‘Travel & Tourism’ Features

Summer is still a long trek away… The good news is, the days are getting longer, the average temperatures are getting higher and well, the Green Bay Packers are going to the Superbowl!  That will get us through a couple more weeks at least! Thing is, even if you could afford the flight to Texas, the cost of tickets and even parking rates are verging on the insane. Here in Baraboo there ‘s undoubtedly going to be some friendly discussion about the fact that local company McArthur Towel and Sports LLC is the maker of the Pittsburgh Steelers legendary, “Terrible Towel“.  Hmmm., having Pittsburgh fans waving Baraboo made Terrible Towels every time the Steelers score against the Pack… well, that  just ain’t right!  Stay tuned! Read the rest of this entry »

If it weren’t for the Green Bay Packers and regular snow fall, we’d be hard pressed for headlines here in central Wisconsin this time of year.  Yesterday’s storm closed schools early and made roads treacherous as usual.  There was one very tragic accident  at Mirror Lake which left one person dead and closed the Interstate highway all day and through last night.  During the summer months we paddle under that bridge regularly and that certainly gives you a unique perspective on this accident.

The weather over the next few days will be colder than usual, but not really the arctic freeze you’re hearing about in the papers. Well, other than Friday anyway when the day’s high will struggle to reach 3f.   Most outdoorsy folks won’t be slowed down. In fact, I expect to see a few campers at Devil’s Lake State Park regardless of temps.  The good news is that the long range forecast is calling for a warmer than usual second half of the season which should kick off not long after the Packers-Bears game this Sunday.

I’d bet attendance this Sunday at the annual Wisconsin Dells Flake Out festival may be a little down.. Unless they come up with some winter weather-proof big screens.

After the last Christmas ornament is taken down and the last of the New Year’s confetti is swept from the corners of the floor, the “Now What?” season begins.   We’ve entered the time of year when few events take place, when the cold begins to really sink in and day dreams of summer begin to interrupt our work days. Let’s face it, for many of us it’s hard to be a big fan of winter.  I’m feeling it too..

Well, don’t despair, spring is just a few short months away.  In the mean time, there are a few local events coming up to take your mind off the gray days.  Eagle Watching Days kicks off Jan. 14-15 in Sauk-Prairie. January 21-23 will be the 21st anniversary celebration for the Flake Out Festival in Wisconsin Dells.  The Flake out is a good time and certainly worth a drive up to Wisconsin Dells.  The event offers lots of food & drink, an ice sculpting contest, live music, wagon rides and much more. Click here for details about the Flake Out Festival.  On February 5, many Wisconsin state parks will be holding another candlelight ski event including Mirror Lake State Park again.   Then, February 11th-13th the annual snow train will be running at Mid-Continent Railway Museum.  You’ll need to get your reservations in soon for that.  Taking in a local event whenever possible brings a bit of cheerful change to the long winter months.

Of course it helps to learn to enjoy outdoor recreation in the winter months as well. Why not learn to downhill ski this year at Devil’s Head Resort or Cascade Mountain.  We’ve promised our son he’d get to sample snowshoeing, downhill skiing and be able run the tube hill at Cascade Mountain before the season is up.  (One thing is sure, we’ll go during the week when the cost is $22 all day, as opposed to the weekend when they charge $22 for 2 hours!) Setting activity goals for the winter helps provide something to look forward to.

Kayak Sledding at Devil's Lake State Park

You could also head out to Devil’s Lake State Park for a bit of sledding on the big hill in the Quartzite Campground. We like to take our plastic kayaks out there for an occasional run.  What a blast! Oh, and of course there’s all those miles of trails to explore by ski or snowshoe!  It’s worth renting gear to see if you like it, but gear for either sport is not that expensive and it’s best to buy as soon as you feel committed. (Locally it costs about $15 to rent snowshoes for a day.)  Of course lots of folks are out snowmobiling and ice fishing as well this time of year.  We’ve had a bit of snow overnight so let’s hope the snowmobile trails will open up again here soon!

