Well we have expanded our search area and once again I would like to ask for information anyone is willing to share about Marinette, Forest, and Florence Co areas.
I do not own property or live in the aforementioned counties, but having ridden or vacationed there over the years, along with the areas you originally were targeting, I felt the need to chip in. I as well have aspirations to own a vacation home and/or live in the northwoods some day (although my dream may be a little farther out than yours though!).
It sounds to me like you don’t need to be on a lake but wouldn’t mind, and that you want to be somewhere with a good “vibe”. To me that sounds like you’re looking for that area or town with northwoods “charm”, to be surrounded by good people, with decent amenities and establishments nearby. It also sounds like this is a snowmobiling focused purchase, and you want to be in a snowmobile emphasized community.
With that said, you at MINIMUM need to stay north of Highway 8 to find reliable snow. That wipes out a good chunk of marinette county. You’re left with the Pembine/Dunbar area though in the very northern part, with next to no lakes around in that area so that lessens area housing. The trails are often great in that area due to low traffic, but they do allow side by sides and atvs on the snowmobile trails in marinette county, which would be a big downfall, as they don’t place much emphasis on the snowmobile community. Pembine/Dunbar are neat small towns, with a few really good restaurants, but overall are very limited on amenities, as well as the local economy being fairly poor in that area. You would be close to iron mountain though which would be convenient for necessities.
Florence county has iron mountain bordering the east side of it, which would be convenient. Trails there are often EXCELLENT due to little to no traffic, but overall, there’s not much population or existence in the county. You have town of Florence, and spread eagle, and that’s it. There’s a few decent lakes scattered, especially in the spread eagle area, which you may find some decent vacation homes in, but I’m not sure I’d enjoy being that close to iron mountain, as outside of going there to utilize an abundance of shopping conveniences, I really don’t like iron mountain as the poorer northwoods economy takes a hit on the quality of the people in town (might be a little bias as I live in a very nice suburban town).
Forest county, you almost need to stay in the northern half to get reliable snow as well, which has little to no existence/population up there. Again, great riding to be had as there’s minimal traffic, but next to nothing north of Crandon outside of Argonne, which I don’t think is what you’re looking for either (poor economy, no charm, etc)
My 2 cents, I’d keep shopping until you find “the one” in one of YOUR highly desired areas.
