Hayward, Wisconsin: The Capital of Lake Country
The events, the restaurants, the trails, and the clearest lakes in the state, with the quiet water twenty minutes out.
Hayward is the capital of this part of Wisconsin. It's where the events are, where the restaurants and shops are, where the trail systems start, and the town you drive into from the quieter lakes around it. If you only know one place up here, it's probably this one: the Birkebeiner in February, the Lumberjack World Championships in July, the giant musky you can climb inside.
Start with a walk down Main Street. The shops, the restaurants and the candy store are the must-do, and you'll get the feel of the town in an hour. Then get out of it: the lakes around Hayward are the clearest in our service area, with Round and Grindstone running over twenty feet of visibility, and the best cabins are on them, not in town.
When to Go
Hayward has something on the calendar nearly every month, and two events, the Birkebeiner and the Lumberjack World Championships, that fill every cabin for 30 miles. Book those weekends months ahead; for everything else, the week after an event is the quiet one.
February: American Birkebeiner
North America's largest cross-country ski race, 52 years running, with the Fat Bike Birkie the following weekend. Birkie week is the busiest winter week in northern Wisconsin; the Birkie Trail is open to everyone the rest of the season.
May: Fishing opener and Fishing Has No Boundaries
Cold water, empty lakes, walleye and crappie. Fishing Has No Boundaries pairs anglers with disabilities and volunteers on the Chippewa Flowage.
June: Musky Festival
Running since 1950: parade, carnival, craft fair and a fishing contest on the area lakes. Early summer, lakes warming, the town waking up.
July: Lumberjack World Championships and the LCO Honor the Earth Pow Wow
Sawing, chopping, log rolling and speed climbing on Lake Hayward, with the Lac Courte Oreilles pow wow the same weekend. Peak season; the town is full.
August: Sawyer County Fair
Demolition derby, livestock, tractor pulls, and the warmest water of the year.
September: Chequamegon MTB Festival and the Hayward Fall Festival
The region's big mountain-bike weekend, then art, food and music downtown. Color starts in the third week; the trails are at their best.
October: Stone Lake Cranberry Festival
Hundreds of vendors and a parade in Stone Lake, 15 minutes south. Fall color, empty water, cold mornings.
December through March
Ice fishing on Lac Courte Oreilles and the Flowage, snowmobile trails from town, Birkie Trail skiing. The winter draw, and the reason Hayward cabins rent in January.
Where to Eat and Drink
The places that come up most, from supper clubs to the food-truck lot.
Chippewa Inn
German supper club near the Flowage: schnitzel, pork shank, and a relish tray with house-made pâté. The old-school Hayward dinner.
Hours and directions →Tally Ho Supper Club
A rural supper club on Highway 77, chef-driven and organic, with walleye and duck on the menu. Call ahead for dietary needs.
Hours and directions →Angry Minnow Brew Pub
Brewery in an 1889 lumber-company office downtown. The Angry German burger and the spent-grain pretzels are the orders.
Hours and directions →Powell's on Round Lake
Burgers, gyros and tacos, with a Friday walleye fry and Saturday prime rib. In summer you can arrive by boat and tie up at the dock.
Hours and directions →Props Landing
The new restaurant on Round Lake at the site of the original Famous Dave's, which burned in 2014. People still ask; this is what's there now.
Hours and directions →Tavern at White Stag Farm
Burgers, steaks and seafood in a farm setting. A reader favorite in Up North News's statewide list.
Hours and directions →Farmstead Creamery & Café
Farm-to-table breakfast and lunch from the family's own farm, sheep's-milk gelato, and brick-oven pizza on Thursday and Saturday nights. Worth the drive out Fullington Road.
Hours and directions →The Lot
An outdoor food-truck park on Kansas Avenue with live music, cribbage and bean-bag tournaments. Native-owned; summer evenings.
Hours and directions →Tremblay's Sweet Shop and West's Hayward Dairy
The Main Street fudge and candy store, and the ice cream stop. Both are part of the walk.
