls, which drops 165 feet from the top of the Black River gorge to the bottom.
Big Manitou Falls and Little Manitou falls (a smaller sister falls just down the Black River) are in Pattison State Park on Wisconsin Highway 35, just south of Superior. (Waterfall addicts should detour to Gile Falls and Spring Camp Falls, both just outside Montreal, Wis., southwest of Hurley, Wis., on Wisconsin Highway 77.)
After falls-watching, head south toward Hayward.
Three main highways head south, and the choice depends on how scenic you want the drive to be. It`s possible to continue south on Wisconsin 35 or U.S. 53; or to head east on U.S. Highway 2 and then south on Wisconsin 27; or, to go east on U.S. Highway 2 to U.S. 63, and then south.
A fall spectacular
During a fall-color visit, though, few routes match the forest scenery along U.S. Highway 63. Almost all types of northwest Wisconsin landscapes are along this road. There are lakes and rivers, of course, but also rolling bluffs and glacial mounds and ridges, lowland marshes, and wide vistas of the national forest.
Seven miles south of U.S. 2, just past County Trunk E, U.S. 63 enters the White Bibon River Marsh. This forest marsh is almost 24 square miles of brown- topped cattails; clumps of swamp birch, oak and quaking aspen; scrub brush;
and, everywhere, wildlife.
Vehicle access into the marsh is limited, but there`s one back road that leads into it for several miles. Just before entering the town of Grand View, Wis., watch for Taylor Lane on the right. Turn right (north) and follow it into the marsh. Eventually the road dead-ends at a group of homes.
Everywhere across the North Woods, the lumber industry has always been a powerful presence, and in Drummond, the next community down U.S. 63, there`s a working mill.
Visitors can watch as fresh-cut logs are first debarked and then turned into finished boards. The Drummond Wood Products site is just off the main street.
West of Drummond, the highway turns south to Cable, famous for the cross- country ski race the American Birkebeiner, veers southwest past Leonard, and finally reaches Hayward, the ”muskie capital of the world.” In Hayward is the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. Its exhibits include a
”trophy” museum and a four-story tall muskie replica, and, during summer, the Scheer Lumberjack Show, at the lumberjack bowl.
Main highways connect in the city and provide good roads out, in almost every direction.
For more information about northwest Wisconsin, contact the Wisconsin office of tourism at 800-423-TRIP. Or, you can stop at the Wisconsin Information Center, 305 E. 2nd St., Superior, Wis. 800-942-5313. It`s open daily from May to October, and closes only on Sundays the rest of the year.
