Wisconsin's Land

The State of Wisconsin has five geographic provinces and we will use these to drive our explorations and present photo galleries of the provinces:

• Lake Superior Lowland
• Northern Highland
• Central Plain
• Western Upland
• Eastern Ridges and Lowlands

Stories

That old, old house on Pine View Road near Birnamwood. I found an old, dilapidated home on Pine View Road in Marathon County, close to Birnamwood in Shawano County. For reasons I cannot explain, the house fascinates me. I don't think it is much longer for this world. So at the least I wanted to document through my photography its present state, and invite my readers to study the photography and draw conclusions about her history and the manner in which she was constructed. My thought is that seasoned home builders will see a lot in these photos. August 31, 2009, updated September 1, 2009.

A most interesting old barn in small town Hutchins. Hutchins, Wisconsin in Shawano County is a very small township, less than 600 people. But it hosts a super neat old-time home and barn complex on private property, with much of the barn down, but much of its interior in place. Structures like this are a central part of Wisconsin's culture and heritage. Frankly, viewing it gives you a sense of security, because you are reminded of how our nation was built, our roots, and how we need to hold all that together even with all our modern-day challenges. April 6, 2009.

Gresham to Shawano run on a cold February day. I was out fooling around one day, ended up in Gresham and the Upper Red Lake area and then on into Shawano, all in north-central Shawano County. I drove my Jeep onto Upper Red Lake, my first time ever drive on ice, watched the ice fishermen, and worried about the crackling ice under my 4x4. I then got some further education on dams, the one at Gresham separating the Upper and Lower Red Lakes, and the Shawano Dam, which among other things, is a great location for watching Lake Sturgeon spawning. I finished learning about Lyndon Pomeroy of Montana and his steel sculptures in downtown Shawano. It always amazes me what I learn while just wandering around and then researching what I saw. March 6, 2000.

Big Falls Hydro, a great learning experience for this editor. I bumped into the Big Falls Hydro Project in Waupaca County. It was a beautiful, cold January day, the area covered by fresh white snow. I walked around the area as best I could by myself, and shot a bunch of photos. I came home, examined the photos, and started writing. I was confident I knew what I was doing. Pretty far along in my writing, I was stunned when I discovered that what I thought was the dam was actually the falls, and, frankly, from a photographic and observation standpoint, I had almost missed the dam. I scuttled the story and started all over, having to blow up and brighten a few photos to confirm my mistake and then try to explain what we had here. The entire experience ended up like a detective story. I had a lot of fun. I can't wait to go back after the thaw to examine the whole operation much more closely. By Ed Marek. January 15, 2009.

Hanging out on Pine View Rd. near Birnamwood. I have found a marvelous little corner of the world near Birnamwood, in far eastern Marathon County a stone's throw from Shawano County. It's Pine View Road.

At first glance Pine View Road will strike you as very typical of a Wisconsin road. And that's true. A week or so ago I walked through the area and, as you'll see, the fall weather pushed Pine View Road off the Richter scale of beauty. I'd like to share some of that with you. October 20, 2008.

Rib Mountain in summer, from a distance. Rib Mountain in Wausau, Marathon County is a most fascinating place. I have done two previous stories on Marathon County's Rib Mountain. Without doubt, it could fascinate a person in a wide variety of pursuits for many years. I have shown it covered by snow and used as a winter play area of great beauty rising above the city of Wausau. I have also shown her granite, which is the source of her existence and survival through the millennia. Here I tried to balance all that out with some summer shots of the Great Lady, even if from a distance. September 12, 2008.

Rib Mountain's granite, a sight to behold. Rib Mountain is well known in Marathon County and Wausau. It's really a 4 mile ridge, one of the highest "mountains" in Wisconsin at 1,924ft. It is one of three adjacent hills, Mosinee and Hardwood the other two close by. It is not a volcanic formation. It is quartzite, hardened by heat and pressure from sandstone, we commonly call granite. Getting close to a lot of this granite can be done most easily by visiting Rib Mountain State Park. The formations are fascinating. By Ed Marek, editor. August 21, 2008.

