Quick vacation to Bayfield, a spur of the moment trip. Neither of us had been there before. Our camper paid off big time, since on short notice there was zero housing to be had in the area. Perhaps it was because their Big Top Chautauqua was hosting the Wailin Jennys, for which we had tickets.
We researched local campgrounds, found a nice, large one in Washburn, 12 miles south of Bayfield. Memorial Park. Nothing fancy, clean showers (altho they were coin fed. That was a first. $0.25 for each five minutes, and you’d better have quarters.). First come first served, no reservations. We took off early on a Wednesday and burned up there, hoping to get lucky. And we did – we got the last spot in that campground.
One side of it was more open, had more big rigs. The other side was more wooded, mostly smaller rigs.
There’s a 2nd campground on the southern edge of Washburn called Thompson’s West End Park. No pictures of it. It’s more wide open, somewhat less appealing than Memorial, but still very serviceable. And to note: there is an overflow field made available if no campsites are to be had. We camp off grid all the time – this could be a lifesaver on a crowded weekend.
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We headed to Bayfield the first evening to look around. Came back the next day, hopped on the ferry to Madeline Island, with our bikes. It ain’t cheap getting over there. They charged us for each body, and each bike. $42 for us both.
Many roads are paved on the island, many are not. An ideal bike would have fatter tires for some dirt, but we were on our fast road bikes. Still, there was enough mileage to make a decent day out of it. We pedaled through both the state campground, Big Bay State Park, and another camp site named Big Bay Town Park. It’s more of a “city level” park. Here’s its official description.
Big Bay Town Park:
No doubt Big Bay Beach at Town Park is the perfect spot to lull away the day on a hot summer afternoon. Walk the miles of sandy beach, hike the boardwalk, or canoe or kayak the inland lagoon. Fish the lake or lagoon – permit required. Picturesque views at every turn.
Campground features 61 campsites with 22 electric sites. New RV camp sites available and also 6 remote campsites which are located on the Lagoon Ridge Trail. New picnic structure with fireplace for picnics and campers. New restroom and shower facilities available. Firewood available.
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Despite it’s exotic location in the island, Big Bay State Park had the total look and feel of any Wisconsin State Park. The water is not visible from the camping area. Because of the serious expense of ferrying a large camper over, we saw a lot more tents.
We would have liked to spend the whole day and into the evening on the island. They have a funky downtown area, a few bars (Tom’s Burned Down Tavern), but because of our tix for the Big Top, we had to get back early.
Click for pics:
Our first two days Up North were sunny. It started raining at the Wailin Jennys concert. We didn’t see the sun after that for many days. Our itinerary had us heading to the Superior/Duluth area. We drove the Bayfield Penninsula on Hwy 13 the next day, heading for our next campsite, Amnicon Fall. Our most interesting stop was in Cornacopia, where we bought incredibly fresh fish, practically off the boat. Whitefish and Salmon, smoked and fresh, great prices. We loaded up because we of course had our big camper refrigerator and freezer pulling along behind us.
Amnicon Falls was a nice campground. No electric sites, total off grid camping. It was unseasonably cool, very wet, gloomy. The Amnicon River flows right through the place.
Video of the Amnicon Falls can be seen by clicking below. It pans from upstream to downstream, following a sequence that goes something like “I could so float that”, to “that would be insanely wicked to float”, and finally “I would be dead, right about there”.
