The lake country, in one place.
Spooner sits at the junction of US-53 and US-63 in Washburn County, surrounded by rivers, lakes, trails, and public land. These guides are the honest, local version of what is out there: what each place is, how to use it, and what makes it special, written the way we would tell a friend who just moved in.
The guides
Six ways the week runs out.
Paddling and camping
The Namekagon River
Wisconsin's moving national park: a designated Wild and Scenic River, part of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, running about 100 miles from Namekagon Lake to the St. Croix. Shallow, rocky, perfect for day trips by canoe, kayak, or tube, with primitive campsites and launch after launch.
Read the field guideTrout, walleye, musky and panfish
Fishing the rivers and lakes
World-class brown trout on the Namekagon, shore-lunch panfish on Spooner Lake, musky water on McKenzie, and an ADA-accessible kids' fishing pier at the Yellow River Flowage behind the state fish hatchery. Most of it is public, and all of it is close.
Read the field guideIn-town loops to river trails
Hiking trails around Spooner
About six miles of trail at Spooner City Park, the hilly Beaver Brook Trail, a 3.5-mile National Park Service loop along the Trego Flowage, a 600-acre nature center in Sarona, and Wisconsin's Ice Age National Scenic Trail, whose northern segments are a short drive south.
Read the field guideSki, snowshoe, snowmobile
Winter in the Spooner country
Groomed skate and classic loops in town (partially lit), a hilly classic-groomed course at Beaver Brook, a forgiving 15 km loop at Nordic Woods, 240+ miles of club-groomed snowmobile trail, and some of the best snowshoeing in the Northwoods. Winter here is not the off-season.
Read the field guideDeer, bear, turkey and grouse
Hunting season in the lake country
Roughly 148,000 acres of public forestland in Washburn County alone: the county forest, state wildlife areas from Beaver Brook to the Namekagon Barrens, and the 30,000-acre Crex Meadows block an easy drive west. Big woods, young aspen, and waterfowl on the flowages.
Read the field guideRide the county forest
ATV and UTV trails
Washburn County maintains 100+ miles of ATV and UTV trail through the county forest, linking into the Wild Rivers and Tuscobia state trail corridors. Club-built, club-maintained, and a straight shot from the property's heated garage.
Read the field guideA note on sources
Local knowledge, checked twice.
These guides are built from what the agencies that manage this land publish, the county's own maps, and the way the people who live here actually use the place. Where a detail could change from year to year, trail conditions or season dates, we point you to the current source rather than guess. Distances are honest drive-and-walk approximations, not marketing math.
Official maps and parks
From the journal
Deeper reads on the same country.
A local's list for a Spooner day
Coffee, drive-in burgers, the Friday fish fry, and the railroad museum: where the town gathers.
Outdoor recreation, four seasons
The full-year calendar of fishing, trails, hunting, snowmobiling, ice fishing, ATVs, and paddling.
Wildlife and nature around Spooner
Deer at the property line, wild trout in the creek, and sandhill cranes by the thousand at Crex.