Our trip to Vilas County was great and the trails were better!
Our base camp this time was the Torch Lake Campground near Conover was an idyllic setting with lush tree cover and huge campsites. This trip was off to a wonderful start! Our campground was located in East-central Vilas County and gave us access to not only Vilas County but surrounding areas as well! Our first day was spent riding the areas to the north, Went to Conover and then on to Land o’ Lakes, Wisconsin.
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Our campsite at Torch Lake Campground, Be sure to read our review! Search or browse our blog to view. [/caption]
Trails north of the Torch Lake Campground, Run along US Hwy 45 up to the border with Michigan. This video is near Conover, Wisconsin.
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Photo is from the trail south east of Conover, showing the great signage for the off-road trails! [/caption] [caption id align="alignnone" width="4080"]
This photo is on the trail heading east from Conover, WI. [/caption]
Initially, near Conover, the trails are quite sandy. You can see this in the video, but the further north you go, they become rockier and more solid. The trails are in decent shape, there is a lot of wash-boarding due to the sand in the southern part of the county, this could also be due to the amount of OHV traffic in that area as well, it does get busy the closer you get to Eagle River. Seems that the clubs in the north end of the county keep up the trails a little better as well.
This is along the main trail towards Land O’ Lakes, WI You can see the trail widens out very nice and contains more gravel, makes for a little smoother ride! [/caption] [caption id align="alignnone" width="4080"]
Downtown Land O’ Lakes, As we mentioned, this is a small community! [/caption]
Land O’ Lakes is a small community along the trails on the border with the State of Michigan, this would be the furthest point north you could go without a Michigan OHV sticker or pass. Fortunately, the BP Convenience Store in Land O’ Lakes sells Michigan Stickers, so if you wanted to you could venture into Michigan like we did this trip. We ended up going to Watersmeet, Michigan and riding the State Line Trail all the way to Iron River. MI and back. It was a great distance, totaling about two hundred miles in two days of riding! Went into neighboring Forest County as well.
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More of “Downtown” Land O’ Lakes, Very open Community for OHVers. [/caption]
Land O’ Lakes offers a variety of bars, restaurants, and convenience stores to keep you going. A few stores as well for some shopping to break up the journey. Never once did we worry about fuel in Vilas County, though the County is sparsely populated, there are plenty of fuel stations, so this was never an issue.
UTVs are welcome within the community along County Hwy B and you have access to all the stores along Main Street (Cty Hwy B). You are not allowed on Us Hwy 45 on the Eastern side of town though.
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You do have direct access to to Michigan Trail 3, which takes you north to Watersmeet, Michigan, From Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin. Just make sure you have a Michigan OHV Pass. [/caption]
