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Levis Trow Mound
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Key Search Terms: Levis Trow Mound; Clark County WI forestry parks; WORBA; IMBA Epic trail; Russell Memorial Park.
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Text: Rich Ries. Photos: Rich Ries. Event: Mountain bike ride. Location: Levis Trow Mound about halfway between Black River Falls and Neillsville, WI. See location map at the bottom of this page. Time of Visit: Late June, 2008. Miles: Approximately 19 miles of trail. Rich repeated some sections and skipped others, ending the ride with about 21 miles. Total Elevation Gain: Not recorded. Fee: Yes. Closures: Seasonal (winter, hunting); race days. Accommodations: Camping at Russell Memorial Park, about 3 miles south of the park on County Road J.
The Good: Innovative trail features. Lots of technical challenge. Clear, abundant signage. Ample parking. Clean restrooms. Views you didn't know existed in America's dairy heartland. Friendly family camping at Russell Park.
The Bad: Poorly engineered sections in soggy bottomlands. Ugly clearcuts. Fall line segments.
The Summary: Well worth a visit if you restrict your riding to the elevated areas. Epic? Probably not.
When I saw that Levis Trow is listed as an IMBA Epic ride I decided to visit there on my way back from a week-long road ride in Minnesota. For some reason I thought that any IMBA Epic would have miles and miles of trail. I was surprised to arrive at Levis Trow and find that I could easily ride all the good stuff in a single day and even have time to repeat some sections.
And riding just the good stuff is the key to enjoying Levis Trow. For the most part that means staying on the higher sections. Good choices include Yellowjacket, Hermosa, Toad Road, Cliffhanger, and Clarence. Bad choices include Warmup and Flat Lander. An exception to the “higher-is-better” rule is Goat Dance, which has some appealing parts but also some frustrating fall-line sections. You could ride just the IMBA Epic, which includes parts of the best trails, but you'd miss some other fun sections.
Promotional materials for Levis Trow make the something-for-everyone claim and say that the flat, bottomland trails are suitable for beginners. Maybe. But the soft soil and frequent boggy spots make for tough riding and would likely discourage most beginners. The elevated trails are perfect for intermediate and advanced riders, however.
Russell Memorial Park makes a great base of operations and has all the amenities you'll likely need - showers (coin operated), laundry, game room, camp store. On one side of the park is an ATV trail. On the other is Lake Arbutus. When I was there the park was filled with families, four-wheelers, boats, and bikes.
Levis Trow is 600 miles from my home. I wouldn't drive that far just to ride there. But the next time I'm passing through I'll schedule some time for a couple laps of the best that Levis Trow affords.
Photos
The rock formations remind me of the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, but the trails are in vastly better shape at Levis Trow than those in the Shawnee.
This is a neat little psych-out. Yes, you can ride beside the boulder without getting knocked down, but it takes steady riding.
Someone wicked built this feature. It appears that the right side (B) is easier, but go that way and you're faced with a nasty, off-camber drop-in on the other side. Going left (A) is the preferred route, but because you can't see the landing from this side, you don't know that at the time you have to choose. I tried both sides and failed to clean the section either time.
Here's another extremely cool feature. It's steep, fast, narrow, and yet perfectly rideable.
Sand is tough on bike parts because it's abrasive. It's tough on muscles because it sucks wheels to a standstill unless you pedal with full power. It's tough on control because the bike drifts unpredictably. But it's a fun and unique challenge and I'm glad the trail builders chose to not armor, elevate, or bypass the few sandy sections at Levis Trow.
It's not all gnarly. LT has some easy cruising, too.
Neither is it all beautiful. The trail skirts some areas of clearcutting. Eventually this will infill with new growth, but it will remain ugly until that occurs.
The builders tried to armor the soft spots with various techniques, including corduroy (above) and boardwalks covered with rolled roofing (below). Corduroy is minimally acceptable if rot-resistant wood is used (cedar, locust, most species of oak). It's completely unacceptable if native softwoods are used, as has been done here. This armoring will have become compost within a year of its installation. Boardwalks are okay, but I think a better covering than rolled roofing is poultry netting (a.k.a. "chicken wire"). It's cheap, durable, provides great traction, and won't trap moisture underneath.
Can you believe this is Wisconsin? The views are nothing short of stunning, and the builders thoughtfully provided spurs out to the many stone bluffs that overlook the surrounding countryside.
Clark County manages Russell Memorial Park, and it's a gem.
There was a race at LT while was there. I had planned on volunteering my services (I had no interest in racing), but I was at the end of a 3-week road trip and the siren song of home was calling me back to Madison. Twenty minutes after this picture was taken I was on the road.
