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While “Up North” the first week of August I’ll visit Bayfield, WI and Madeline Island. Two years ago I drove through Bayfield, a beautiful little town on Lake Superior. There is a ferry that runs every half hour to Madeline Island. Once there you can walk, or rent a moped, or an e-bike, or a bicycle to explore the small island. It will cost about $80 for a round trip ferry ticket and a moped for two hours. I have a friend I went to college with from 1970 to 1972 who lives in Cornucopia, Wisconsin. I’ll stop by his place for a couple of games of chess the day I visit Madeline Island. I have a toolmaker friend I worked with who lives in Superior, Wisconsin whom I’ll meet for lunch during the my “Up North Trip”.

I made camping reservations for the first week of August at a Chequamego-Nicolet National Forest campground. There are many National Forest campgrounds on lakes in the area. Wisconsin has more lakes than Minnesota. I have a float tube so I can float around these small lakes and try to catch dinner.

Can’t go anywhere the rest of July. The first week of August I intend to do a Lake Superior Circle Tour or an “Up North” Wisconsin trip if the Canadian border isn’t open. I still have reservations for a New Mexico, San Juan River trip this September but I’m watching the weather out west. If it’s super hot out there most of the summer I’ll cancel the trip and do a trip closer to home.

The last two summers I’ve had a Nova Scotia trip planned and canceled. If I don’t do it soon it won’t happen. Here is my plan for next summer…

2022 Nova Scotia Trip

Places to Visit

Circle Nova Scotia,   Meat Cove, Bay of Fundy, Halifax

New Brunswick Fundy National Park camping

Prince Edward Island ???

Maine ???

Start with Lake Superior Circle Tour. ???

Canadian Cities, Art Museums, Major Museums. find campgrounds and museums

Sudbury

Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, Hockey Hall of Fame, The Art Gallery of Ontario

Ottawa. Canadian War Museum, National Gallery of Canada

Montreal Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal

Quebec City. La Citadelle de Québec

Miles starting from Richfield, WI

To:

St Ignace 365 miles

Whitefish Bay 75   miles

Copper Harbor 300 miles

Duluth 250 miles

Nipigon ON 250 miles

Sault St. Marie 375 miles        

Toronto 435 miles        

Ottawa 280 miles 

Montreal 125 miles

Quebec City 150 miles

Prince Edward Island 560 miles

Meat Cove Nova Scotia 375 miles

Halifax 300 miles

Bar Harbor Maine 450 miles

Syracuse NY 600 miles

Chicago IL 700 miles

Richfield WI 125 miles

Total 5700 miles

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And for 2023

2023 California Coast Trip, if California isn’t on fire. I’ve canceled this trip twice because of fires out west

Starting from Richfield, WI to

miles

Sterling, CO 950

Albuquerque, NM.   525

Santa Barbara, CA  900

Monterey, CA 250

Mendocino, CA 275

Coos Bay, OR 360

Port Angeles, WA 450

Spokane, WA 400

Billings, MT 550

Rapid City, SD 350

Richfield, WI 825

Total 5835 miles

I’m considering a Lake Superior Circle Tour Museum and Fish Cooking trip as soon as the U.S./Canadian Border opens. I’m not interested in visiting private goofball museums but there are many local municipality museums that I wouldn’t normally consider visiting.

The Fish Cooking part – I don’t know exactly what this means. If I can catch a walleye or some perch fishing from the shore that would be great. These days I don’t know if there are local fish shops that sell local fisherman’s catch. I haven’t done any research.

https://lakesuperiorcircletour.com/

This morning I made all the reservations including museum reservations. Before going on to museums I’ll first spend a couple of nights camped about twenty minutes from the Mackinac Bridge. From there I’ll visit Walloon Lake where Hemingway’s family had a cottage when he was young and where he married his first wife. I’ll be going to Lake Michigan beaches looking for Petosky Stones and Charlevoix Stones. I’m going to that area to look for the stones and Walloon Lake happens to be in the area. I wouldn’t drive very far to go to Walloon Lake. Then I’ll be visiting the; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Football Hall of Fame, Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. I’ll be heading out next Saturday the 19th of June.

I’m still considering a Baseball Hall of Fame trip. My drive to Cooperstown would take me close to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton. Manhattan and its art museums are not far from Cooperstown. We shall see.

Sunday around noon I’ll be heading back to The Driftless Area for four days of camping at a Vernon County campground. It will be hot, close to a high of 90 all four days.

This Sunday, May 16 will be the beginning of a 19 day Driftless Area camping/fishing trip. The only people who look at my little site are friends and family so I will give names of campgrounds I camp at and streams I fish. Again, I do this site for me. It’s my digital scrapbook.

For the first two weeks I’ll be camping at the US Army Corps of Engineers Blackhawk Campground on the Mississippi River just north of DeSoto Wisconsin. After the Blackhawk Campground I’ll be staying at Esofea Campground, a Vernon County campground not far west of Viroqua, Wisconsin. After that I’ll be camping at Wyalusing State Park on the Wisconsin River which is as far south as the Driftless Area goes.

Last year’s camping ended with a water leak in my trailer’s kitchen. I’m ready with spare tubing and assorted hose clamps. It will be difficult to get at but the repair will be simple.

This year I have a decent drone so I might be able to post some videos of the areas I’ll be visiting and fishing. The problem may be getting a strong enough internet connection to upload the video files.

“the grass is always greener”.

I have reservations for western trout fishing trips in June, July, August, and September. Trout fishermen from out west and other parts of the country travel to “The Driftless Area” in southwest Wisconsin for the trout fishing and for the beautiful country.

This morning I made campground reservations for the Driftless Area for three weeks in May. I will probably cancel my June, July, and August western reservations and instead spend three weeks each of those months camping and fishing the Driftless Area which is roughly three hours from home. Better to discover good fishing opportunities close to home. Also I will save a couple of thousand dollars in gasoline. This morning I found two inexpensive campgrounds in the Driftless Area, one a US Army Corp of Engineer Campground on the Mississippi River and the other a state park on the Wisconsin River. Because I have the Lifetime Interagency Senior’s Pass camping at the Corp of Engineers campground is half price, $13 a night, and that includes an electricity hookup. Best deal I’ve ever had.

In September I have two weeks reserved at a campground near the San Juan River in northwest New Mexico. As of now I plan on going on that trip. My time fishing the San Juan almost three years ago is a fond memory.

In the middle of June I’ll be heading to the Big Horn Mountains for a month of camping and fishing. I’ll go home for a week.

Then to northwest New Mexico to fish the San Juan River for two weeks. I’ll be staying at Cottonwood Campground in Navajo Lake State Park.

After the San Juan River I’ll be heading to Cimarron Canyon State Park close to Taos New Mexico. It’s a beautiful spot with a beautiful small river. I’ll be camped at the state park for 3 days and nights.

Then I’ll be spending two weeks camped at Aspen Glade Campground, a National Forest campground near Antonito Colorado. The plan is to do some day hikes into some trout streams that feed into the Conejos River. I’ll then go home for a couple of weeks.

In the middle of September I’ll be back in northwest New Mexico fishing the SanJuan River for another 10 days.