What is the Great Headwaters Trail System?
The Goal:
Forty miles of trail.
It’s a grand vision for the Northwoods of Wisconsin – a vision in the making: More than 40 miles of 10-foot-wide hard surface biking and walking trails connecting all the town centers in eastern Vilas County.
The trails of the Great Headwaters Trails system will connect four town centers in eastern Vilas County – Eagle River, Conover, Phelps and Land O’ Lakes. Once complete, the trail system will connect to existing off-road biking-walking trail systems – the 55-mile Heart of Vilas Trail, 13-mile Three Eagle Trail, and 12-mile Wilderness Lakes Trail.
Conover-Phelps Trail
The Conover-Phelps Trail became the first leg of trail development for the Great Headwaters Trails System. This trail will connect the town of Conover to the town of Phelps.
A 3.2 mile section of trail opened in May 2016. Five and a half more miles were added in 2017.
This 8.7 mile stretch begins at the Conover Town Park, passes through the business district, and, following railroad grade, runs past marshland, beaver habitat, and on into the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
Special engineering has been completed for the trail's final 1.9 miles which is 73% funded. Paralleling County Hwy K and E, the last section of trail will connect right into Phelps's lakefront park at the top of North Twin Lake. Underway now, the Homestretch Campaign aims to raise $170,000 to get the trail bid out for construction this year!
River Trail
The River Trail will connect Eagle River to St. Germain, adding 10 miles to the 60-mile Heart of Vilas biking-hiking trail system.
The City of Eagle River and towns of Cloverland and St. Germain have formed a multi-jurisdictional commission to head up development of the 10-mile trail that will run parallel to Highway 70 along the Wisconsin River.
Great Headwaters Trails has reviewed initial conceptual plans with the DOT, trail contractors, local residents, business owners, municipal officials, and the officers of the two local snowmobile clubs.
This winter they all got a chance to review the next step, a detailed Feasibility Study prepared by MSA Professional Services.
Eagle River City Connectors
The Eagle River City Connector provides a safe bike lane into Eagle River’s Historic Depot and downtown. The Connector bike path was installed in 2014. It’s the first in-town bike path for Eagle River. The Connector resulted from a partnership of Great Headwaters Trails, the Three Eagle Trail Foundation, Tara Lila, LLC, the City of Eagle River, the Rotary Club, Tribute Brewing Co., the Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce, and a number of local businesses and individuals. (View Connector details.)
The Connector links to the Three Eagle Trail, with its 13-plus miles of stunning vistas and bridges, where it eventually connects to the town of Three Lakes. In the City of Eagle River, planning goes on for additional bike paths and routes for convenient travel within the city itself.
Plans are currently underway to create a new city connector around the Kwik Trip facility.
Eagle River-Conover Trail
The Eagle River-Conover Trail will continue the trail system from the current Conover-Phelps Trail south to Eagle River. Development plans are underway to determine the best route for biking-walking users. Estimated time of construction-to be determined.
Conover-Land O’ Lakes Trail
The Conover-Land O’ Lakes Trail will take bikers and walkers 12 miles north from Conover to Land O’Lakes, right on the Wisconsin-Michigan border. A beautiful area, it’s also the starting point of the Wilderness Lakes Trails system, a 37-mile loop that circles from Land O’ Lakes west to Thousand Island Lake Road, north to Hwy 2, east to Watersmeet, MI, and south back into Wisconsin. The Wilderness Lakes Trails system encircles the Sylvania Wilderness, 18,000 acres of woodlands and lakes that are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Estimated time of construction - to be determined.