Trailhead Adventures, Rice Lake, WI

Do you know where the longest off-road trail Wisconsin is located? Join Polaris Adventures Content Manager Jared Christie on a fall colors ride on the Wild Rivers State Trail. It's 100 miles of trail that takes you all the way to Lake Superior. 

Book your next adventure @ www.adventures.polaris.com 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Roughly 47,000 city and state boards in its community, and squats an average of 15 minutes a day. Please welcome to the show, Dana Heller, the owner of Trailhead Adventures in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Dana, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:31

I'm good, Jared. Thank you very much. I do think a little more than that. A little more than that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Dana, you just wrapped up your summer season and you're headed into the fall. How is everything going?

SPEAKER_01 0:43

It's summer's been interesting. It's been great. We always focus on what we thought we needed to feel more like uh non-weekend times. And this summer, without really changing a lot, it's come to be really busy on the off season, like Sunday, Monday through Thursday. And uh that part's been good. Overall, business is up and uh we've had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

So it's been let's talk about Trailhead Adventures. Tell me more about Rice Lake, the town, the location, all the fun facts where you're at.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Sure. Rice Lake is population base, isn't necessarily as large as the area that it uh that it supports. Rice Lake has more national flag hotels, it has more fast food, sit-down restaurants, a lot of different things that people come from all the resort areas around and come to Rice Lake for shopping and all the uh important places like the Minards and Walmarts and stuff like that. But more importantly, there's a lot of social interaction, there's theaters, sling alley, there's a lot of things that people can do in Rice Lake. Plus, we're at a very interesting point that we have some of the best ATV trails in the entire state. They go north of us, and a lot of hiking trails were right on the Ice Age Trail, Stobia Trail. So there's a number of different places that people can get out, whether it's horseback riding, biking, hiking, fishing, all those things are right in the Rice Lake area.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Okay, so the hub for resorts all around the area, aren't you?

SPEAKER_01 2:08

That's right. And Rice Lake has more commerce, more businesses than any of the other areas, and a lot of the little lakes and resorts and things like that. People need a place to go to find different restaurants and different places to shop. We have a mall, we have downtown shops and a lot of things that aren't available in some of the other small towns. So people drive 60 to 100 miles just to come to Rice Lake for restaurants and shop.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

And you're whopping two hours from Minneapolis.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Yeah, people ask us all the time, just so how far are you from the Twin Cities? And we say just far enough. So it works out pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

And it makes it easy for people to, let's say, make a day trip or a weekend getaway.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

That's right. For us, people can make the trip up and just come in for the day, go out riding, and then maybe go to a restaurant and then head back home. But otherwise, they could stay overnight and see some of the other things and and uh visit the city as well.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Where do most of your riders come from?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Interesting, a lot of people come from Illinois, Iowa, and then of course Minnesota, as well as locals. But interestingly, a lot of people come from Iowa because they're used to being outdoors, but they don't have trees and trails like we have here. So they come here to experience the the backwood stuff that they have more uh farms and fields, and we got trees and trails.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Now you mentioned all the great reasons to come to Rice Lake. What made you choose Rice Lake?

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Well, it's like because it's a commerce hub, uh, it was kind of an interesting thing. I visited another outfitter in a different location, and my wife and I were on our anniversary, and we went there and just visited, thought, you know what, this is a great idea. We should come back and do this sometime. And when we saw it, we came back after our anniversary weekend, and I talked to my wife, and I said, you know, that's a really good idea. That would work really well in Rice Lake. What do you think? And my wife said, Well, check into it. And so we did. That was uh our and our last anniversary that we don't have uh side by sides. So now we have them every year, and uh we're able to get out and have a lot of fun, meet a lot of people. So for us, it's a family-owned business. It started with my wife and I, and uh, we have my son, my son's girlfriend that help as well. So for us, it's become a lot of interesting people and being able to meet a lot of different people from all over the so Dana, as an anniversary gift, you gave your wife a business? No, I think she gave it to me, but uh yeah, but it worked out pretty well, and it's been great. It's been a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

So for me, what makes the location so special and probably for all the people that come visit you is you're literally right on the longest trail in the entire state. What's that like?

