That Time I...
Biked Around the Sylvania Wilderness and Packrafted Along the Way




Although wheeled vehicles and bicycles aren't allowed in the Sylvania Wilderness, you can still enjoy biking around the wilderness on a variety of rural roads and dedicated bike paths. It's a fun journey! The 43-mile loop can be completed nearly in its entirety with any road bike, although a gravel bike will be better for some parts. Especially if you want to check out some bonus action in the deep woods like I did!
I began my journey at the Ottawa National Forest visitor center in Watersmeet. I recruited adventure regular Kurt for this trip, although he 'accidentally' committed to too many things that day and had to split about 2/3 of the way through (his loss). We set out counter-clockwise on Old US-2 until we reached Thousand Island Road. Not far in a dedicated bike path opens up, offering paved and gravel paradise as meanders past lakes and through beautiful forests. It hops back on the main road for a bit as youwiggle your way past the Wilderness entrance. These roads are truly something else and as of 2024 are in near-perfect shape. Perfect for a cruise!
Eventually we shifted south and hit the first of my detours. I had packed my packraft on my bike and stopped to paddle on Daisy, Siskin, and Dream Lakes along the way as part of my goal to visit every lake in the Ottawa National Forest. A few more off the list! We also hiked off into the old growth to find a particularly gargantuan yellow birch that was dominating the local forest. It was HUGE!
Once we hit Wisconsin the trail got even better. It's hard to describe how fun it is to zip along a perfect paved path through a perfect forest, and this stretch was by far among the best rides in the region. We stopped for lunch at the Forest Lake Country Store before pushing on to Land o' Lakes, where Kurt had to leave me to make haste for home.
On the last leg of my journey, I took the Agonikak Trail north back to Watersmeet. This gravel path winds around some fairly recent clear cuts and pine forests that are rather hot and miserable in the summer. It's much less scenic and was a bit of a downer after the rest of the trip. I did stop off to packraft on Shadow and Fleury Lakes, both of which were quite nice at least.