Brule-St. Croix Chapter, Northwest Wisconsin

Jackpine Barrens

Gaylord Nelson Portal to Hwy S at Highland Town Hall

Length of Segment: 5.2 Miles

North Trailhead: Gaylord Nelson Portal off Wisconsin Highway 27, about 8 miles south of Brule.  Walk west along the marked spur to the trail.

South Trailhead:  at the Highland Town Hall off County Highway S, about five miles west of Wisconsin Highway 27, and about two miles south of Stone's Bridge Canoe Landing on the Brule River. 

Campsite:  Highland campsite, 1/4 mile northeast of Highway S, has two tent pads and latrine.  Water is available at the nearby Highland Town Hall.

Leaving the Gaylord Nelson Portal, you pass through a jackpine plantation, then into an open area where logging has been done on private lands to the west.  Soon you join a short section of snowmobile trail, then take a sharp turn westward and across another cutover area.  As you do, you enter the Mott's Ravine State Natural Area #400.  You'll be in the Natural Area until you leave Mott's Ravine.  Watch for prairie plants such as big bluestem, prairie brome, blazing star, bird’s-foot violet, puccoon, and wood lily. 

Crossing another cutover, you reach the corner of Mott's Ravine Road, then turn west through a red pine plantation (look for pink lady's slipper here in spring or early summer) and descend into Mott's Ravine, a glacial spillway.  You'll cross the ravine floor, then climb up to the north side for overlooks.  After descending and crossing the ravine floor again as it curves away northward toward the Brule, you climb up and turn south on a short section of two-track that is the Gordon Trail, a historic wagon road that connected the Brule Valley with Gordon beginning in the 1870s.  Turning westward again, you pass through sections of red pine plantation interspersed with pine-popple woods and cross a snowmobile trail twice as you approach the Highland Town Hall and County S.  The Highland campsite is between the two snowmobile trail crossings.  Drinking water is available from a faucet marked on the outside of the new town hall. 

Next Trail Segment West: Brule Headwaters - Historic Portage

Next Trail Segment East: Brule Valley - Big Lake Overlooks

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