Makwa Ziibiins Miikana: Bear Creek Trail to Wisconsin Point

Last week Bear Creek Trail in Superior opened to hikers, bikers and snowshoers. It’s a 2.25-mile crushed-concrete pathway connecting the Osaugie Trail at Bear Creek Park to Wisconsin Point Road. An extension is in the planning stages that will create an additional trail on the other side of Wisconsin Point Road to parking lot #1. But what is already built is excellent.

Generally, when a new trail is built there’s a sense that it’s long overdue, but this one seems like its in a spot few people would have imagined a trail. It’s moist terrain, which creates the need for many timber crossings. How many precisely? The answer is 34.

Of the crossings, 18 are full-on bridges and the other 16 are short platform boardwalks.

It’s the perfect trail for debating the difference between a swamp, bog, marsh and fen … but for the most part it sticks to the highlands. The result is a sensational trail near Allouez Bay, perfect for walkers gazing at birds or bicyclists seeking to avoid Moccasin Mike Road.

One more piece of lumberwork involved is a bench near the midway point of the hike. It takes about an hour to get from one end of the trail to the other — or a two-hour round trip — for those who lollygag, gawk at nature, sit for a while on the bench or otherwise goof off. It’s possible to complete the trail a lot faster than that, if you are some kind of maniac who is in a hurry.

Above is where the trail meets Wisconsin Point Road, about 3,000 feet from the first parking lot near the stretch of beach.