By: Beverly Serrell & Jim Des Jardins
The Turtle-Flambeau Flowage is located off US 51, about 75 miles south-east of the Apostle Islands near the town of Mercer, Wisconsin (a.k.a. Loon Capital of the World). Some call it the crown jewel of the North Woods. It’s about 50 square miles, formed by glaciers, fed by three rivers and drained by one. There are over 100 islands with 60 campsites scattered on the islands and around the edges of the Flowage. Campsites, accessible by boat only, may or may not have a picnic table, but all have a fire circle and grill and a open-air pit toilet. (More information here.)
The first day we paddled west on the Bear River from a put-in at Route 47 to the Flowage after it joined the Manitowish River. We chose the rivers because the 20/30 mph winds (mainly 30 mph) that day. The Bear is beautiful and easy to paddle. The winds did not bother us until we arrived at the wide entrance to the open Flowage. Here, we navigated (compass and GPS) through a large field of wild rice to Murrays Landing where our car was parked (shuttle assist from a relative). It was too windy to paddle out into the Flowage and find an island campsite, so we camped at Lake of the Falls campground at the north end of the Flowage.
The next day the winds were still blowing 30 mph from the west, so we drove to and launched from Fisherman’s Landing and explored a more sheltered area of the Flowage. Good practice for the navigating skills we were going to need in the next three days.
The third day was beautiful, sunny with light winds. We explored the center area of the Flowage, navigating among dozens of islands looking for the perfect campsite. A tornado (a very unusual occurrence for the area) had passed through several weeks before injuring several campers and downing a lot of trees on a few of the islands. We picked out an island campsite where we hoped go the next day.
Unfortunately it rained most of the next day, and was forecast to rain that night and possibly the next morning. So we decided not to transfer campsites and do some day paddling. We moved the tent from an ever-growing puddle and went paddling in the rain for a couple of hours. The rain gear we had with us was inadequate. We had left the best at home because of the hot weather. We were soaked. The next stop was to the campground to change clothes, pack up the soggy tent which was now next to a large mud puddle and then went off to a laundromat and motel in Mercer.
Our last day was again beautiful and sunny with light winds. We explored more of the Flowage, navigating among the islands, taking more pictures of scenes for future paintings and looking at more campsites. Our navigation skills were now honed.
We will be back to the Turtle Flambeau Flowage another time, to camp on an island of our own and be able to see the sun and moon both rise and set. This is a beautiful place, but it is complex and one should bring a compass and GPS and know how to use both. (List of GPS coordinates for launches and campsites here.)
P.S. Thanks to all the CASKA Yahoo Group listers who responded to our request for info on the TFF!