Bikepacking Door County with a Dog

Note: This post was written 4 years ago. Spoiler alert - Girlfriend mentioned is now wife. Dog is well, but cranky about sharing the Burley with children.

Juniper Baraboo and one of the many fallen trees along the trail

This summer my girlfriend and I embarked on a 9 day, 400+ mile bike trip from Wausau, WI to Peninsula State Park and back. We had a few zero (or close to zero) rest days along the way. We got engaged. Juniper flipped the trailer twice. Juniper also had the time of her life.

Our original plan was to start in Minneapolis, travel across the entire state of Wisconsin, and finish in Door County. That plan revolved around the idea that someone we knew would graciously spend a few days with us in Door County, then have a reason to drive us back to Minneapolis. We got a few offers to do just that, but the idea seemed sillier as the trip came closer — We weren’t sure we’d be the most fun (or fun smelling) people to hang out with after riding so far. With that, we decided to cut out the first half of the journey and make it an out-and-back adventure.

The June Buggy rolls on

We began in Wausau, Wisconsin, at the start of the Mountain-Bay trail. There’s a police station at the trail head and they okay’d us leaving the car there for over a week. The Mountain-Bay trail is named so because it travels from Rib Mountain to Green Bay. It is one of MANY rail trails in Wisconsin, the birthplace of the rail trail idea.

We didn’t have many expectations for the trail itself other than from our previous experiences with rail trails. Most are flat (for railroad reasons) and made of a fine crushed limestone. The Mountain-Bay trail IS flat, but the surface changed pretty dramatically a few times. It’s not a heavily used trail, so instead of a clear limestone surface you often get two singletrack trails with grass in between. You can see that in a few of the photos. Normally that wouldn’t make a practical difference, but trailers and singletrack don’t play nice. While my bike’s wheels slipped around on no-well-packed stone the trailer’s wheels plowed through tall grass. There were also serious storms through Central Wisconsin the week before our trip that downed at least a dozen trees across the trail. Another issue that is amplified when your bike is attached to a trailer.

We ended the first day around 60 miles later at Shawano County Park. The second day went much like the first as we made our way to Green Bay. A little about the dog and her well being: She was in heaven. Juniper has a deep rooted love (or intense hate, hard to say) for all wildlife. She was fully mentally engaged during the trip, which was a relief to us as we had worried about boredom. She quickly learned that open fields probably meant cows or horses. Forested areas meant scampering chipmunks. She flipped her trailer twice, once for one of those scampering chippies, the other for a deer that bolted out the woods 15 yards ahead of us. She was fine on both occasions, but did launch her father into the weeds.

We got a cheap hotel in Green Bay for the second night. That wasn’t the plan, but the plan was always maleable. Juniper had gotten herself caked with mud from one of those trailer flips and there’s a shocking lack of public campgrounds in the immediate Green Bay Area. We spent the evening drinking at Titletown Brewing and touristing around Lambeau Field. Not a bad campsite alternative.

The third day finally brought us to Door County proper. For those who are not from the Midwest, Door County is the Peninsula “thumb” of Wisconsin, known for being a hot tourist destination. Wine, cherries, apple picking, lighthouses, knit sweaters - that kind of thing. It’s a beautiful place. We traveled on a paved country road for about 10 miles as we left Green Bay. I was strangely happy to ride on real hills for a quick respite from the flatness of rail trails.

Deer flies chased and bit us through several sections of trail

The country road brought us to the Ahnapee State Trail, another rail trail. The Ahnapee bounces north up Door County towards Sturgeon Bay. The trail was notably more traveled than the Mountain-Bay, and better maintained. That wasn’t a surprise considering the county’s tourism income, but nice regardless. We stopped in the town of Algoma for lunch by the water before continuing to Potawatomi State Park. We spent the night in Potawatomi, just west of Sturgeon Bay. We enjoyed a a long walk along the water before cooking up some packaged rice and calling it an early night.

We road through Sturgeon bay in the morning. The Ahnapee Trail had ended, so the rest of trip north would have to be on roads. Lucky for us, Bay Shore Drive is both beautiful and relatively safe for bikes. Highway 42 is far more practical for cars, so Bayshore drive - with its 45mph limit, winding curves, and views of the water - is left to classic car cruising and bike traffic. We followed Bayshore as it turned into “Horshoe Bay Rd” and onto Egg Harbor. Egg Harbor was our first real taste of a classic Door County Tourist town. The main drive was filled with slow moving traffic and the sidewalks were bustling. Peak Door County holiday time. We got lunch at a little house-converted-into-restaurant called Green N Grains before hopping back on the bikes.

Two more peaceful shoreline roads brought us to Fish Creek and the entrance to Peninsula State Park. There’s a 13+ mile bike trail called the Sunset Trail within Peninsula, and we road this to our campsite. We spent 2 days relaxing in the park, reading, napping, and figuring out what saddle sore were. I did not wear bike shorts for this trip and regrets were developed. On our way out of the park I proposed along the water. She said yes. The dog didn’t care but I think she was just playing it cool.

Potawatomi State Park

With full hearts and still-sore legs we re-traced our steps back to Sturgeon Bay. We’d pre-arranged two nights in an AirBnB to relax and recover (and celebrate a little) before finishing up. We moved minimally over the two days, leaving the house to eat and drink Old Fashioneds. It was perfect.

The last remaining legs of the trip, Sturgeon Bay to Wausau, had taken us three days at the front end. I had not so good idea to smush the second and third days together into one 93 mile super-day. We felt shockingly good for 70 miles, and then not shockingly terrible. Sore knees, ibuprofen, cranky attitudes galore. But we made it to Shawano County Park as the sun was setting and all was well. We finished the final 60 miles to Wausau the next day, grateful again for anti-inflammatory drugs.