The real trick to surviving the “Now What?” season is simply staying busy.  Get outdoors, even if you’re not a big fan of winter.  Play, walk, take a long drive, explore…  If you just stay active, the late grey months of winter will soon be over.   I promise.

Learn to cross country ski or snowshoe at tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011) at Mirror Lake State Park,  starting at 2pm. The weather should play along as tomorrow’s forecast calls for partly sunny skies in the afternoon and a high temp of 17f.  There will be lessons followed by a trail outing. Then if you hang around, the fun continues with the annual candlelight ski & snowshoe event from 6pm until 8pm.  Join the Friends of Mirror Lake State Park for this fun winter event! Learn More.

Some 5 days after a sudden late December warm-up, most snowmobile trails in Sauk County including the state 400 trail, remain closed.  Cross Country trails at local state parks are not fairing much better at the moment, most having melted down to an ice covered base.  While there are some flurries out there at the moment, only an inch of snow or less is predicted for our area over the next week.   To get the *current snowmobile trail conditions you can call the Sauk County Snowmobile Trail Association hot-line at Call (608) 985-4SNO.

*I called the hotline this morning and the last update was before the last warming event.

In yesterday’s post about appreciating the value of Sauk County’s natural areas, I mentioned the restoration of the Badger Prairie lands which share a border with Devil’s Lake State Park on the south side of the Baraboo Range.  Wisconsin Public Television offered a short history of the Badger Ammunition Plant about a month ago, and provided some comparative video that is well worth watching for anyone interested in Sauk County’s nature & history.  I’ve embedded that video below.   I’d also like to invite you to help support the Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance which is at the forefront restoring the Badger land to it’s former glory for all of us to enjoy.

Watch the full episode. See more In Wisconsin.

If we want to see more people in our community during the winter months and more tourism dollars coming our way, we have to do a better job keeping some of our most popular natural areas open year around. Again I find myself trying to remind those who will listen that outdoor recreation is a multi-billion dollar industry and here in Wisconsin,  and Sauk County is (Or should be) ground zero. Boarding up the windows (or in this case, not plowing the parking areas) when it comes to outdoor recreation in the winter is a mistake.  We have to get over this chicken and the egg argument for not serving the outdoor community in our area.  They will come, they will shop, they will buy… IF we serve them properly.

I’m not going to spend any more time here trying to explain to those who don’t want to hear about it, how popular outdoor recreation actually is, or how even in winter, thousands of folks throughout the Midwest are still getting out doors.  I shouldn’t have to state the obvious, that winter in Wisconsin is big business. Just ask the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.  What is apparent in our area is that we are having a hard time connecting and understanding the outdoor enthusiasts who do come here by the millions (yes, millions..) each year.

We need to see outdoor recreation in a broader scope.  Yes, it’s ice fishing, downhill & cross-county skiing, boarding and snowmobiling.  We do a good job there for the most part.  However, it’s also trekking and snowshoeing, sledding, and skating, wildlife watching, tracking, photography, ice boating, back-country skiing and more.  We’ve not even begun provide services or access for many of these folks.  Meanwhile in areas such as Yellowstone National Park the concern is no longer access but regulation of winter use.  (Is Yellowstone a fair comparison?  Well, that’s another post entirely.)

Looking West From The Merrimac Preserve Toward Devil's Lake State Park

In much of Sauk County we seem to have a hard time promoting or even acknowledging our amazing natural areas or the sheer number of trails and innumerable acres of public land. (Not to mention the coming addition of the Badger Prairie!) We come to our natural gifts as an afterthought. We seem to have little motivation to even contemplate the real business potential for communities.  We blindly keep our best features shrouded or at the very least pushed off into the periphery. Here in Baraboo we seem beholden to becoming trickle down recipient of Wisconsin Dells overflow.  We casually ignore the millions of people who come to our parks and natural areas every year, while blithely continuing to pretend that a new office building  here or box store there will somehow carry us into the future. In the long term this is going to be a mistake that will be hard, if not impossible to recover from down the road.