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Uh well, we're right on the Wild Rivers Trail. The Wild Rivers Trail is the longest off-road trail in the state of Wisconsin. It goes all the way to Lake Superior. It's 103 plus miles uh of no driving on-road, so you can ride on a trail the entire way. Interestingly, right out of our parking lot, right in our parking lot, if you go left, which is north out of our parking lot, that's the longest off-road trail in the state. If you go to the right into Rice Lake, the trail dead ends. So that becomes the shortest off-road trail in the state of Wisconsin. So people have to turn left, they have to go north, and they can have a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

That's hilarious. If you do a quick search on the Wild River State Trail, and this is my hardcore research that I do for the show. You pass through Douglas, Oshburn, and Barron counties in northwest Wisconsin. You also pass tons of rivers and streams. You're you're part of the St. Croix National Scenic Byway, and you kind of you know skirt a half a dozen towns. That's a that's a heck of a trail. Plus, you go all the way to Lake Superior.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Right. Yep. And some of the the people where it starts, it's kind of a flat grade. But the interesting thing is the Wild Roose Trail actually interconnects with some of the best off-road trails in the northern part of Wisconsin, and you can be right on the trails and get into some of the stuff that you can drive two, three days and just keep on going. Hopefully with a place to stay overnight in between.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Have you have you ridden the entire trail? Have you taken it all the way to Lake Superior?

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Um, I have. It goes up through some great areas through um, well, past Spooner up to uh Trigo, Mainong, and beyond, up into Ashland, and then it goes across the northern part of the state. So there's some great, some great riding and a lot of fun in different terrain and the different things that you can see as you go north. It really does change a lot in uh like even how the trails are groomed. Uh it goes from a uh rose stone gravel to a slate. So even the conditions of the trail change somewhat as well.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Now, do people run the entire trail in a day or is that more of a two-day, multiple-day ride?

SPEAKER_01 6:53

People usually go from us and then we direct them into some of the other uh trails. Like we have one specific that's called Spider Loop, and it lasts six and a half to seven and a half hours. It goes past a number of different restaurants and restrooms, which is kind of important. I get moms asking all the time, it's like, so do we have to pack toilet paper? It's like, no, it's okay, we got places to stop. But the restaurants, there's a lot of restaurants that you can stop at along, and we like to send people to restaurants that we know they're gonna have good food, good service, things like that. And uh we tell people, you know what, just because you know we give you a name of a couple restaurants, it doesn't mean we can't stop at each one and have appetizers or twisted or whatever else. And you could stop at all, but you might be a little bit late getting back. But other than that, uh it's set upon.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

So you're telling me you guys offer a TP free trail?

SPEAKER_01 7:44

TP free, yeah, that's right. There they can provide it along the way if need be.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Okay, so you're at restaurants. What about places that are interesting along the trail? Maybe it's a waterfall or maybe it's an overlook. What are some of the highlights that you send people to?

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Well, there are a few places that you can go to um waterfalls and the northern section, destination places to go, but more than that, it's just the backwoods trails that are basically logging trails that are and somewhat groomed, so they're very, very well marked. So you can see where the trails are. And with players ride command, we actually can put an actual loot on their dash that they can follow. And if you didn't have that ride command dash, it would be almost impossible to pick the trail and try to find it on a paper map. So we do that frequently, and people come back. And so far, everyone was sent on the loop, everyone's made it back. We haven't lost a single person yet, which is good.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

So do you promote that on your website? Well, like everyone's made it back.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Uh, we don't, but uh, you know, so far uh people have said that they they have made it and they go through the loop and and they've come back and said, you know what, if we didn't have that ride command ash, if we didn't have the mapping system, we didn't we wouldn't be able to figure out who we are or how we get. And it does make a difference. Do you have a favorite part of the trail that you enjoy? I do. There's a section that goes down to um it's called Chit Chat. It's a it's a restaurant right on the trail. And that section of the trail that drops down on a dog leg on the loop that we send people on is one of the deeper, darker woods area that uh there's frequently a little mud and uh a little bit uh narrower trails, but it's really kind of a neat area. It comes down and then comes out to a campground and a restaurant right on Big Shaitac Lake, which is a beautiful large lake, and then people go back up and then it joins into the Castovia Trail, which is another state trail that goes down into Birdswood. So it's a great loop that really does give people a lot of different terrain, a lot of experience in the backwoods that you can't really get to if you don't know where that trail is. So it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

We're just about to hit fall. How special is this time of year for you?

