Alternate Routes

Below are some of the more unique routes of the He-Man canoe trip.

High Lake Put-In	FishTrap - Nixon/Partridge Creek
FishTrap - Johnson Creek	Wisconsin River
Black Oak - Jag	Backwards Circle

High Lake Put-In (1984, 1994)

As mentioned in the trip background, the first He-Man canoe trip was started at High Lake. The first night was at Fish Trap Dam. The second night was on Island Lake. The second and third day of this trip is the same as the Circle Route

On the 10th He-Man trip the original route was re-traced. Exception is that on the first day had lunch at Nixon and the second campsite was the one just off Manitowish Lake. Lake.

FishTrap - Nixon/Partridge Creek (1985,1987)

The second and fourth He-Man put in at Fish Trap dam. Camp was set up right away near the dam, and a day trip was done up Nixon Creek to Nixon Lake. After lunch at Nixon Lake, we canoed as far as possible up Partridge creek. Partridge creek for a number of years had a very large beaver dam which made this trip interesting. A photo of this dam is on the nature page.

The second and third day of this trip is the same as the Circle Route

One of the biggest memories of this route is the time that Allen Wenzel got dumped by Dave Slawgowski. Dave was in the front of the canoe, and needed to got the the bathroom very bad. Allen and Dave reached a steep bank. Dave jumps out and pulls the canoe quite a ways up the steep bank. This is a big canoeing no-no, because there is very limited surface area of the canoe in the water when pulling it up at an angle. This made the canoe unstable and Allen fell in.
Dave S, Boyd, Ship, and Allen (1985)
Of course just after this happens, the sunny day turns cloudy, the temperature starts to drop an drop, and we are forced to canoe into a head wind. By the time we get back to camp, Allen was starting to show some signs of hypothermia. (I can't remember why some of us didn't give up some of out clothes to Allen after he got wet). Anyhow he immediately changed clothes and we built a large fire. While the rest of us were standing quite close to the fire because it was cold out, Allen was standing quite a distance away. When asked why he was standing so far away, he responded by "It just doesn't matter". He finally crawled into his sleeping bag and was fine by next morning.

FishTrap Put-In, Johnson Creek (1986)

On the third year we went did the same route plan as the previous year, except the first day trip route was different. We went up Johnson Creek to Johnson Lake. Johnson Lake is surrounded by floating bog, so we had lunch on the floating bog.

Although we only visited this Johnson Lake once, there are a number of memories. There was Mike LeCaptain mooning all of us and Rich Shipway falling out of the canoe trying to get on the bog. Rich was riding with Ron Roloff, and Ron Roloff's home-made first aid kit got soaked. It was pretty funny seeing all the water that Ron dumped out of the first aid kit.

More recently, Johnson Lake has be a favorite fishing destination for some of us because it is difficult to get to and has a few nice Northern and Bass.

Upper Wisconsin River (2012)

On the 2012 He-Man we did the Upper Wisconsin River We put in at the start of the Wisconsin River just below the Lac Vieux Desert dam on West Short Road. We planned to camp at Buckaton Creek Vilas county campsite, but it was taken. At dark we arrived at the River Road campsite - luckly the group that was there departed for us. The second day we traveled through the city of Eagle River, portaged the Cloverland Dam, camped just up stream of where Sugar Camp Creek comes into the Wisconsin River. The Rainbow Flowage was almost empty, so access to the campsite was not direct. We pulled out at the landing at County O, just before the main Flowage area.

Black Oak - Jag (2014)

For the 31st He-Man, we retraced part of a 100 year old canoe route. Dave Becker picked this route because it was his 30th He-man. In the May 1914 "Outer's Book" magazine two adventurers (Jas. Callaway and Harold Pripps) described different canoe routes that they took in Northern Wisconsin. We retraced one of these routes (Trip No. Seven), starting at Black Oak Lake. See 1914 article.

There are a number of firsts with this He-Man route:

We portaged through some private property - between Anderson and Spring and through RANBO resort (Dave and Ron got permission)
For a portion of the first day we will be canoeing in Michigan
One of the portages on the first day will be 1.2 miles (for comparison Lost Canoe to White Sand is .3 miles)
There are a number of portages on the second day
We should be finishing on Monday at record time. Our 2nd campsite is on a Jag Lake very near the Roloff's cabins

See the pictures associated with this trip

Black Oak - Whitesand (2021)

First day was the same Black Oak - Jag route, camping on Palmer. Issue was that all campsites were taken, so actually had to do minimal off site camping on Palmer since it was too late to go to another lake. Next day we paddled to White Sand. Plan was to go as far as Lost Canoe, but Ron/Dan did not scout Lost Canoe to see if any site was open. Beaver busting down Stephenson Creek was very enjoyable on Monday.

See the pictures associated with this trip

Backwards Circle(2016)

For the 33rd He-Man, we did the He-Man circle route backwards. It was Ron's 30th He-Man and this is the route he picked. It was probably the shortest route we ever took, but definitely the most upstream.

There are a number of firsts with this He-Man route:

We lauched from the Kern's cabin instead of the Braatz's cabin on Trout(because of an incident Dave had at the Braatz's cabin the winter before. Something to do with Indian contractors and 3 sherrifs)
After canoeing down the Trout River we canoed through Lower, Middle, and Upper Gresham. Lunch was at Middle Gresham.
We portaged from Upper Gresham to Jag Lake. It was a difficult portage because we were bushwacking through the woods from North Creek Road to Jag Lake - taking us through a swamp.
We canoed up the Upper Manitowish River and rapids
We canoed up the White Sand Creek
We camped on White Sand Lake