Interlude on North Bay swamps (for aficionados)

Dwight Peck's personal website

Summer 2025

A photographic record of whatever leapt out at us

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Interlude on North Bay swamps (for aficionados)

Late August 2025

This lake is basically spring fed, sometimes from under water but often from mini-creeks entering from the forests. Over the years, when those creeks reach the shoreline, they tend to spread out and make a small marshy delta -- these are uninvestigable on hydrobikes (they would take 3 seconds to lock up the propeller), but at least once a summer we enjoy paying them a visit in the old Grumman canoe.

Probably the most impressive shoreline swamps on the lake are in Tomahawk and South Bays and along the South Shore Drive, but we've got a few worth checking out here in the North Bay (photo map below). This is a little marsh adjacent to our boathouse which at some point our neighbors on the far side christened as . . .

We're preparing to dive in, so to speak.

Trees don't particularly thrive in these marshes, but there's a great lot of relevant marshy vegetation on the lake and behind it, and knowledgeable wetland people will be able to identify it all (but, having retired, we've forgotten all of that).

These, however, we presume are water lilies, and they should have blossomed by now, oh well.

We don't want to approach too closely, who knows what misfortunes might await us.

The water level is not much more than six inches all round here, probably with several inches of really awful dead-vegetation mush prepared to grab your water-shoes off you.

The aesthetics can sometimes be a little bit unrewarding (except for aficionados).

Here in the western corner of the cove, we're only about 180m (590ft) from the highway bound north to Minocqua.

Lots of varied vegetation (both alive and dead, and dying)

A dead end here, in more ways than one.

We're planning to turn back out before we get mucked onto the bottom, and have to walk back.

Now we're approaching the Mussent Point property again, which . . .

. . . begins with a deer fence right behind that poor old tree, which crashed down over the night of
23 August 2010, and was even then . . .

. . . riddled with reasons to crash down in a strong breeze.

The poor, sadly decomposing old forest-warrior is still forming, 15 years later, a virtual gate across half the cove.

Nature can be very cruel sometimes.

Out of that cove now, and northward round the point into . . .

. . . the next, and larger, cove.

Lots of the traditional shoreline detritus

And lots of tree branches, and sometimes whole trees, leaning far out, presumably to grab the sunlight

Here we're only 94m (310ft) below the highway, seen up on the ridge. One notes a meagre few white blossoms, big deal.

A few years ago, perhaps more recently, there were several dead floating logs amongst those grasses, each covered with luxurious greenery sprouting out of them. (They may still be in there somewhere.)

The north corner of the cove, with . . .

. . . a stretch of vegetated sand shore, which . . .

. . . we know from a few observations provides habitat for a few otters and/or muskrats.

Boo! (That's possibly an old homemade anchor for a raft or something, or it might be an amateur mini-crib for encouraging fish populations.

(In the period 1992 to 1995, 36 artificial fish cribs were placed all round the lake; 26 have recently been surveyed in a 'rehab project', and only two of those were deemed 'less than ideal for adding additional brush to the inside' [from the lake's summer 2025 newsletter]).

A single, rather magisterial house and grounds at the head of the lake, between the two northern coves

One seems never to see individual families cavorting about here, despite all the boats and jetskis -- only largish groups, possibly of renters, or perhaps just a large family clan. But when they're in residence, the North Bay reaches monstrous motorized decible levels from about 2 to 6 pm, and sometimes again from 7 to 9.

The obligatory lily pads spread all about, and . . .

. . . some more deadfall are accumulating down the hill from that magisterial estate.

From the grass line up to the highway is 180m (590ft) and 174m (570ft) up to a side road off the highway.

This apparently open water has in recent years been incrementally choking up with submerged 'muskie weed' or 'pondweed', spreading across the non-lily pad side of the cove -- a grand nuisance for the boatowners along that shoreline. On this trip in, however, we noticed that those submerged plants are much less evident, and we've just learnt that someone has doused them with a toxic herbicide. Big bummer.

But back to the serious marshy end of the cove -- at least a few times, over the years, we've had to stand down and turn whatever craft we were on around to get back out again. Vicious plants they are.

Lot of little chirrups and ploops in the water as the smaller residents regard our presence, and . . .

. . . an earnest observer stares at us, but kindly did not set up a symphony of barking. Very civil.

Back out to North Bay, 800m long to the far side, opening to the main lake at the left side of the photo. From here the lake runs 3km down to the highway bridge, and farther off to the left and right from there.

Now a canoeing return to the Mussent Point establishment

This is our new friend (who we understood to be 'Gary, the retired DJ') who summers across the lake by Tomahawk Bay and, this year, has been coasting slowly round the entire shoreline between 3 and 4 every afternoon. His boat's maker is called Calabria, but it surely doesn't come from southern Italy. Now we chat fairly regularly on the lake.

We've learnt that Calabria boats come from Columbus, Georgia.

Here are a few views of the 1938 boathouse (still on the Nat'l Historic Place Registry!) -- interior edition

A speedboat for towing water skiers (not used very much anymore)

On the left, a serviceable rowboat (very seldom used nowadays), and a beautiful classic Old Town canoe on the right (we've never seen it used at all), and in the middle, an interesting something-or-other that brother Eric is very fond of.

A solemn warning, posted in the old days and still valid

Some other watercraft from various periods

And the Grumman 'Fun Ship', a chassis of more than a few years old and the lowest horsepower outboard motor on the lake, but boasting a recently refurbished interior.

Moving on . . .

From the local hospital parking lot -- 'Never Back Down', unless you need some medical assistance

There's Cousin Rob's old hydrobike, now out of use alas. His wife Elke has just gifted it to our mutual friend Oscar, and before Oscar comes back up to the lake, we're verifying where it's been kept in the past 18 months.

The Crossing of the Bar. We're homing in on another attempt, but something's in the way.

Diving birds shaking off the excess weight. We'll wait till they've noticed us, then try again.

Here we go, superpedaling maniacally, then propeller up!

No luck -- we had to dismount and walk it across. Once again, a lower water level and a northern breeze.
This is becoming a new normal.

Ryden's Island, aka Beaver Island, probably for reasons that once made sense

Just offshore, what we amateurs might guess is a fish crib -- though not yet rehabbed

We'll trot back up and have another look at the island, though . . .

. . . there's not much to see anymore.

We might speculate that there were a lot of fairly wild parties out here, back in the day when all the locals were young, lithe, and lissom.

Or just a quiet place for the Friday night poker guys to get away from the house, from time to time (in summer).

The little dock, which was in good nick when we first came here, and then began falling apart, has now been retired, probably forever. The slanty board is useless, it just wobbles. Oh, and the island is apparently posted for No Trespassing. Tant pis.

Little swampy places in the North Bay

(from Google Maps)

The Lake in the Wisconsin Northwoods

Mussent Point is at no. 12.
The text overlays are updating a few names to our current understanding.

Coming soon: The Pottawattomie 'Anderson Trail' for a change