A spur trail from the north side of the loop leads hikers through meadows and orchards to the Bayfield Winery & Blue Ox Cidery where one can relax with refreshments during business hours and savor a beautiful rural landscape panorama.  

FOR SAFETY: The portion of the trail leading to the winery ​crosses private farmland. Please stay on the marked trail and keep all pets leashed as there may be livestock present and electrified fencing on the trail perimeter. 

​Along the route, walkers will experience an interesting variety of habitats and vistas. The trail begins in darkened forest with carpets of wintergreen on the forest floor and soon leads to sunny, wet meadows enjoyed by sandhill cranes. Further along the trail is a tranquil view of a pond once worked by beavers but now the home of river otters, turtles, kingfishers, and waterfowl.  There are more distant views of the surrounding hills that hug this trail including orchard-covered slopes to the north and the looming Fire Tower Hill rising to the west.

While this wetland basin provides a variety of critical ecological services from flood control to wildlife habitat, it is an opportune link to advance recreational opportunities near Bayfield.  One can now enjoy a hike starting across from the Bayfield Library on Washington Avenue traveling creek-side in the ravine and ending atop the watershed at the Bayfield Winery & Blue Ox Cidery on Betzold Road close to Highway J, a distance of more than 2 miles. 

Come visit the Headwaters Trail, stretch your legs, and appreciate the beauty that this area gives us to enjoy!

​A poetry trail idea was hatched as a project during my tenure as Bayfield Poet Laureate in 2020–2021. Instead of using a literal walking trail, in coordination with the Bayfield Chamber of Commerce, I organized the first Bayfield Poetry Trail (2021) in which 22 businesses (Bayfield Chamber members) posted poems in their windows. Many shops shared poems related to their business or location. The "trail" lasted for a month from mid-August to mid-September. 

​In 2022, the Bayfield Poetry Trail was expanded to include 26 businesses—this time during September to overlap with Art Escape and Bayfield Festival of Arts. Poems from the two past Bayfield Poetry Trails are available for reading in a binder at the Bayfield Carnegie Library, sponsor (with the City of Bayfield) of the Poet Laureate program.

​I thought it would be good to have garden or flower poems posted on local trails in concert with Bayfield in Bloom. This led me to wonder whether 2023 might be the year to have poems posted during June instead of September. Carol Fahrenkrog, Director of the Bayfield Chamber, suggested that trail poems be part of the Garden Tour and retain the Bayfield Poetry Trail in September. 

To give Salmo Trail users a chance to read about nature and blooms, I placed eight poems along the trail for the week of Bayfield in Bloom, listed as Stop #16 for the Garden Tour (June 10, 2023). Some poems were written by contemporary poets, while others were penned centuries ago.

If you did not get a chance to experience this year’s poetry on the Salmo Trail, maybe there will be a repeat with different poems in 2024. 

The third annual Bayfield Poetry Trail will be staged for Art Escape, September 9-17, 2023 and poems will be posted for the entire month of September. Twenty-six businesses have signed up to participate. You can view a map of the poetry trail in the Art Escape brochure.

​The poetry trails and walks have been a group effort. Thanks to all! 

​To follow up on those discussions and to bring in folks who were unable to attend, we’re asking for your ideas via the survey linked below. We will use your input to guide our plans and priorities for the upcoming years. 

Even if you don’t have suggestions for existing or new trails, please respond to the survey with your volunteer interests so that we can effectively plan and implement the 2023 Project Calendar. 

​“We were overwhelmed by the response to our plea for financial support for this project,” said Kate Kitchell, BATs Committee Chair. “Thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, we were able to raise the funds to proceed in record time. We are especially grateful for a very generous gift from Jim Bryan and Dee Johnson who donated more than half of the cost of the bridge.

​The balance of funds for the bridge, boardwalk, and final trail work is available thanks to forty donors who contributed over $13,000 and $6,000 committed by the Town of Bayfield.

Other trail work will begin after the snow melt when Will Krift of Trails Anonymous will return to do "touch up" and drainage work on the trail built last fall. Following bridge installation, BATs volunteers will build about 150 feet of boardwalk across the floodplain to connect the new bridge with the trail built last fall. The final touches will include directional signage with maps, plus interpretive signs designed by BATs Communications team member Neil Howk.

