Garmisch

Posted by Kevin.....

A beautiful, fun, and relaxing family vacation. The best mountain biking I've done since moving away from Virginia. Oh, and did I mention the greatest fish adventure of my life?

First, the place: Garmish Resort, resting on the peaceful shores of Lake Namakagon near Cable, WI. This German village themed resort (tastefully done) includes several cabins scattered around a lake front lodge. The entrance drive is lined with alpine evergreens, instantly transporting me to the Alps.

Our hill side, lake front cabin had a beautiful view of the lake from our dinner table. A short walk downhill to the shore brings me to our motor boat and two kayaks located at our dock.

The main lodge was everything you would create if you were to build a German lodge in Wisconsin. The main room is log structure floor to ceiling. The walls are adorned with trophy walleye, northern pike, and musky....as well as a black bear hide and an elk if I remember. Again NOT overdone, but very cool. An open staircase to the second floor stops a the small library overlooking the great room.

To see more, go to http://www.garmischresort.com/

The area just south of the lake was a thick, rolling forest of pine and birch, containing an incredible network of well maintained mountain bike trails. The first trip I made into the woods was cut short after an hour when a thunderstorm rolled in. The high winds and painfully large rain drops made my 4 miles sprint back to the cabin a little scary.

The weather was cool most of the time, with a couple of wet days, followed by some sunny but windy days. NOT ideal fishing conditions. But the first night we were there, our four year old niece Hannah caught the first fish of the week.

Stace's Dad, Gary, and I struggled with the drizzle and wind in our little rented motor boat and were not having much luck finding walleye. But a couple of trips out with our guide Mike from Garmisch, and we caught more fish then we could keep: 30 very fat panfish and 4 Northerns on Tuesday and a few more monster northerns on Thursday.

There was more than just fishing during that week. We kayaked the hidden lagoon off the marina, discovering an eagles nest. We spotted another eagle's nest on a island in the middle of the lake.

Board games ruled the evenings, and the one small TV in the cabin got little use.

Cell phone coverage was unavailable at the cabin. And Stace discovered that a vanilla malt was not to be found....even in the nearby town of Cable.

But the cool temps and the high winds (complete with downed trees) did nothing to keep this from being one of our all time favorite summer trips.

We have already booked the same cabin for next summer.