SPEAKER_01 10:03

I'll tell you what, people that don't live up here don't know how beautiful the trees when they turn. And the other thing is, like I said before, a lot of our people come from Illinois, Iowa, and things like that. Well, their trees don't turn as soon as what they do up here because we're a little further north. So the fall color tours that we send people on is just amazing. It's gorgeous. The colors, the trees, and you're in trees, it's it's a very dense area. So we in the in the fall time, we're getting prepped for it. People go out two by two by two, couples, mother and uh moms and kids, moms and girls, dads and sons. But a lot of times in the fall, it's our two seaters that go out more than anything because everyone wants to ride together. And so it becomes a very busy time. In fact, October is our busiest month of the year. And I wouldn't think that, but just because of the fall color tours, people really want to go out and see it.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

I think for me, my favorite part of fall is no bugs.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yeah. Well, I tell people too, if you slow down, the mosquitoes can keep up, but if you don't slow down too much, you know, they can't fly as fast as he can go. That's a good repellent.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

I have been lucky enough to do part of this trail with you, and I think for me, there are sections where the trees are kind of make a canopy over the trail. And when you've got a canopy and you've got leaves that are suddenly hitting that sort of golden color, boy, it's it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah, it's like a tree tunnel. It's like you go through it and it's everywhere. And then as you're driving down the trail the trails, the uh leaves are blowing up behind you and things. It's it's very nice, it's picturesque. The other thing is it's a little bit cooler, so there's less dust, and so the trail the trails are a little bit softer, so it's really a little quieter even. So it's really unique time.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

What's that window of time? It's gotta be a few weeks.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Late, late September, probably mid-September through mid-October, and then just never know what's gonna happen in October. We could have a foot of snow, which we haven't seen in a couple years, but we could use a little snow this year, but not that early.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

I feel like you're reading right into my next question because once fall ends, you guys start prepping for winter. And yes, we've had a couple of uh not so great winters uh recently, but in a normal year, what's the season like?

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Well, the fall season's beautiful. I mean, it's a little chillier in the morning, but the afternoons get to be very nice, warm, addressing layers so people are able to take take some extra warmth off. But as we get closer into the the late fall season, we actually have a number of North Stars, the fully enclosed, heated and air conditioned machines that are glass all the way around. And those are great for small kids, older people. In fact, every year, every year, we've had someone come in that's 95, 96 years old, and they go out on the machines and they have a blast. It's a lot of fun. So in the fall, you can uh choose something like that, and then you're able to take it out no matter what the weather. Even if it does rain or snow, people don't seem to mind because they're enclosed. And uh you have heat if you need it in the afternoon, you have air. So there you go.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

There you go. There you have it. And eventually you'll get plenty cold when winter comes. And in Wisconsin, you've got snowmobile trails for days and days and days.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Snowmobile trails are amazing. We have we have a huge number of ATV trails, but the snowmobile trail snowmobile trails are two to three times more trails in the winter than what we have in the summer. Plus, here are lake threeze. So some of the snowmobile trails actually traverse lakes. So that gives us even bigger area that we're able to travel on snowmobile trails. Plus, we do have the the side-by-sides that are fully enclosed, even in the winter time, November, December, January, we actually are booked up pretty close on our on our North Stars because people still want to be able to get out and about. Interesting. I didn't know that. Yeah, it makes it really nice. So that's access that you can't get a lot of other places, and people come here even in the winter just to drive that trail. It's nice.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Dana, how did you guys get connected with Polaris Adventures?

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Well, initially it was just making a phone call and and reaching out, look uh doing a little research, and then uh the people that that reached back to me to inquire about you know who we are, where we are, all that interesting stuff, they were very helpful in giving me insight, information, what uh some of the parameters were. And they were instrumental in in creating an image of what it's going to be, give me insight into the things to expect before we ever got to the point of uh jumping through all the hoops. And it wasn't terrible, it was actually pretty good, and then it was just a matter of having fun and deciding what we want to do.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

Been four years for you guys so far with Adventures. How's that gone?

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yep, it's actually been more than that now, five, but it has been very good. And I have to tell you, the support from Polaris has been tremendous. Anytime you need something, their support system, there's a ask Polaris button that you can push, and then you just ask a question, and the response has been tremendous. They they always give you answers immediately. So anytime you have a question, and anytime if you ever have uh an issue with parts or or a warranty or anything, they have been more than unbelievable in in how they help make sure they keep you on running and keep you on the road.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Well, that's awesome, Dana. Enjoy the rest of your off-road season. Best of luck this upcoming winter, and thanks so much for being on the show.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

I appreciate uh your time as well and uh your uh the questions that you asked and things. I do uh greatly enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

And again, we hope to welcome you back again to uh be sure to like and follow the Fair Inventor podcast or every new L podcast, and we will talk to you again soon. Remember to talk here. Thank you.