Locals and tourists alike favor the area for its untamed natural beauty and old-fashioned small-town feel.
Forest County is perhaps the most aptly named county I've ever visited. It's almost nothing but forests, interspersed with jewel-like lakes. The trees are thick and old, and occasionally open up to wetlands that are a riot of wildflowers from spring to fall. There isn't much for city life in this area; the county seat is Crandon, a town of fewer than 2,000 souls - though that swells to 60,000 or more twice a year at the internationally acclaimed off-road race track.
The trees are thick and old, and occasionally open up to wetlands that are a riot of wildflowers.
Crandon was originally built as a small settlement with nothing but a post office on the shores of Sand Lake - now called Metonga, an Anglicized version of the Potawatomi word for sand. There is a large Potawatomi reservation near Crandon, and the native-owned rec center (recently opened to non-natives for a nominal fee) is high-tech, cutting-edge, and elegantly designed - at least as beautiful as any upper-class rec center you'd expect to find in a wealthy neighborhood in, say, Madison, Milwaukee, or Chicago. The center features an indoor water park (I swear I'm not making this up) as well as a rock-climbing wall, indoor basketball court and indoor football field, and tech room with multiple PS5 game consoles.
Aside from the res, Crandon is a fairly typical small town, unusual only in that, as I mentioned, it's the county seat, and so is home to the courthouse. There's one main road through Crandon, which also serves as its downtown, and boasts all the basic essentials: bars, restaurants, churches, the post office, several banks, a few touristy boutiques for big-city visitors, a funeral home. Headed out of town toward the res (and toward Laona) you'll find the expected Dollar General as well as an IGA grocery store with a surprisingly good selection.
There's also a deer park behind the courthouse where you can admire the wildlife which have become fat, sleek pets, and feed them corn. Crandon International Off Road Raceway hosts the Brush Run in the spring and fall, and the area is flooded with race fans. The race itself is like a state fair, with food and drink trucks and other vendors. You can walk around to a myriad of displays and gather free merch for every brand imaginable. The grounds are also host to the yearly Fourth of July carnival, hosted by the Potawatomi, which features free admission and unlimited free rides to everyone. My kids LOVE this. We usually attend all three days and leave with glowing sunburns. All the money we would have spent on rides at a normal festival we blow on a host of delicious greasy fair food, so we still come to help support the event. Mind-blowing cheese curds and FOOT LONG corn dogs. It's heaven.
The best thing about Forest County, though, is the wild.
First pic: wildflowers by the Hiles mill pond
Second pic: Wolf River Road, which winds through miles of woodland
Third pic: a tasty Point soda on a dock near the campsite at Pine Lake (Hiles)
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