Growing up, I remember getting these random brochures in the mail for Lake Owen and Woodward. I’m sure it was from some mailing list that I got on after buying something online, who knows. Either way, I remember looking at the brochures thinking how amazing those places looked and how much I wanted to go. It was kind of that BMX mecca where all the pros hung out all day and did nothing but ride and have fun. I don’t know what it was, but I never had the balls to ask my mom to let me go growing up. That’s something I’ve definitely regretted over the years because I’m sure if I had, it wouldn’t have taken me all these years to get up to Lake Owen to check the place out. This past weekend I was invited up by BMX director, BSD and Madera rider, and all around awesome dude, Jeff Dowhen to visit for a few days. I knew there was no way I was missing another summer without going to this place, so I loaded up and made the drive into the middle of the woods Wisconsin. I decided it would be rad to give you guys a little look at some of what the place has to offer. Check it out!
The drive up was interesting enough because my iPhone had two suggested routes and my GPS in my car decided to take a route that took me directly in the middle of the two. It was only a 4 hour drive, but the constant 55 MPH, 35 MPH, 25MPH and back up through the countless small towns, fields and woods gave me something different to look at and kept me from getting too bored with the constant non-stop highway trips I usually end up on.
Rolling into this small town called Cable in northern Wisconsin, home of Lake Owen Camp, I was pretty excited to get to this place I’ve been wanting to visit after all these years. As I pulled in to the camp, it was just what I expected to see. The Spine mini ramp is right up from the entrance and there were kids on skateboards and bikes flying all over the place and gymnastics girls running around. I knew this was going to be rad.
Once I finally got situated and met up with Jeff and Gerry Burr (who was also instructing that week), I was starting to get a good feel for the place. It’s not a massive camp, but they definitely put good use to what they have to work with. There’s stuff to ride all over the place from the mini spine to the flat rails and boxes out in the middle of the camp, to the indoor and outdoor parks and trails. They’ve also got two massive gymnastics gyms, a ton of cabins for campers, a store, a full on bike and skate shop, cafeteria, access to the lake with a few different docks and tons of things to do outside of just riding. It’s pretty much an ultimate vacation spot if you think about it.
I’ll admit I was pretty occupied with chilling and riding that I slacked on getting photos of everything the camp offered. It rained pretty good the day before I came up so the trails were looking pretty rough so we didn’t get down there for very long either. But here’s some photos of the ramps and such that I took while I cruised around.
The indoor park has pretty much everything you can ask for. They’ve got rails, stairs, ledges, quarters, banks, a full bowl and mini ramp and a foam pit. This part was a ton of fun and I definitely didn’t spend enough time in there because there’s a bunch of lines and different things you can do in there. I even gave a few tricks I’ve wanted to try but never got around to it like 720’s into the foam pit which was pretty fun.
Moving on to the outdoor park down the hill. This was awesome walking into this. You really don’t see too many full size half pipes these days. Other than contest ramps, I think I’ve only been to two other parks with one in my time that I can remember.
This photo really does no justice. I believe it was and 11′ half pipe.
The outdoor setup has a little bit of everything for everyone. Rails, ledges, quarters, banks, vert walls, a box jump and a resi box jump. It’s hard to get bored since between the two park setups you have plenty of options to try pretty much anything you want.
Here’s a look at one of the two massive gymnastics gyms as well. We pulled the tramp bike out for a session and things got pretty heated. The campers would go to town on that thing for hours on end. I don’t know how they had so much energy but it was pretty cool to see that they were able to take tricks they did there to the foam, resi and actual ramps.
So I definitely didn’t grab a photo of the trails which I wish I did. They were in need of some love so it’s okay. A few rollers all the way up to a couple big doubles. There’s something for any trails rider there for sure.
I think one of the best parts of the trip up was hanging out with the campers. They were all so stoked on riding and it looked like they all were having an awesome time. If you are a parent reading this, it’s a great chance for them to make new friends too. The campers I met while I was there were definitely all best friends by the time I showed up at the end of the week I visited. I was smart and brought up a few DVD’s like Empire‘s “Bad Idea”. It’s always fun seeing how the younger kids react to the riding in videos. They get stoked on everything. Reminded me a lot of when I was there age just getting into BMX.
The food! The camp has breakfast, lunch and dinner served up in their kitchen every day and the food was actually really good. I was blown away by the breakfast on Sunday which was french toast, bacon, sausage, eggs and about a hundred other options. It was soooo good. Kids don’t go hungry there for sure. Above you have a photo of one of the long time campers turned director of fun, Ben. Apparently all week Ben was claiming he was going to set the camp record for the most burgers consumed in one go. That would be a 10 stack you are looking at and he crushed them like a champ. I don’t ever expect to ever see anyone do something like that in my life again. Absolutely amazing…
The face of a champion and a real bummed stomach. Either way, that’s one for the record books. Ben is calling all challengers.
Overall, In my short 3 day visit to Lake Owen, I had such a good time. It was an awesome break from reality and everyone up there knows how to have a good time. I know I enjoyed everything from hanging out with the campers, riding all day, hanging out on the docks and swimming in the lake (which by the way is probably the cleanest lake in the world. So clear!). If I was a kid, I’d start begging your parents to let you go next summer, and if I was a parent I’d be all over getting my kid up there for at least one of the weeks. I know they’ve got a bunch of weeks for BMX this year and they will have a bunch of weeks next year. You can find out all about costs, dates and everything they have to offer (I just hit the basics in this, trust me!) by visiting their website — LakeOwen.com.
All I know is I hope I’m able to make it up for a full week next summer! I’d like to give a huge thanks to Jeff Dowhen and Mike Crawford for having me up, Gerry Burr for bringing the fun, all the campers and everyone else I met while I was up there! Awesome finally getting a chance to do something I’ve wanted to do for so many years!
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