Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Wisconsin / Northern Wisconsin

North Country Trail: Porcupine Lake Wilderness to Drummond

Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (between Grand View and Drummond)

The Porcupine Lake Wilderness is a small, 4,446-acre wilderness designated in 1984, about four miles southeast of Drummond, according to the Forest Service. The North Country National Scenic Trail runs its full length, past Porcupine Lake and the trout water of Eighteen Mile Spring Pond.

Backpacker’s 2021 trip “Run With the Wolves in Wisconsin” turns it into a two-day, 14-mile point-to-point hike that ends in the town of Drummond.

The hike

Backpacker’s route starts at the County Road D trailhead. The NCTA’s Chequamegon Chapter, which led a hike here in August 2026, puts that parking lot on the west side of County Road D, about 5.2 miles south of Grand View. From the lot, a short spur beside Porcupine Creek joins the main trail heading east.

The chapter’s notice describes the first 4.3 miles: across Porcupine Creek on a relatively new bridge, along Porcupine Lake, past a large beaver dam, and around West Davis Lake to the Forest Road 213 (east) parking lot. It calls the terrain relatively flat, with gentle, rolling hills on dirt tread, and warns that because the section is mainly wilderness, “there will not be blue blazes to follow.” It also notes spotty cell coverage and no toilets.

Backpacker’s turn-by-turn continues past Eighteenmile Springs, which the route loops around, then skirts the northern shore of Lake Owen, passes the Lake Owen Picnic Ground and the Drummond Ski Trail cluster, and finishes at a convenience store in Drummond. The magazine calls it an “extra squiggly, point-to-point stretch” and rates it 3 out of 5 for difficulty. It describes Porcupine Lake as one that “teems with panfish, bluegills, and trout,” and the Forest Service lists trout, bass, panfish, and northern pike in Porcupine Lake and Eighteen Mile Spring Pond.

As the title suggests, Backpacker tells hikers to keep an eye out for the resident timber wolf pack. It suggests staking out “one of the dispersed campsites for a blissfully quiet night.”

The Forest Service says branded posts mark the trail at some intersections inside the wilderness.

The Wisconsin DNR says this national forest section of the North Country Trail covers about 61 miles and has “numerous undesignated backpacking campsites” and two shelters. Just north of Drummond, the trail crosses the Rainbow Lake Wilderness, and a 2008 trip report there starts from the Highway 63 trailhead in Drummond, so the two could be linked into a longer trip. For Lake Superior backcountry just over the Michigan line, see the Porcupine Mountains’ Big Carp River loop.

Tips

Camping

No permit is required, according to Backpacker. Inside the wilderness, the Forest Service prohibits “camping within 100 feet of water or the North Country National Scenic Trail,” limits stays to 14 consecutive days, and asks you to bury human waste at least 100 feet from campsites, trails, and water and carry wash water away from streams and lakes. The 14-day limit comes from the wilderness page; the forest’s general Order 09-13-25-02, which covers Bayfield County, instead limits dispersed camping in one spot to 21 days in any 28-day period and bans dispersed camping within a quarter mile of a developed recreation site, and it doesn’t mention wilderness. Confirm which stay limit applies with the Washburn office. Campfires are permitted; keep them small or use a stove, gather small dead and down wood well away from camp, and scatter the rocks and wood before you leave. A forest-wide order (09-13-09-02) restricts bringing firewood from more than 25 miles away.

Inside Intel: Backpacker recommends the route’s dispersed campsites for a quiet night but doesn’t name one. No camper accounts recommending a specific site were found.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Pitching camp 100 feet off the trail:

In the Porcupine Lake Wilderness you'll be setting up away from the trail and the lakes, often among roots and duff. Here are the backpacking tents reviewers trust for that kind of ground.

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Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.