Hours and directions →Coffee and Breakfast
Hayward's coffee is better than a tourist town has any right to: Backroads roasts in a converted blacksmith shop on Dakota Avenue, Selah is the drive-through locals detour for, and Koobies on County B is a nonprofit run by the Lac Courte Oreilles Elders Association. Robin's Nest and the Hayward Family Restaurant cover the sit-down breakfast.
Things to Do
Main Street. The walk is the first thing to do: shops, restaurants, Tremblay's for fudge, West's for ice cream, Out of the Woods Winery for a glass. An hour, more if the weather's good.
The giant musky. The National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame is Hayward's landmark: a four-and-a-half-story fiberglass musky you climb through, with a view from its open mouth over Lake Hayward and the Namekagon. Corny and worth it.
The Namekagon River. A National Scenic Riverway that runs through town. Local outfitters rent canoes, kayaks and tubes; a half-day float is the easiest way to see the country.
Mountain biking. Over 300 miles of trail in the CAMBA system and along the Birkie Trail. The Gateway Trails at Tamarack Health are the beginner-to-intermediate loop close to town; the Chequamegon MTB Festival in September is the big one.
ATV/UTV. 200-plus miles of trail from town, with rentals available if you didn't bring a machine.
Hiking. Library Nature Park for an easy walk; the Birkie Trail for rolling-hill miles.
Fall color. Six self-guided driving tours mapped by the Hayward Lakes visitor bureau; the third week of September into early October is usual peak.
Winter. Birkie Trail skiing, open to everyone outside race week; ice fishing on Lac Courte Oreilles and the Flowage; snowmobile trails that leave from town.
Fish fry. Friday night, everywhere. The information center at Highway 63 and Main keeps a list.
The Lakes
This is where Hayward beats every other lake town in the state, and the DNR's numbers back it up. The lakes south and east of town sit in deep glacial basins fed by groundwater rather than rivers, which keeps them low in nutrients and clear: Round Lake averages 22 feet of visibility, Grindstone 21, Lac Courte Oreilles 16. The Chippewa Flowage is the opposite kind of water, a 15,000-acre reservoir with 200 islands and the state's best musky fishing, and it's 20 minutes the other direction. Most people never get past Lake Hayward in town; the real water is a short drive out.
Hayward's Lakes by the Numbers
Live from our lake database: size, depth, clarity, landings and fish.
Round Lake
Sawyer County
Fish Species
Grindstone Lake
Sawyer County
Fish Species
Lac Courte Oreilles
Sawyer County
Fish Species
Lake Chippewa
Sawyer County
Fish Species
Lost Land Lake
Sawyer County
Fish Species
Teal Lake
Sawyer County
Fish Species
Windigo Lake
Sawyer County
Fish Species
Little Sissabagama Lake
Sawyer County
Fish Species
Cabins near Hayward
Gratitude Up North is eight miles from Main Street on Round Lake, one of the two clearest lakes in the region, close enough to drive in for dinner. The Gilmore Lake cabin sits twenty minutes southwest on a quieter lake with Hayward's restaurants and events in reach. The Elk Inn is on Lower Clam Lake to the east, in the Chequamegon forest, the pick if the Flowage and the trails matter more than town.
Getting There
Hayward sits at the junction of US-63 and WI-27, with WI-77 running east toward the Flowage and Clam Lake. Drive times are approximate.
From Minneapolis–St. Paul: about 2 hours 30 minutes
I-35 north to US-63 east through Spooner.
From Eau Claire: about 1 hour 30 minutes
US-53 north to WI-27 at Trego, or stay on US-63.
From Duluth / Superior: about 1 hour 30 minutes
US-53 south to WI-27.
From Madison: about 4 hours 30 minutes
I-94 west to Eau Claire, then US-53 north.
More Hayward Guides
We've written more about this town than any other: the Hayward visitor guide for the long version of the list above and the water, and the coffee and breakfast guide for the mornings.