Townsend to Animal’s Bear Trail
New trail/route from Townsend to Animal’s Bear Trail now open after 3 years of hard work. Thanks Towns of Doty and Wolf River for you help on making this happen!!!
Over 3 years of effort by Red Arrow and the Hidden Bear Trail ATV Club have resulted in a legal way to ride from Townsend to Animal’s Bear Trail. In addition to the townships involved our clubs would like to thank Jenny and Patrick O’Brien for the permanent Snowmobile/ATV trail on their property just north of Animal’s. This was the final link that made the trail possible. Our two clubs spent 2 1/2 days building a fence to define the trail….please stay on the trail or we stand to lose all our hard work!!!
There are 3 ways to access the new trail/route from Townsend.
Option 1 is to take Nicolet Road (off Nicolet Trail) by Mike’s Grocery to Valley View Road (left) and follow it to Burnt Dam Road. This will take you past My Bar, Hillcrest Lodge and Sunset Resort. Follow Burnt Dam all the way to Forest Hill and take a left to Sawyer Lake Road west (right) to Setting Lake Road and follow it to a sharp bend west to Saul Springs Road south. Follow Saul Springs Road to the “T” and turn left on Eickhoff Road to County T. Cross T onto the O’Brien property and follow the marked trail to Hwy T/64 and Animals.
Option 2 is to take Forest Hill Road (about 1 mile north of Townsend off the Nicolet Trail) and follow the same route as Option 1 above after you pass Burnt Dam Road on the left.
Option 3 is to go up the Nicolet Trail and continue past Barb’s Valley Inn to Mosquito Lake Road (Do not cross Hwy 32) and follow it all the way to Diamond Roof Road. Turn left on Diamond Roof and go all the way to Sawyer Lake Road. Turn left and go to Setting Lake Road and follow the instructions in Option 1.
There are only two short stretches on blacktop if you take option 3. The other two options have more blacktop in the Townsend area but only a few miles. Hope you check this new riding opportunity out soon.
Note 1: If you continue west on Sawyer Lake Road you will come to Hwy 55 and 9 Mile Resort. The route ends here but it is only a few miles to the west from the above connectors on Sawyer Lake Road.
Note 2: If you continue a few miles east on Sawyer Lake Road from Setting Lake Road you will come to a T where Sawyer Lake Road ends. Take a right and Beaver’s Bar and Grill is only a block down the street.
Note 3: Later this summer Hidden Bear Trail ATV Club expects to open a southern extension of this new trail/route that will loop south and then back north past the Halfway Bar and cross Hwy 32 in the vicinity of Thelen Road and intersect with the Nicolet Trail. Once completed we estimate that there will be about 40-50 mile loop from Townsend.