Minocqua, WI Lake Home and Cabin Living

Minocqua, Wisconsin and the Lakeland Area

Where’s The Beef?

If you are looking for someplace with world-class freshwater fishing; a place where you can enjoy fine dining, unique shopping and terrific lodging; a place where you can also watch fully grown men dressed up in a cow-suits, carving roast beef – then Minocqua, Wisconsin is the destination for you.

The town of Minocqua, along with neighboring Woodruff and Arbor Vitae, is situated in one of the most dense concentration of lakes in the world. In fact, with over three thousand lakes in two counties, it is unquestionably North America's highest concentration of lakes. Downtown Minocqua is more or less surrounded by the lake of the same name, and looks eastward to a channel into another lake, Kawaguesaga. The city of Woodruff sits just to the north of these two bodies of water, and south of Brandy and Arrowhead lakes. Arbor Vitae is near the lake of the same name. In fact, the whole area is called, not surprisingly, Lakeland. Of course, this name might cause a person to forget the many rivers, creeks and flowages in the area.  Suffice it to say, if you would like to visit a different body of water every day for several months, and never travel more than ten miles, Minocqua, and the Lakeland area, is definitely the place you want to go.

The high concentration of water, distributed between so many different lakes, means there is something here for everyone. If you are interested in ripping your way through the wet stuff, slashing and attacking on skis, wakeboard or jet-ski, opportunities abound. On the other hand, if you are more interested in fishing, there are always quiet, pristine areas to be found, and it goes almost without saying that the fish here are as numerous as they are voracious. If you prefer the stillness of a kayak or canoe, many lakes in the area are off limits to motors.  You might also do well on one of the smaller rivers. If you like to swim or sail, just pick your spot. In short, there is room here for everyone to play on the water in whatever style they please.

Trail Hub

Considering the sheer volume of water nearby, the Minocqua-Woodruff-Arbor Vitae area is home to a surprisingly large number of opportunities for recreation on land also. The Northern Highland – American Legion (NH-AL) State Forest occupies 225,000 acres in Oneida, Vilas and Iron Counties, and is easily accessible in the Lakeland area. It provides a home for some of the area's abundant wildlife, as well as several trails for hiking, skiing and snowmobiling.  Overall, the area boasts 1600 miles of snowmobile trails and endless additional miles of hiking, biking and cross country ski trails, including the popular eighteen mile Bearskin trail from downtown Minocqua to Harshaw.

Minocqua's Winter Park and Nordic Center has become a premier cross country skiing destination, offering seventy-five kilometers (about forty-five miles) of groomed trails, a ski shop complete with rentals and lessons, a chalet/day lodge with a café, telemarketing slopes, youth ski programs and a two kilometer lighted trail for night skiing. As of this writing, an ice-skating area is also being developed.

There is another kind of trail worth exploring in the greater Lakeland area – the kind that leads from the green to the next tee. Minocqua and the surrounding communities offer plenty of golf with spectacular Northwoods views. Early autumn is a particularly scenic time to hit the links.

The Lakeland area is also developing into a hotspot for the new sport of “geocaching.” For those unfamiliar with this 21^st century mode of recreation, geocaching is a sport where a small “cache” is left in a waterproof container. The cache may be a logbook or small trinket. The one who leaves it uploads a link to the cache location on GPS, and others can try to locate it and record their success and experiences online. There are already several geocaches in the area's quiet woodlands, historic areas, and even one on an island in one of the lakes. To find a cache near Minocqua, go to www.geocaching.com and enter zip code 54548. 

The In-Town Experience

While many people go on vacation to play hard, the other side of getting away from it all is relaxation. Minocqua, with a year-round population of almost five thousand, and more than double that in the summertime, has all the amenities you could want for more sedate “sports.” I am talking, of course, about shopping, eating out and getting your hair done. The list of day spas, massage therapists and salons in the area is impressive. If you aren't into fishing, you could probably do your hair and get a massage at a different establishment every day for a couple of weeks.

The options for shopping are just as broad. There are a wide variety of unique stores and shops to choose from. In fact, there is plenty to keep even an avid shop-a-holic occupied.  And since most of these establishments are not franchises, you won't know what they contain until you go inside, and you won't be able to get what they offer at any old store back home. 

While a few of the national chain restaurants can be found in Minocqua, most of the area eateries are still locally owned, and many offer fine dining in the Northwoods style, “supper club” tradition. This isn't New York City, but you wouldn't be coming here if it were. In any case, you'll find satisfaction for almost any palate in the Lakeland area.

Stay Awhile

There are a stunning array of lodging options for Minocqua and the surrounding area.  Resorts and condominiums are almost as numerous as the musky in Lake Arbor Vitae. You can find most of the dependable, national-brand hotels and motels, along with charming, privately owned establishments. There are six Bed & Breakfast inns in the area, five private campgrounds, eighteen campgrounds in the NH-AL state forest and a number of private vacation homes for rent. Minocqua is a mere four-hour drive from the Twin Cities, closer than several typical north lake destinations within Minnesota. Diane Hapka, executive director of the Minocqua-Woodruff-Arbor Vitae chamber of commerce, suggests taking I-94 to highway 29 (near Eau Claire) across Wisconsin to 51 north. It's a pretty straight shot, and Hapka reports typically light traffic on 29's four lanes.

For the record, men don't dress up as cows every day in Minocqua. They reserve that honor for the yearly town festival of Beef-A-Rama. As Diane Hapka, says, “You've never seen beef celebrated the way they do here in Minocqua. It's like the Mardis Gras of the Northwoods.”

The thing is, the family oriented Beef-A-Rama may just reveal the key to why Minocqua and the surrounding area is a premier vacation destination. Sure, there are lakes by the gazillion.  And yes, you'll find all the lodging options you could desire. Sumptuous Northwoods-style fine dining establishments abound when you get tired of browsing the unique stores. But when it comes down to it, Hapka says, the greatest resource of this area is its people. “There is a neat sense of community here that you don't find in some other places anymore. This is not only a fantastic location for vacation,” she says, “but it's also a great place to raise a family or retire.” She's right. The schools are good and the community is as strong as, well, a beef steer. Recently, a business owner lost his store to a fire. Hapka reports that the man received such overwhelming support from the community that he was able to get back on his feet.

Erik Johnson, of RE/MAX First Realty in Minocqua also believes that the community is worth a long-term investment. The market is understandably a bit “softer” than it was a year ago, he reports, but that is due more to consumer panic than anything else. “The fact is,” says Johnson, “in general, even though the number of sales is down, vacation home prices have held steady. It's still a good investment.”

Maybe now is the time to begin your move to this community, starting with a vacation home.  Or perhaps you ought to visit the area for the first time. In any case, you owe it to yourself to get the “real beef” on Minocqua and the Lakeland area.