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.

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Bike Trail Map!

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!

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

The town of St. Germain has received a $210,000 Stewardship grant from the Department of Natural Resources. This is a 50/50 matching funds grant. Funds must be spent in the 2006 grant cycle. The permits have been received from all necessary land owners, and St. Germain is waiting for the environmental assessment from the DNR before starting construction. Grading may start in October of 2005 to rough in the trail. Final construction with blacktop is tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2006. Pre-bid meetings have started, and the town of St. Germain is preparing for letting this project out for bids.  

As of 6/23/06

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      

Currently, the project is in Phase I. Due to limited funding, the plan is to build a trail from the St. Germain Chamber building to Plum Creek Avenue on County Road C. Parking areas will be established at each end of the trail. The trail will incorporate traveling through the Town Park to take advantage of parking, recreation facilities, playgrounds, water, and bathrooms. From the town park, the trail will travel through the elementary school area for use by school parents and school children. After exiting the school property, the trail will continue along 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 has offered the use of the dam as a 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 their 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. It follows the county right of way until it terminates at Plum Creek Avenue for the time being. Trail users may continue past this point, by following signage along existing town roads. Users may continue to the new Plum Lake Trail utilizing Kasomo Lake Road, Mood Road, and Plum Creek Avenue to the Sayner town line and their trail.

As of 9/20/06

It is hoped that the completion date of Phase I of the trail will be in the fall of 2005. There is a chance the trail will be built in the spring of 2006, depending on the grant underwriters parameters.

Phase II

In 2006, the plan continues into Phase II. Phase II is to finish building the trail from Plum Creek Avenue to Kurtzweil road and the town of Sayner. The trail will be extended east of the St. Germain Chamber building to County Trunk O. Presumably, the route would be along the Highway 70 right of way, but that is still to be determined. Other pieces of Phase II include finishing river crossings along County C if necessary & finishing trail crossings with snowmobile trails using special materials. Phase II would be completed during the summer of 2008.

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.

Useful Links:

EEK! Environmental Education for Kids - Electronic magazine for kids. Learn about the great outdoors!

Things to See & Do in Vilas County - Fun spots to visit in Vilas County.