So how did Travels with Darley end up filming at Lake Owen on June 28, 2021? PBS Travel Wisconsin is hosting with Travels with Darley, a national broadcast PBS show, a particular episode in partnership with the National Forest Service to be centered around the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest with a focus on hiking the North Country Trail. The leadership of the Chequamegon Chapter of the North Country Trail Association was contacted and they suggested that the North Country Trail near the shore of Lake Owen would best meet the producers’ criteria. The producers then sought to find someone with local knowledge to be interviewed on camera. The Chequamegon Chapter of the North Country Trail Association nominated several persons to be interviewed by the producers. The producers interview the nominees and selected Ed Ronkowski, a volunteer researcher for the Lake Owen Association history book and a trail adopter of the section of the trail adjacent to Lake Owen. Katie LeMoine, Recreation Trail Technician specialist with the National Forest Service was asked to help.
So six time Emmy nominated host Darley Newman showed up with her professional crew of three and met Katie LeMoine and Ed Ronkowski on West Horseshoe Road near the Lake Owen Picnic Grounds. From West Horseshoe Road, the group hiked into the North Country Trail, hiked along the North Country Trail parallel to the North Country Trail, hiked to the old Vespi Property north of Loon Island, and finished up filming at the Lake Owen Picnic Grounds. The film crew also took aerial film with a drone over Lake Owen opposite the Lake Owen Outlet Boat Landing. During the more than three hours at Lake Owen, more than an hour of film was shot which will be edited down to some 5 minutes of television time. Darley Newman and her crew were a pleasure to work with.
So come January, 2022, this episode is scheduled to be shown on PBS in Wisconsin and streamed on several internet sources. When the schedule is out, check back at https://lakeowen.org/
Darley Newman and her crew hiking to the North Country Trail:
Darley Newman filming at the old Vespi property north of Loon Island:
Darley Newman filming at the Lake Owen Picnic Grounds:
