(Photos) Bo Boen Trail in summer

Usually when I go running your beloved Marathon Pundit has a set distance and a planned route in mind. On vacation I hang loose and my runs sometime take on a serendipitous nature.

As was last summer and just last month too when I stumbled across the Bo Boen Trail in St. Germain, Wisconsin, in the Northwoods.

The Bo Boen (pronounced bo-in) is a snowmobile and ATV trail in St. Germain, Wisconsin.

This sign is on the eastern part of the trail I ran on, near the Wisconsin River in Oneida County.

And there is the Wisconsin River.

Even in northern Wisconsin there isn't any snow in July. Summer is all-terrain vehicle season in the Northwoods. ATVs leave distinctive tracks. Snowmobiling has one advantage over ATV riding. If you stop while driving the first vehicle, mosquitoes are not a concern.

Young hemlocks and white pines.

That's it for my 2017 pics. On to the next year. And for now on we'll be in Vilas County.

Those are some very tall northern red oaks.

North of St. Germain there is a stupendously beautiful clearing, parts of it serve as the local compost dump.

Although its a Eurasian invader, Lotus corniculatus, commonly known as bird's-foot trefoil, is splendid meadow flower.

As is Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, the oxeye daisy.

Ah, there's an ATV. The northern Wisconsin soil is very sandy.

An old compost pile? What do you think it is?

Eat my dust.

Now we're off of the trail for a diversion. The Bo Boen is best-known for snowmobiling. Arguably the snowmobile, or snowmachine, was invented in Vilas County, Wisconsin, where St. Germain and another unincorporated village, Sayner, lie.

In Sayner is the Villas County Historical Museum. In front of it is a Wisconsin historical marker simply titled "Snowmobile."

It reads:

Wisconsinites experimented with over-snow vehicles before 1900, trying bicycles on runners with gripping fins, steam-propelled sleighs and later Model T Fords converted with rear tractor treads and skis in front. In the first races held near Three Lakes in 1926, 104 of these "snowbuggies" started.

Carl Eliason of Sayner developed the prototype of the modern snowmobile in 1924 when he mounted a small gasoline-powered marine engine on a long toboggan, steered with skis under the front and driven by a rear, single, endless track.

Patented in 1927, Eliason made 40 snowmobiles. Upon receiving an order for 200 from Finland, he sold his patent to the FWD Company of Clintonville. They made 300 for military use, then transferred the patent to a Canadian subsidiary.

There are 2½ million snowmobiles in North America now. Annual sales exceed $1 billion and result in 100,000 jobs. Used even above the Arctic Circle, they provide not only recreation, but mobility for utility repairment, forest rangers, game wardens, mail carriers, policemen, etc.

The Eliason name is still prominent in the Northwoods. Eliason Lumber and Hardware is in Sayner and there is an Eliason Realty of the North with offices in St. Germain and Eagle River.

One more ATV for you.

A row of hemlocks.

Do you love ferns? If so, then the Northwoods are for you!

Our journey has ended.

The name Bo Boen? Where does that come from? It's not named for a person, rather, according to an email from a representative of the Bo-Boen Snowmobile Club, it's believed to mean "winter fun" in the Ojibwe (Chippewa) language.