What is Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin known for?

Lakes and the woods around them. The town has the Wisconsin end of the Cisco Chain of Lakes, Black Oak Lake with some of the clearest water in the state, and the source of the Wisconsin River at Lac Vieux Desert. It is also known for its supper clubs and its winter snowmobile trails.

Is Land O' Lakes worth visiting in winter?

Yes, if you snowmobile, ski or ice fish. The Frosty Snowmobile Club grooms about 45 miles of trail linked to Michigan, cross-country ski trails run next to the Sylvania Wilderness, and the Three Bear Sled Dog Race runs in early February. Several summer businesses close or cut hours, so check ahead.

How far is Land O' Lakes from the Sylvania Wilderness?

The Sylvania Wilderness starts a few miles north of town across the Michigan line. Thousand Island Lake Road gives a southern entrance from the town, and the main Clark Lake day-use area is on the north side.

Do you need a car in Land O' Lakes?

Yes. The town covers about 95 square miles, with downtown at the east end and the Cisco Chain about 11 miles west. There is no public transport to rely on.

Is Land O' Lakes in Wisconsin or Michigan?

Wisconsin. It is in Vilas County on the state line, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula starts at the north edge of town. The golf course and some of the Cisco Chain lakes cross into Michigan.

Things to Do in Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin: 15 Picks

Q: Is there a public beach in Land O' Lakes?

Yes. Black Oak Lake has a public beach on its south shore with a buoyed swimming area, restrooms and a boat launch. The Lac Vieux Desert Campground also has a swimming beach.

Land O' Lakes is a long, thin town stretched along the Michigan line, with its small downtown at the east end where County B meets US-45 and the Cisco Chain of Lakes about 11 miles west. Most of the things to do in Land O' Lakes are on water or in the woods, and the rest happen within four blocks of the crossroads. This list runs from the museum in an old ski chalet to the trails that the snowmobile club grooms all winter, with the practical detail you need for each.

One thing to know before you start: the Town of Land O' Lakes covers about 95 square miles, so a day here is a car day. The downtown stops are walkable from each other. The lakes, the Wisconsin River's first mile and the golf course across the state line are short drives apart.

The town was called State Line until 1948, and it grew up around sawmills before the resorts arrived. That mix of logging history and lake money still shows: old lodges, a nine-hole course that crosses the state line, and a main street that sells bait next to boutique clothing.

1. Northern Waters Museum, in the old Gateway ski chalet

The Northern Waters Museum is the place to start if you want to understand why a town of under a thousand people has three supper clubs and a famous old lodge.

Northern Waters Museum

The building was the warming chalet for the Gateway Ski Hill, part of the King's Gateway resort complex built in the late 1930s. When the hill closed in the 1980s the chalet was donated to the Land O' Lakes Historical Society, moved to the town park in 1997 and opened as a museum on July 27, 2001. The big stone fireplace is still the center of the room.

The main exhibit changes every few years and covers the logging era, the old resorts and the families who ran them. It keeps short summer hours: Thursday to Saturday, 11am to 3pm, from late June through Labor Day weekend, plus tours by appointment. Find it in the town park at the corner of County B and Chippewa Drive.

If the doors are shut, the historical society's online galleries cover the same ground, from ice cutting on Black Oak Lake in the 1920s to the post office murals downtown. They also document Summerwind, the mansion on West Bay Lake that became the town's best-known ghost story. Its ruins stand on private land, so the galleries are as close as you should get.

2. Storybook Garden, for kids who need to run

Storybook Garden is a free outdoor park built around children's books, and it sits a short walk from the museum off Chippewa Drive.

Storybook Garden

Expect a mud-kitchen sandbox shaped like a book, a music wall, a playhouse with a bridge and life-size scenes from stories younger kids will recognize. A pavilion with picnic tables and restrooms sits next to it, which makes it a natural lunch stop with sandwiches from downtown.

Google lists it as open daily from 6am to 9pm. It is small, so plan on an hour, not an afternoon.

3. LOLA Arts, for a class or a look at local work

LOLA Arts is the town's nonprofit arts center on County B, with a small gallery and a weekday schedule of classes for adults and kids. Workshops run from glass bead making to handmade paper, and there is programming for homeschool families and for veterans. Google lists weekday hours of 9am to 3pm, so check the class calendar before you plan a visit around it.