As I’ve said many times before, Baraboo and much of Sauk County should be putting all it’s efforts into developing it’s own niche’.  Sauk county is many things. It’s history, industry, business, the arts and more, but it is our natural environment that makes us something unique in not only the Midwest, but in the country as well.  We need to come to terms with that reality and build our community and our business models around it. We need to build on the 1.8 million visitors to Devil’s Lake State Park each year and the tens of thousands more visiting other parks, natural areas, ski resorts, and more. We need to better open channels of communication and take these folks by the hand and show them what we really have to offer. We have to provide more recreational opportunities and guidance. We have to better publicize all of our natural areas as one unified destination.  We need better maps and brochures.   We need to unify our “brand” if you will. We need more business targeted to the outdoor industry as well as support the ones we do have.  AND we need businesses that will stay open when folks get off the trails and off the beach so they don’t bypass us to go to Wisconsin Dells where (I’ve been told many times) they often feel more wanted.

Lastly we need to do it now. 2011, when all eyes will be focused on Devil’s Lake State Park’s centennial celebration.  The amount of media interest and the number of people hearing and thinking about Devil’s Lake and Sauk County as a whole, outside of Wisconsin Dells will never be higher. We need to take this opportunity to really show them what we have to offer.  What we cannot do is plod along with “business as usual”.  There’s a decision to make in our community and it should not be left to business leaders who simply can’t see the forest for the trees.  We need fresh thinking, fresh attitudes and fresh air to take our community profitably, and naturally into the next hundred years. We need to recognize our strengths and build upon them.  That’s how business and communities have thrived since the dawn of time. We’re lucky here in Sauk County.  People want to come here.  They always have.  They come because of us, and sometimes sadly, in spite of us.  We’ve got a good thing here in Sauk County. We just need to get with the program.

Oh, and by the way, we could start, but simply plowing out a few parking lots (Such as the one at Pewit’s Nest Natural Area in the top photo).

**Yes, this is just one silly person’s opinion.  Feel free to blow me off.  I’m sure many will.

The Very Merry Holiday Fair will go on regardless of threatening winter weather. The holiday fair kicks off this evening with a Gala and shopping event from 5-8pm.  The event continues from 9am until 5pm tomorrow.  Of course, as we probably all know by now Sauk County, along with much of  Wisconsin is under a winter storm watch from Saturday morning until late Saturday evening. According to reports we can expect 4-8 inches of fresh snow over the course of the day.  This is not what organizers and artists participating in the Very Merry Holiday Fair here in Baraboo want to hear.  Well, as the saying goes, “The Show Must Go On!”. Our suggestion is to come early if you can. Better yet, stay over night. I’m sure there are lots of local lodging vacancies.

• Very Merry Holiday Fair Website
• Current weather watch information.

It’s fair to say that we are, right this moment, December 3rd, 2010, on the cusp of winter in Wisconsin.  Here in Sauk County we are under a winter weather advisory for this evening going into tomorrow and the Merrimac Ferry has become an ice breaker as it works it’s way across Lake Wisconsin.  It won’t be long now before the ferry closes for the season.  Winter, I dare say,  is upon us.

** Update 3:00 PM – The Merrimac Ferry has closed for the season.

• Merrimac Ferry Slide Show | Flickr Gallery – More images from this morning and throughout the year.

Driving by Devil’s Head Resort near Merrimac this morning I noticed they had the snow machines running full on. It seemed like a good idea to stop by and get a few pics. As it happened, the manager walked in just in time to confirm that they do plan to open this Friday, November 26th, at 2pm! They will be offering half price lift tickets and $50 hotel rooms throughout the weekend as well. So, as long as the weather gods play nice you’ll be able to work of that turkey dinner on the slopes at Devil’s Head all weekend long.

Ok. So I did ask a guy near one of the snow machines what he thought about having enough snow for Friday and got a quirky smile for asking… Take that as you may…

More

• Slideshow: Making Snow @ Devil’s Head Resort This Morning
• Flickr Gallery