Geography on Vacation – Lake Hayward: Water, Air, Fire and Earth

Before I begin, I wish to pay my respect to the Peoples of the Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux) Indigenous groups. The colonial township of Hayward, Wisconsin and Lake Hayward (‘Long Pond’) is located within their unceded lands. I acknowledge that I am but a guest, and my enjoyment of these lands comes with thoughts of their rightful stewardship.

My family is American-British. And since we live in the UK, we don’t get to see the American side of our family as often as we like. But when we do, we certainly make the most of it! Pretty much the entirety of my partner’s maternal side of the family, 11 adults and 5 children, rented out some cabins on the shore of Lake Hayward, Wisconsin.

The lakes of north-east Minnesota and northern Wisconsin are part of a pitted out-wash plain, an area of land formed by glacial melt-water as the last great ice sheets from the latest ice age retreated. On Minnesota license plates, the catchphrase The Land of 10,000 Lakes is often seen (although it’s actually closer to 12,000 – but that’s not as catchy!)

It was good to absorb myself in more natural surroundings and get more-or-less offline for a week. It was worth the numerous mosquito bites! Lots of lovely family memories made; here are but a few through a geographer’s lens.

Water – Out on the lake

I managed to get out on the lake five times during the trip, four by kayak/canoe and once for a swim. The lake is actually part of the Namekagon River dammed on both ends. The river flows north-east to south-west, eventually joining the St. Croix which in turn flows into the mighty Mississippi.

I spent quite a while looking at this old hydrographic map of the lake that I found in one of the cabins. It’s a pretty shallow lake and not that large. No wonder why Indigenous folk call it ‘Long Pond’!

Air – Stormy Weather

On the night of Wednesday 16th we were treated to a bit of a light show. The weather radar shows a multi storm-cell squall line stretching north-east to south-west, marching eastwards. Since it was coming from the west, we got a great view of the storm approaching from the over the lake.

There were actually very few CtG (cloud-to-ground) lightning strikes, but plenty of CtC (sometimes known as ‘sheet lightning’. So while it lit up the sky it was pretty quiet. What wasn’t quiet was the wind. When the downdrafts of the storm cells hit us, winds gusted to about 50-60mph and despite us battening down the hatches in preparation, one of the metal 3-person canoes went for a little tumble! Fortunately it didn’t go far.

A few days earlier back in the Twin Cities, the kids and I watched a hailstorm from their Grandpa’s house. I make a mention of it because the hail was the size of large marbles (something that my father-in-law says he’s rarely seen) and that at that exact moment, my partner was arriving by air at MSP airport. So we lucked out in terms of getting the storm on camera both from the ground and the air!

Fire – Heat and Haze

During our visit, the wildfire risk in Sawyer County was ‘Low’ (check here for current risk) which meant that small contained campfires are allowed. So almost every evening we sat around the camp fire toasting marshmellows and chatting into the night after the kids had gone to bed. Mostly the skies were clear, allowing us to see meteorites from the Perseids meteor shower.

But on our last full day, the skies were hazy and the air quality dropped from ‘Good’ to ‘Moderate’, and in some places ‘Unhealthy for Sensitve Groups’. This was due to smoke blowing in from the wildfires in Canada. So, while were treated to a beautiful red sunset over the lake, for me it was a reminder that heat and fire is increasingly becoming a distructive force due to climate change and land mismanagement.

Earth – The people and what they make of it

The Hayward Farmer’s Market was worth a visit. You had the usual produce being sold, like ears of corn, vegetables, bread, jams, flowers and preserves. The kids got a 32oz (just shy of a litre) homemade lemonade between them, and I got some handmade jewellery!

I got some gorgeous earrings and a necklace from Angelik Treasures. I really could have spent all day looking and talking to the wonderful Olgui. Go check out the store and socials via her website.

Finally there was a guest book at the cabins. In typical geographer fashion I went through and noted all the locations from which visitors had come from – unfortunately, most hadn’t writtent down where they are from, which is a shame! But clearly what I found is that most folks come from the ‘local’ region (Wisconsin and the neighbouring states). There were some from further afield in the USA and one family all the way from Mexico City. The furthest someone came from was the county of Norfolk in the UK… I wonder who that was!? Check the map out below.

It was a nice change to have a break seeing family again, without any specific itinerary and just go with the flow (pun unintended). With the family being scattered all over the place between Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, New York and the UK, it was a great way to get together.

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Thank you! All my education work via the Geogramblings’ “Life Geographic” blog is done all in my spare time, at my own cost but is free for you to access and enjoy. If you can spare a few pence, I’d be delighted if you could show your thanks by ‘buying me a coffee‘.