Mary and I just returned from a four day trip to the Sayner area of Vilas County.  Did a little canoeing, fishing, biking and hiking.

We stayed at Firefly Lake which is located in the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest.  Although not a fan of campgrounds it was a nice place with only a few "loud talkers". 

The area has outstanding paved bike paths and we were also able to bike down some logging roads and trails as it was fairly dry up there.

Great hiking as well.  Tramped around the Allequash Lake and Pines State Natural Area and got so see some large white and red pines along with old hemlocks and hardwoods.  There are a bunch of SNAs around the state and I plan on looking at more of them in the future.  I have John Bates' book that lists, describes and gives directions. 

Several carry in only lakes in the area as well.  Frank, Blueberry, Emerald and Fallison are a few nearby.  Only had time to get into Emerald (portaged from Firefly) where we caught a few largemouth.  Some really nice pines around that lake as well.  Will be exploring Frank and Fallison next visit (later this year).  Plan on fishing a couple of other lakes as well. 

Paddled on Firefly and caught some decent smallies.  A cold front had come through just before we arrived and I had to resort to the old tried and true....1/2 crawler and light jig.  I only caught one on plastics.

An aside. Even in areas where there are several large campgrounds it doesn't take much to get away from others.  Folks seem to stick to a few popular trails, usually short loops around lakes.  I'd take hikes down old logging roads and I don't think I encountered anyone else.  Early morning hikes along well traveled trails were the same.  Kinda fun to cut through the woods especially in the big tree areas as there is limited understory due to the closed canopy.  I did cheat a little 'cause I had gps capability along.

Anyway, nice area as it has a nice variety of things to do.


Stay safe.........