Today was devoted to many strange and wonderful sights of Wisconsin – plus its highest point – though we'd be back in Michigan by nightfall. First quick stop, the Plummer Mine Headframe, a historical site in Wisconsin's Iron County Heritage Area. It is the last remaining iron mining headframe out of hundreds that used to dot this area.
Plummer Mine Headframe, Iron County, Wisconsin
Spring wildflowers
Next, we moved on to the small town of Glidden, WI, to see their claims to fame, which were multi and varied and really quite odd. Too bad it wasn't lunchtime. We could have tried the bar and grill!
World's Largest White Pine Log, estimated 7,000 pounds
World's Largest Stuffed Black Bear, 7 ft. 10 in., 665 pounds
Mmm... Sounds good!
The Wisconsin Concrete Park is an open-air museum of sculptures built by lumberjack, musician, and self-taught artist Fred Smith. Born in 1886, Smith started work as a lumberjack in his early teens, retiring in 1948, at the age of 62. It was then that he taught himself how to build sculptures, eventually surrounding his home with over 200 figures, both historical and whimsical. He worked on the project for about 15 years, before a stroke ended his efforts.
Fred Smith's Wisconsin Concrete Park
Two men and a moose
Greg
Two-horse team
Big muskie
Smith built the park as “a gift for all the American people.” He drew inspiration for the life-sized sculptures from his life in northern Wisconsin, historical moments, and his expansive imagination. A not-for-profit arts organization now restores and preserves his work.
Statue of Liberty
Horse-drawn wagon undergoing restoration
American Indian Greg
Budweiser Clydesdales
Greg and Tom
Trip state high point #2, overall state high point #31: Timm's Hill, Wisconsin, 1,952 feet. This was the main event of the day, and we drove almost 240 miles round trip from Ironwood, MI, to accomplish it. Conquering the summit requires a reasonably steep stroll of half a mile, round trip.
Timm's Hill, WI, trailhead
Jana climbs to today's high point
Timm's Hill is located in a pleasant county park in Ogema, WI. There are two towers at the top, one wood and one steel. Sadly, you can't climb the steel tower, but the U.S. Geological Survey benchmark is located underneath it.
Steel tower on the peak of Timm's Hill
Official high-point benchmark
Typical high-point register
You can, however, climb the 52-foot-tall wooden tower, but when we arrived, there were three enthusiastically religious women yelling prayers from its top. We tried to wait them out but eventually went up anyway. They turned out to be very nice and vacated the tower so we could have it to ourselves – but not before praying for our safe travels.
Wooden lookout tower
Jana and Tom on the Timm's Hill tower
View from the top of Wisconsin
A couple more sights on the long drive back to Ironwood: The World's Largest Penny in Woodruff, WI (lame), and a Peter Toth giant Indian head in Wakefield, MI (awesome). This is part of Toth's “Trail of the Whispering Giants,” a series of large wooden carvings – at least one in each state – honoring Native Americans. We seek them out whenever we can.
World's Largest Penny (not an actual penny)
Peter Toth sculpture, Wakefield, MI
Dinner: El Tarasco, Hurley, WI. Hurley is separated from Ironwood, MI, by a very small river which marks the Wisconsin/Michigan border at this point. El Tarasco's enchiladas were delicious, and the portions were huge. We had enough left over for breakfast.
Brewery: Cold Iron Brewing, Ironwood, MI. Good, not great, and almost deserted on this Monday evening. We still enjoyed it, especially sitting outside in the beautiful evening. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires made me sneeze, and the sun was blood red.
Cold Iron Brewery, Ironwood, MI
Prost!