An amazing weather day on Maplewood Rd., east of Birnamwood. While driving east of Birnamwood in Shawano County in late June 2008, where the land is fairly flat, we noticed that there were some wildly varying weather patterns out there. Some looked just beautiful, while others looked menacing. We took 360 degrees worth of photos to display all this to you. We're not smart enough to analyze the various weather patterns and cloud formations, but would challenge students of those things to figure them out and let us know! I'll post your assessments. July 16, 2008.

The flooding along Highway 73, south-central Wisconsin. Some six Midwestern states experienced record rainfall and flooding during the first half of June 2008. Southern Wisconsin was among them. I traveled along Hwy 73 N to avoid the closure of the Badger Interchange north of Madison on June 13, and saw and experienced evidence of the flooding. I returned to the area on July 7 and took more photography. What I have to show is not photography of cataclysmic events such as can be seen elsewhere. But, viewed just from Hwy 73, I saw plenty of damage that has affected many people. I wanted to show you what I saw and pass on what I experienced and have learned. By Ed Marek, editor. July 15, 2008.

Highland Cattle of Langlade County. Meet some Highland Cattle of Langlade County as an introduction to them throughout the state. They are fulfilling a variety of functions, enabling small farmers to raise them, enabling good chefs to use some of the best tasting beef available, and allowing some farmers to get rid of overgrown wooded areas in favor of more prairie-like oak savannas which in turn allows them to grow more grass. We bumped into these cattle, and are glad we did. There's a lot to learn. March 17, 2008.

Secluded bays on the Bayfield Peninsula. During August this year we returned to the Bayfield Peninsula, this time to stay for a couple days and explore. Our visit this time would be a little different. Instead of being enhcanted by wonderful buildings and towns, we wanted to see the Lake Superior shore, and decided a good way to do that was to explore the bays, like Buffalo Bay, Red Cliff Bay, Raspberry Bay, Eagle Bay, Little Sand Bay to name some. This was a "back roads" endeavor that proved to be a great delight, and wonderful education. September 16, 2007.

Big Falls County Park, a little known haven in Price County. Some friends told us to search out Big Falls County Park in Price County. Fortunately, they gave us some directions. We have a pretty darn good map of the state but it took us a long time to find it on the map, even with their directions. We're glad we hunted the place down, because it was an absolute delight. When you've had it with the world, ya gotta go here! August 4, 2007

We have spring: Wisconsin's trilliums and friends announce her arrival. Just sitting here in Wisconsin, in my case Wausau, on a spring day in May, you can look at the beauty that surrounds us, simply for being here. The winter is over, perhaps one more hard freeze, but when spring hits, she hits and is really appreciated. There is a Zen proverb that says: "Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself." The trilliums are among the first to announce spring's arrival. They most often bloom in March. You might even see them pop up through the snow. May 12, 2007.

Me, the Brule River, and the Mighty Mississippi. I've gotta tell you this story, even though it will embarrass me and remind me that I should have paid more attention in geography class. This is a story about the Brule River in Wisconsin, Lake Superior, the mighty Mississippi River, and an editor a poorly informed editor. I'm going to tell this the way it happened. Be careful. Your editor made at least one fundamental error when on this trip. Hopefully you paid attention in geography class and will catch it. If not, we'll straighten it all out at the end. There are some good geographic exercises here. There's also an important psychological lesson. By Ed Marek, editor. May 2, 2007.

The ballet of the "Central Sands" potato harvest. Portage County is the state's leader in potato production, Wisconsin is number three in the nation, and they owe that leadership to the "Central Sands" soil of the region and a lot of hard-working people. This is a big-time business with little room for amateurs. In early October, we observed the Dombrowski Farms potato harvest near Shantytown, just a stone's throw north of Portage County, and the Plover River Farms just outside Stevens Point. If you're a kid at heart, watching all these big machines do their ballet out in the fields is more exciting than a 62-year old six year old boy can handle! November 10, 2006.

The "wilds" northeast of Merrill. About 10 miles northeast of Merrill, in Lincoln County, the landscape turns wild, and is largely uninhabited. We had been to the Prairie River Dells before, so we decided to return to that area and then explore an area marked by several small lakes and ponds. To do that, we had to travel some no-kiddin' back-roads. We had fun, we got lost, we got some nice photography, and following the trip, were able to match our photos with aerial photography of the area provided by terraserver-usa.com. We were also able to do a little research regarding the geography. August 11, 2006.

