Beating the Heat (and humidity)

Looking at the weather forecast for Chicago in August, it looked non-stop days of 90+ degrees and 90+ percent humidity.   So, I decided to pack up my home office and move it up north for 3 weeks to northern Wisconsin and the Michigan U.P.

Millie and I spent our first week in the Ashland/Washburn/Bayfield area of northern Wisconsin along the southern shores of Lake Superior.

There were a number of city-owned campgrounds in the area, so I thought my chances would be good at snagging a spot with a nice lake view for the week, but arrival time at these “no-reservation” campgrounds is everything.  When I arrived in the early evening after an all-day drive from Chicago, the first two campgrounds I tried were already filled.  

Fortunately, Memorial Park campground in Washburn still had a few spots available.  It was a nice campground in a pine grove on a bluff overlooking Chequamegon Bay and the city of Ashland across the bay.  All sites had electric and were just $22/night.  I also had good cell coverage as well.  Only downside was that there would not be any decent satellite TV through those pretty pine trees, and OTA signals only brought in 1 channel.  Additionally, being up on a bluff, Millie was frustrated at the lack of easy lake access for her daily swim.   So, the next morning, we headed off to re-visit the other campgrounds again to see if any spots had opened up.

We first stopped at Washburn’s other city campground, West End, which certainly had both Sat TV capabilities as well as beach access, but alas, had no available sites.  So, we drove around to one of Ashland’s campgrounds on the other side of the bay, Kreher Park.   Score!  Three sites had opened up that morning.   We quickly took a site and set up camp for the week.  Electric/water sites were only $20/night!  While the big grassy site (shown above) might not look like much, it had it all—great view of the lake, great connectivity, Sat TV access, easy access to the water and a nice paved bike trail, and was right in-town and close to shopping.

Here a pic of campground (my View is on the far right), as well as the entrance to the boat ramp.