Home > Recreation > Biking & Hiking Trails

Biking & Hiking Trails

One of the great things about being in St. Germain—In the Center of It All is that you are surrounded by so many great trails. The woodland landscape and countless lakes make the scenery unbelievable, and the abundance of wilderness makes it easy to get away from civilization. Some of the best hiking trails in the Northwoods are in St. Germain.

Touring bicyclists will find miles of quiet roads that wind through pristine forests and around beautiful lakes.

Mountain bicyclists will find some of the best mountain biking trails in the Northwoods.

Order a Heart of the Vilas County Bike Trail Map! Contact the Sayner-Star Lake Chamber of Commerce at 715-542-3789 or email them.

Hikers will love the Awassa Nature Preserve & Hiking Trails, located just west of St. Germain on Highway 70. The preserve provides several nice trails for hikers, and a half-mile natural trail allows visitors to see a pristine example of the Northwoods ecosystem.

Just north of St. Germain on Highway 155 near Big St. Germain Drive is the Fern Ridge Trail, an extremely beautiful trail that lets you get close to the natural flora and fauna of the northern Wisconsin. Fern Ridge Trail is also a great place for snowshoeing in the winter.

Some other area hiking trails include: the Shannon Lake Trail, a gently meandering trail running through a variety of hardwoods; the Madeline Lake Trail, four marked loops with nice lake scenery; and the Anvil Trail, beautiful scenery and a variety of challenging loops.

The Northern Highland–American Legion State Forest surrounds St. Germain and provides hikers, bicyclists, snowshoe enthusiasts & cross-country skiers with many miles of secluded woodland trails.

Whatever mode of transportation you choose, you'll find a trail in St. Germain—In the Center of It All.

The St. Germain Bike Trail is Supported by the following Bike Trail Committee Members: Brian Sherren, Clyde Owens, Joyce Owens, Joan Kazda, Peggy Nimz, Gary Schmidt, and Mark Hiller. Below you will find a brief history, description and map of our proposed trail as it stands to date. Also outlined is how you can help support our new trail going forward!

Visit www.northwoodsbiking.com for northwoods bike maps, information, and rentals

The St. Germain Bike Trail

The St. Germain Bike and Hike Trail is designed to create a trail that links St. Germain to the new trail being developed by the town of Plum Lake. At completion, a paved trail will extend from Kurtzweil Road in Sayner to County Highway O in St. Germain. The trail surface will be a paved surface with a width varying between 8 to 10 feet. This dovetails into a master plan being coordinated by Vilas County to have a trail that makes a continuous loop through the entire county.

New Information

Phase II is still in the design stages. Third party contracts are being negotiated between the town and the engineering firm. The exact route is still being determined at this time. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has reviewed the preliminary design, and requested changes to improve safety and meet several federal guidelines.

During the fall of 2008, engineers will finalize the route, design a bridge crossing, survey and engineer the trail design, fulfill a myriad of state and federal requirements for safety, and finish the permitting process. Construction has been delayed somewhat, but the new start date to build Phase II is May 1, 2009.

Goals

The trail is designed with three things in mind: 1. Improve Safety for non motorized transportation; 2. Offer local residents another recreational benefit to this town; and 3. Offer vacationers that visit this area another reason to enjoy this area.

Phase I

Phase I was completed in July of 2006. Due to limited funding, a trail was built from the St. Germain Chamber building to Plum Creek Avenue on County Road C. A parking area was established behind the chamber building serving as the main trail head. The trail follows the right of way of Highway 70 to the wayside along the St. Germain River. The wayside offers another parking zone, water, and bathroom facilities. Wisconsin Valley Improvement offered the use of a dam as a river crossing for the new trail. To help with this segment of trail, WVIC offered the town a 50% matching funds grant to build the trail from the wayside parking area, across the dam, and up the other side. This dovetails with WVIC’s plan to offer easy access to the public using the dam as a fishing area and a canoe crossing. After the river crossing, the trail continues along the Highway 70 right of way to County Trunk C, and turns north along the county right of way until Mood Road. Due to a generous endowment from the Helen McCarthy estate in 2007, the trail was extended parallel to Mood Road and Plum Creek Avenue. This part of the trail, know as the Helen McCarthy segment, goes deep into the forest offering quiet scenery through the state forest. A portion of the trail then uses quiet town roads to connect to the chamber of commerce building in Sayner, and Sayner’s 4-mile section of paved trail.

Phase II

Phase II extends the existing trail from the main staging area behind the St. Germain Chamber of Commerce building east 3 miles to County Highway O. The route will utilize road right of ways and take every opportunity to meander into the forests to keep the route as scenic as possible, and still allow safe access from numerous town roads.

The route is still fluid, but the primary idea is to use town property and town road right of way to construct the trail through the down town area. This moves the trail farther away from the highway making it more scenic, yet allowing access to downtown attractions. The trail will continue east along the Highway 70 right of way traveling deep into the right of way at points to take advantage of scenery. There will be a river crossing 1.5 miles east of St. Germain near Little St. Germain Lake. In areas of tight highway right of way, the trail will deviate deep into the woods to avoid these tight areas and allow for the beautiful scenery.

In Phase II, there will be an effort to touch up areas of the Phase I trail.

Phase II construction is 93% funded by State and Federal Grants. That's great news for St. Germain, but fund raising efforts are continuous to raise $40,000 needed to cover St. Germain’s share of the expenses.

Partnering for the future ...

The Bike and Hike Trail committee is made up of avid snowmobilers. They recognize that every effort must be made with the local snowmobile clubs to interface the new trail with minimal impact to the snowmobile trails. Some efforts include, but are not limited to, keeping the two trail systems separate, not building the new trail on an existing snowmobile trail, using special materials at trail crossings, minimizing tree removal to keep snow cover shaded near the snowmobile trails, keeping the new trail at grade with the existing trails for groomers, and not altering existing grades of the snowmobile trail. Trail crossing locations are still being looked at in an effort to minimize the number of contact points.

The Bike and Hike trail location still remains fluid. That is to say that numerous entities have a say in the location of the new trail, and the trail plan may move locations to improve safety, and minimize snowmobile trail contact prior to bid letting. These entities include the Department of Transportation, Wisconsin Valley Improvement Corporation, Northland Pines School District, Town Board of St. Germain, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Bo-Boen Club.

Help our effort!

Your donations are needed. 50% of the cost of Phase I is paid for by grant funding. Roughly 25% of the cost is paid for out of room tax. The remaining 25% will be paid for out of donations from good people like your self, and local civic groups. Local civic groups have pledged over $40,000.00 to date. The Town Treasurer set up a special town fund to handle donations for construction and maintenance.

Your donations will be used primarily to construct or maintain the trail. A small amount, less than 3%, may be used to pay for fund raising costs such as flyers or web site material. But 92% of donations will be used for construction, and 5% will be held in a town fund for future maintenance. Donations should be made payable to Town of St. Germain Bike and Hike Trail. You can mail these donations to: St. Germain Town Treasurer, PO Box 117, St. Germain, WI 54558.

Order a Heart of the Vilas County Bike Trail Map! Contact the Sayner-Star Lake Chamber of Commerce at 715-542-3789 or email them. The map shows the connecting trail system between St. Germain and the towns of Sayner-Star Lake and Boulder Junction.

Useful Links