Thanks also to project subcommittee members Bob Feyen, Carol Fahrenkrog, Karen Boutin and Dennis Clark.
​
“Later this summer we’ll have a dedication to wrap it all up and tie it in a bow!” Kate said.  Please check the BATs website in the coming months for information about volunteering on the project and the dedication! 

Will Krift of Trails Anonymous provided his expertise, volunteer supervision, and operation of a mini excavator to ensure a final product everyone can all be proud of. 

“Working with Will is always great. He is a talented trail builder who knows how to make hard work fun,” said trail volunteer Gene “The Machine” Lemmenes.  

“This has been the most complex project undertaken by Bayfield Area Trails to date due to the trail length, the relative inaccessibility of the route, and transporting equipment and materials,” observed John Ipsen, BATs Trails Subcommittee member and dedicated volunteer.  “Xcel Energy has been great to work with, allowing us to use the power line road to access the trail,” he added. “That access greatly reduced the amount of time spent by volunteers to get to the trail.” 

In advance of building the trail tread, Ted May, Peter Rothe, and Kate Kitchell used chainsaws, loppers, and muscle to clear the trail corridor. While Will and volunteers built the trail tread, Sean Reagan led the construction of a small bridge to protect a drainage on top of the plateau as well as facilitate emergency access. He also mowed between the power line and the Jolly Long Trail to make the final trail connection. 

Altogether, 34 volunteers contributed over 320 hours working on the new trail, flagging the trail corridor, cutting trees and small shrubs, removing stumps, hauling and dispersing trail vegetation, and raking a smooth four-foot-wide tread.  After the snow melts next spring, follow-up work will address drainage and other residual needs to create a finished trail.

In 2022, BATs received $21,150 from donations and grants to kick off the project. This recent trail-building cost a little over $11,000, leaving funding available to put toward the cost of constructing a substantial steel or fiberglass reinforced plastic bridge to cross Pikes Creek that will withstand the periodic high-water events that can flash through the riparian corridor. To achieve this second phase of the trail in the summer of 2023, BATs will continue fundraising for the bridge, expected to cost as much as $55,000.

For now, the trail is best accessed via the Jolly Long trail at Mt. Ashwabay. The creek crossing bridge from the Hatchery trail is not in place yet. Stay tuned for opportunities to help with this next important phase of construction.

​Jemma and Julien Johnson recently greeted Carol Fahrenkrog, Town of Bayfield representative on the Bayfield Area Trails Committee, and Kate Kitchell, BATs Committee chair, at the Gil Larsen Trailhead in Bayfield with a gift of $3,000 to Bayfield Area Trails! The funds represent the proceeds from this year’s Jared Johnson Cribbage Classic, an event held at Bayfield’s Lakeside Pavilion in honor of Jemma and Julien’s father, Jared. The tournament is sponsored by Jared’s friends.

“Jared loved cribbage,” said Anna Johnson, Jemma and Julien’s mom. “Nick Wszalek, a life-long friend of Jared’s, started the tournament in 2021 with cribbage boards made and donated by Dale Ripp. Joey Ann Meyers contributed graphic design work, and Genny and Tim Hay and other friends helped out with the organization. Many local businesses sponsor cribbage boards, and contribute items for the raffle as well as food and drink. They want to honor Jared’s memory by gathering friends, family and community to play cribbage with the goal of raising funds to support organizations and initiatives that benefit kids and families who live here.”

Looking up the Big Ravine to the Iron Bridge, Anna said, “The Johnsons lived close to the Big Ravine and Jared spent some of his best days playing here when he was a kid. When he had the chance to walk the new Big Ravine trails in the fall of 2020, he was so happy about how they made this special place more accessible for people, especially kids. We’re glad to be able to support that work.” 

Carol voiced her enthusiasm for the trails; “I’m excited that the Bayfield Area Trails Committee will have a chance to put this gift toward top priorities, including the new trail connection between the State Fish Hatchery and the Mt. Ashwabay Trails that is being sponsored by the Town of Bayfield,”

With a grateful smile on her face, Kate said “How wonderful that Jared loved these trails—and that we’re able to work on them in his honor for others to enjoy. We are truly touched by this gift. Many thanks to Jemma and Julien, their mom, Jared’s other family members, and many friends for this generous support of Bayfield Area Trails.”