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    Hittin’ the Trail: Day Hiking Crex Meadows Wildlife Area
    Hittin’ the Trail: Day Hiking Crex Meadows Wildlife Area
    Hittin’ the Trail: Day Hiking Crex Meadows Wildlife Area
    Ebook99 pages55 minutes

    Hittin’ the Trail: Day Hiking Crex Meadows Wildlife Area

    By Rob Bignell

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    About this ebook

    Imagine a place where you can walk among the remnants of an ancient ice age lake and past tens of thousands of rare and endangered birds gathered on their annual migration, all as you hear the howls of wolves and calls of loons in the distance. The place is real: It’s the Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in northwest Wisconsin.

    Now comes the only complete guide to this wildlife area’s great day hiking trails: “Hittin’ the Trail: Day Hiking Crex Meadows Wildlife Area.” With one tap of the screen, you can:
    >>Learn the best places for spotting sandhill cranes
    >>Discover an internationally-recognized wildlife area
    >>Plan a day of fun family-friendly activities
    >>Find directions, parking lots and more!

    With the “Hittin’ the Trail” ebooks, you’ll never need another hiking guide to any of your favorite destinations. We’ll see you on the trail!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRob Bignell
    Release dateSep 23, 2013
    ISBN9780989672320
    Hittin’ the Trail: Day Hiking Crex Meadows Wildlife Area
    Author

    Rob Bignell

    Rob Bignell is the owner and sole editor at Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the editing and proofreading needs of writers both new and published. During the past five years, he's helped more than a hundred novelists, poets and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams. Several of his short stories in the literary and science fiction genres have been published, and he is the author of the popular and highly acclaimed nonfiction "Hikes with Tykes," "Headin' to the Cabin," and "Hittin' the Trail" book series, the novel "Windmill", and the poetry collection "Love Letters to Sophie's Mom". For more than two decades, he worked as an award-winning journalist, with half of those years spent as an editor. In addition, for seven years he served as an English teacher or a community college journalism instructor. He holds a Master's degree in English and a Bachelor's degree in journalism and English. He and his son live in west-central Wisconsin and are active in boys basketball and Cub Scouts.

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      Book preview

      Hittin’ the Trail - Rob Bignell

      Hittin’ the Trail: Day Hiking Crex Meadows Wildlife Area

      By Rob Bignell

      ***************************

      HITTIN’ THE TRAIL: DAY HIKING CREX MEADOWS WILDLIFE AREA

      Copyright Rob Bignell, 2013

      All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, television or online reviews, no portion of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

      Atiswinic Press

      Ojai, Calif. 93023

      hikeswithtykes.com/hittinthetrail_home.html

      ISBN 978-0-9896723-2-0

      Cover design by Rob Bignell

      Cover photo of Erickson Flowage, see from Abel Road in summer

      All photos by Rob Bignell

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      First printing September 2013

      ***************************

      Dedication

      For Kieran

      Our adventure has only just begun!

      ***************************

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      History

      Birdwatching

      How to Get There

      When to Visit

      Hours and Admission

      Kid-friendly Events

      Family Dog

      Supporting Crex Meadows

      Maps

      Day Hiking Trails

      Norm Stone Prairie Trail (Trail A)

      Hay Creek Trail (Trail B)

      Whiskey Creek Flowage Trail (Trail C)

      Upper Hay Creek Flowage Trail (Trail D)

      Abel Prairie Trail (Trail E)

      Dike 6 South Trail (Trail F)

      Dike 6 Center Trail (Trail G)

      Dike 6 North Trail (Trail H)

      Rices Lake Trail (Trail I)

      Furhman Lake West Trail (Trail J)

      Furhman Lake North Trail (Trail K)

      YCC Hiking Trail (Trail L)

      Monson Lake West Trail (Trail M)

      Reed Lake Trail (Trail N)

      Reed Lake Meadow State Natural Area Trail (Trail O)

      Dike 3 Sedge Meadow Trail (Trail P)

      Upper Phantom Cross Country Skiing & Hiking Trail (Trail Q)

      Phantom Lake Trail (Trail R)

      North Fork Flowage Trail (Trail S)

      Dike 1 Flowage Trail (Trail T)

      Dike 1 Sedge Meadow Trail (Trail U)

      Middle North Fork Flowage Trail (Trail V)

      Sandberg Flowage Trail (Trail W)

      West Paulson Flowage Trail (Trail X)

      Eastern Boundary Trail (Trail Y)

      Upper North Fork Flowage Trail (Trail Z)

      Nearby Trails

      St. Croix National Scenic Riverway

      Sandrock Cliffs Trail

      Governor Knowles State Forest

      Cedar Interpretive Trail

      Other State Forest Trails

      Other Nearby Trails

      Best Trails Lists

      Bonus Section: Day Hiking Primer

      Selecting a Trail

      Clothing

      Equipment

      Navigational Tools

      Food and Water

      First-aid Kit

      Hiking with Children: Attitude Adjustment

      Family Dog

      Rules of the Trail

      Trail Dangers

      ***************************

      Introduction

      Imagine a place where you can walk among the remnants of an ancient ice age lake and past tens of thousands of rare and endangered birds gathered on their annual migration, all as you hear the howls of wolves and calls of loons in the distance. If living in Wisconsin, Minnesota, northern Illinois or eastern Iowa, such a place is within only a few hours drive. It’s called Crex Meadows Wildlife Area.

      A plethora of trails run through the wildlife area, an expansive 30,000-acre wetlands in southwest Burnett County, Wisconsin. More than 120,000 visitors head annually to Crex Meadows, mainly to spot migrating waterfowl stopping over in its many flowages and sedge meadows.

      The wildlife area owes its modern landscape to the last ice age. As glaciers melted some 13,000 years ago, Glacial Lake Grantsburg stretched from this region into central Minnesota. The result was a deposit of sandy sediment that covers the ground. As the meltwater lake drained away, it left wetlands and brush prairie in its wake.

      History

      Native Americans have long inhabited what is now Crex Meadows. During the 1600s, several battles occurred between tribes for control of the region, with the Ojibwe having the upper hand when the first Europeans arrived in the 1700s.

      In 1830, the U.S. military established a trail and mail route through the region. Surveyors dismissed the area, however, saying its soil and timber were worthless. That didn’t stop pioneers from trying the farm it in the late 1800s. Their efforts in the sandy soil largely failed while greatly disrupting the natural ecosystem as wetlands were drained and natural fires suppressed. The result was a jack pine-oak forest displacing many of the native plants and consequently several animal species also disappeared.

      From the 1910s to the early 1930s, the Crex Carpet Company

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