4. Shop County B: bait, boots and gifts

Downtown shopping is short and practical. The oldest shop on the street is Tackle Box, selling to Northwoods anglers for more than 88 years and still doing the basics well: rods, reels, lures, live bait and fishing licenses, plus Sorel boots and Stormy Kromer caps for when the weather turns.

Farther east on County B, The Mad Baer carries clothing for men and women, gifts (including some for dogs) and seasonal home decor. It opens Wednesday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm, per its Google listing, so a Monday visit will find it closed.

5. Take a pontoon out on the Cisco Chain

The Cisco Chain is 15 connected lakes straddling the state line, and a pontoon is the easiest way to see it. Three of the lakes touch Wisconsin: Big Lake, West Bay and Mamie, which is entirely on this side. For launches, fishing and where to stop for lunch by boat, start with the Cisco Chain of Lakes, where most of the town's summer happens. Dwight Eisenhower came to the resorts on the Chain to fish, before and after his presidency, and the walleye and musky are still the reason most boats go out.

McCormack's Cisco Chain Marina

McCormack's sits at the south end of Big Lake, about 11 miles west of downtown along County B. It is the only marina on the Chain, and it rents boats, motors and pontoons, sells gas and handles repairs and storage.

Google lists weekday hours of 8am to 4pm and Saturday mornings until noon, from April through October. Call ahead for a pontoon on a July weekend.

There are no campgrounds directly on the Chain, so a day on the water usually starts from a cabin, a rental or the marina's own launch. Water levels hold steady through the summer thanks to a low dam built in 1931, which is what made the channels between the lakes navigable in the first place.

If you'd rather start from a different lake, Land O Lakes Boat Rentals delivers pontoons and fishing boats to the launch you choose, free anywhere in Vilas County and in Gogebic County on the Michigan side.

6. Swim at Black Oak Lake

Black Oak Lake has the clearest water around, and its public beach on the south shore is the best swim in town. The lake covers 564 acres and reaches 85 feet at its deepest, with clarity readings past 30 feet in good years. It is a seepage lake, fed by groundwater rather than streams, and the Black Oak Lake Preservation Foundation has been monitoring it since the 1970s. There is a buoyed swimming area, restrooms and a boat launch next to the beach. Black Oak Lake, the clear-water lake west of town, is worth an afternoon on its own.

7. Stand at the start of the Wisconsin River

The Wisconsin River starts here and runs more than 400 miles to the Mississippi. You can see its first stretch in two places, both within about 4 miles of downtown.

Wisconsin River Headwaters Historical Wayside

The Headwaters Historical Wayside sits just off US-45, about 1.6 miles south-southeast of downtown, where the young river runs under the highway. There is a large sign, a state historical marker and water clear enough to see the sandy bottom. Visitors regularly wade across it, which tells you how small it is this close to the source.

It is open around the clock and takes ten minutes, so it works on the drive in or out.

The actual source is the outlet dam on the west side of Lac Vieux Desert, where a footbridge crosses to a marker at Lac Vieux Desert Park, about 4.2 miles southeast of downtown and listed under neighboring Phelps. Lac Vieux Desert itself is a border lake of about 4,000 acres with a national forest campground on its west shore. The name is Canadian French for an old clearing, after the land Native people cultivated on its islands.

8. Fish a lake with a local's tackle

Fishing is the town's oldest draw. The Cisco Chain holds walleye, musky, northern pike, bass and panfish. Lac Vieux Desert is known for musky and walleye. Both are border waters, so check Wisconsin and Michigan rules before you buy a license, and buy it where the bait is: Tackle Box sells both.

For a boat delivered to your own dock, Lindemann Rentals rents pontoons by the day or week and does not ask you to refill the tank when you bring it back.

9. Ride the Land O' Lakes Bike Trail

The Land O' Lakes Bike Trail is a paved path that runs about 12 miles from US-45, shared by bikes and walkers.

Land O'Lakes Bike Trail

The trail runs through stands of white pine and hemlock, narrowing to about 5 feet where it passes shops and widening to 10 feet in the woods. Start downtown and turn around whenever the kids are done, or ride the full length and back for a 24-mile day.

