Rice Lake was a confluence of trails, both by water and land. For thousands of years, people have traveled through the Red Cedar Valley by canoe during the warm season - when the area was clear of ice, and when water levels were safe. There were also walking trails along the lakes and rivers in the area, arteries connecting people when the waters were unsafe to travel. These trails connected families to important food sources, traditions and relatives: sugar bushes, wild rice beds, blueberry fields, gardens and ceremonial places.
Throughout time, different cultures have thrived along the Red Cedar River. The Mound Builders (ancestors to the Hocąk /Ho-Chunk) were succeeded by the Eastern Dakota/Santee Sioux. The Anishinaabe/Ojibwe migrated from the Eastern Great Lakes in the 1500s to this area - the largest wild rice beds in North America, looking for the place where the food grows on the water. The first roads of European immigrants followed the trails of the First Peoples - roads that we still travel to this day.
Wild rice (manoomin) grew on this lake prior to it being dammed. Wild rice grows in soil that is mucky, and is an emergent plant that likes some water to live in (but not too deep). With the changing of water level, the rice was unable to grow here any more, and the wild rice beds of the past turned to deeper lake. South of here, Prairie Rice Lake (today, Prairie Lake) was also dammed bringing up the water level. This was one of the best ricing lakes in the region prior to the dams.
Today, Wisconsin residents can go ricing in Ceded Territory, with a license. In other states there are different rules. Specifications for ricing made in agreement between the sovereign tribal nations (Red Cliff, Bad River, St. Croix, Lac Courte Orielles, Lac du Flambeau and Mole Lake), the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLFWC) and the WI DNR. Various lakes (with rice, not this Rice Lake) are monitored for a potential harvest outlook each season. In late August and September, lakes are open for ricing when the rice is ripe. Lakes may be 'open' (open for harvest once ripe), 'closed' (closed the entire season, based on aerial and ground surveys that show that the lake is not producing enough rice for harvest that year), or 'date regulated' which determines what days the lake is open to best protect the rice and for good harvest.
Knocking rice is a special thing - to take what you will use, to treat the rice well (tap a few times for the rice that is dry and ready to come to you), to plant more rice and leave some for the animals that call our lakes home - it is part of the harvest to give back so that there will be wild rice in our lakes for years to come. Something many people don't know is that the black colored wild rice in the store is actually paddy rice - modified to withstand machine harvesting. It is a strain of wild rice, genetically, but did not grow wild and was not hand-harvested. Hand-harvested wild rice is golden to ruddy brown. When first harvested, it is green and soft. First, it is dried, then parched, then hulled, and winnowed. This used to be done by hand, but is usually now done with simple machines (for those who harvest themselves). There are local processors that can do this for anyone who harvests their own rice.
You can find out more about how to harvest wild rice here: https://glifwc.org/WildRice/
To fulfill logging the cache, please answer these questions:
1. Look at the Rice Lake Area Trail Map on the Bayfield Tree. What Anishinaabe landmark was near here?
2. Find the Bayfield and Lake Superior Trail Map on the Bayfield Tree. Locate Prairie Lake (in the past known as Prairie Rice Lake). What trails converge to the south of Prairie Lake?
3. Go to the Wild Rice sculpture (WP1) Have you been wild ricing? If you haven't, would you like to try wild ricing? Why or why not?
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.