Northern

Northern Wisconsin is the Northwoods — 23 counties running from the St. Croix River east across the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest to Lake Michigan and the Door Peninsula. The terrain is glacial lake country: kettle lakes, white pine and hardwood forest, granite outcrops along Lake Superior, and the long limestone finger of Door County reaching into Lake Michigan. Bayfield and Ashland anchor the Lake Superior shore; the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore reaches off the Bayfield County peninsula. Door County fills the long peninsula with Sturgeon Bay, Sister Bay, Ephraim, and the cherry orchards. Vilas and Oneida run the lake-cabin country around Eagle River and Minocqua; Marinette and Florence sit at the Michigan border on the Menominee River; Sawyer County’s Hayward holds the Lumberjack World Championships and the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. Trips here run on the seasons. Summer fills the kettle lakes with cabins, the Apostle Islands with kayakers, and Door County with cherry-orchard traffic; fall pulls foliage drivers up State Highway 13 and through the National Forest; winter brings the American Birkebeiner cross-country race in Hayward and snowmobiling almost everywhere.