It also connects to the Eagle River to Land O' Lakes Bike Route, a 22-mile ride on quiet forest roads with a rest stop about halfway. Parking for that route is at the Eagle River end, in Oldfield Park.

10. Play nine holes across two states

Gateway Golf Club is a 9-hole, par 36 course that crosses the state line, so part of your round is in Michigan.

Gateway Golf Club & Driving Range

The course was designed by Robert B. Harris and comes with a driving range, a bar with snacks, carts and rental clubs. It is open daily from 8am to 6pm in season.

Be honest with yourself about what you want from it. Recent reviews call the fairways tired and the price high for the condition. Golfers who come for the history and the two-state novelty leave happier than those who come for the greens.

11. Walk into the Sylvania Wilderness

The Sylvania Wilderness starts a few miles north of town in Michigan's Ottawa National Forest: about 18,000 acres of old forest with no motors allowed, and roughly 4,000 of those acres are water. Thousand Island Lake Road, a town road, gives a southern way in. The Clark Lake day-use area on the north side has a sandy swimming beach and a picnic pavilion, and canoe landings on Clark and Crooked lakes lead into the wilderness lakes. Bring a paper map. Camping inside the wilderness is primitive and needs planning, so for a first visit a day hike from the Clark Lake side is the easier way in.

12. Book a supper club night

Three supper clubs is a lot for a town this size, and choosing between them is half the fun. Where to eat in Land O' Lakes depends on the night of the week, so start with the one locals book ahead.

The Bear Trap Inn

The Bear Trap Inn is on County B about 1.5 miles west of downtown, with a fireplace, an Old Fashioned worth ordering and a menu known for its garlic-stuffed tenderloin. Friday is walleye fish fry and Saturday is prime rib.

Google lists dinner Wednesday to Saturday from 4:30pm. Reserve, especially in summer. Solo diners can usually find a seat at the bar.

The other two are close by. The Twilight Supper Club on US-45 keeps a 1940s room, a loaded salad bar and nightly music in the lounge. Asana Suka is the newer take, with small plates and more vegetarian choices than the area usually offers.

13. Breakfast, lunch and pizza downtown

Breakfast in Land O' Lakes means the Pine Cone Cafe on County B, open from 6am to 2pm. Order the chicken and dumplings at lunch, or try the 12-egg skillet if you came hungry. A few blocks west, The Sawbuck bakes year-round, which is not a given this far north.

For lunch on the go, The Local Press Deli makes paninis, flatbreads and espresso drinks, with breakfast sandwiches in the morning. For dinner without a reservation, Melanie Mae's Stage Stop does homemade pizza and calzones. It takes cash or check only, with an ATM inside.

14. Ride or ski the winter trails

Winter is when Land O' Lakes fills up again. The Frosty Snowmobile Club grooms about 45 miles of trail that tie into the Michigan system, and Brew's Pub sits right on trail #6 downtown, open late with big screens and a fireplace. Groomed cross-country ski trails, roughly 6.5 to 7.5 miles depending on the season's grooming, run next to the Sylvania Wilderness, and the Snowflake ice rink sits downtown. The same rink hosts the town's Oktoberfest each September, before the ice goes in.

Snow comes early and stays. Land O' Lakes weather in December through March decides which of these you can do on a given weekend, so check the trail report before you load the sled.

15. Watch the Three Bear Sled Dog Race

The Three Bear Sled Dog Race comes to Land O' Lakes in early February, with teams and their dogs running the trails outside town.

Dates move year to year. Check the Events tab for the current schedule rather than planning around last year's.

Getting around, and where to sleep

You need a car. Downtown sits at the east end of the town, Black Oak Lake is west off County B, and the Cisco Chain marina is 11 miles out along it. Land O' Lakes sits at the top of Vilas County, 17 miles north of Eagle River on US-45, and the nearest commercial airport is Rhinelander, about 38 miles south-southwest. Private pilots can land at Kings Land O' Lakes Airport, which has a 4,001-foot paved runway at the southeast corner of town.

Beds range from a lodge with an indoor pool to first-come campsites on Lac Vieux Desert. Choosing between a downtown motel and a lake cabin comes down to whether you want to walk to dinner or wake up on the water.