The Prairie Dells, a fantastic sight in the wilds near Merrill. Many maps of the Prairie River Dells show a dam and a Prairie River Pond. When you get there, you find the dam is gone and therefore so is the pond. But that's okay, because you are in for a real treat when you get to the Dells. It's very rustic and wild, and extraordinarily beautiful. Best of all, the likelihood that anyone else will be there when you visit is low. You get a real nice taste of Mother Nature at her best. July 26, 2006.

The science of baling hay. We all see bales of hay strewn about farmland as we drive throughout Wisconsin, and we'll see it being fed to the animals, mostly to cattle. We happened across a field that was being harvested while in Pine River, Lincoln County, and took a bunch of photos. In trying to present these photos to you, we had to research what we were going to talk about and discovered, yet again, that nothing in life is simple, everything is complex, and there is a real science involved in baling hay. We'll introduce you to just a smidgen of that science. June 29, 2006.

Our trees and the beavers on Hwy 45 near Oneida's Monico. If you see something in nature that you don't understand while traveling around Wisconsin, don't just shrug it off. You've got good eyes, and a good brain. Take some photos, study them, and do some research to try to figure out why you noticed it and what it's all about. You'll likely be pleasantly surprised. First, you'll learn something, even if it is embarrassing that you didn't know in the first place. But second, you can commend yourself for noticing something that turns out to have an interesting explanation. June 14, 2006.

Rhinelander's two "little dams." One of the fun things about stopping to see dams on the rivers of Wisconsin is to figure out what's going on following the visit. Such was the case when we stopped at Rheinlander and found two little dams closely adjacent to each other. Rhinelander is in an interesting location: It is in northeastern Wisconsin; it is in Oneida County; it is in the Northern Highlands Geographic Province, the Superior Mixed Forest Ecoegion, and the Upper Wisconsin River Basin. That's a mouthful and we'd like to introduce you to those and the dams. June 6, 2006.

Grandfather Falls, it can be a wild stretch of river. We visited the Grandfather Falls Recreation Area and hydroelectric facilities north of Merrill in Lincoln County and found them fascinating. This was a typical "Wisconsin Central Get-Lost-Ride," which means we were not sure what we were seeing but it was most interesting, so we kept driving around until we obtained some sense of what the area was all about. Hwy 107 North out of Merrill is a good way to see it. May 7, 2006.

Dells of Eau Claire, a summer-winter contrast. "The Dells of the Eau Claire River protects a scenic, narrow rocky gorge and waterfalls where geologi processes have resulted in an unusual tilting of bedrock. On this picturesque stretch of the Eau Claire River, the river cascades over rock outcrops ... the river tumbles and spills across the rock's cleavage planes while it runs smoothly in other areas." We traveled to the Dells twice, once on a beautiful July 2005 day, again on an equally beautiful day in March 2006, just after the end of winter. This is a photo gallery to contrast the two times of year. April 5, 2006. We've also added a couple photos taken in 1900.

Wisconsin's winter wonderland from the yard. Overtaken by fall's beauty we published a photo gallery of autumn's foliage from the porch. Fascinated by four deer operating from his backyard, your editor shared their beauty with a suite of photos. Well, your rookie editor has been through his first Wausau winter. He woke up one morning, by the grace of God, and saw a winter wonderland out his front door. So he slipped out into the yard to squeeze off some photos, and once again is compelled to share them. This is the way it outta be! March 23, 2006.

Timm's Hill, Wisconsin's highest. The impact of the Wisconsin Glaciation is mind-boggling, a life's pursuit to even grasp. Wisconsin hosted the most recent series of glacial advances and retreats in North America, and the glacial landscape is wonderful, from wherever viewed. That is most certainly true over at Timm's Hill in Price County, Wisconsin's highest point. Not only is there a lot to learn, a lot to see, but the area around Timm's Hill is fun. March 21, 2006, updated April 5, 2006, again on August 1, 2007.

Ain't life great?

Last time we were taken by the beautiful autumn view from the front porch.

This time, your "city slicker" editor is awed by the deer eating lunch in his backyard.

Ain't life great? November 1, 2005.

Life's good. Just sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee while the dog does her duties, and this is the view! You know life's gotta be good. Go to brief photo album. October 16, 2005

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