Biking

Normally you need to provide your own bike, but as long as you have one, you can make good use of them in these state parks.

Copper Falls State Park sign

Copper Falls State Park

Copper Falls State Park is much closer to Ashland than I thought. Of course, that’s only relevant if you live or are staying in Ashland…which we were. It’s roughly half an hour south of Ashland, just north of Mellen. I was expecting a much rougher hike than the one we experienced. Just look at this …

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High Cliff State Park sign

High Cliff State Park

Ah, the Niagara Escarpment! If you visit Door County and take any sort of tour or hike there, for example, in Peninsula State Park, you’re sure to hear or read about it. But what exactly is it? It’s a High Cliff. And thus, the name of High Cliff State Park, a park which sits right …

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Newport State Park sign

Newport State Park

This is the account of our fourth and final visit to a state park during our week-long stay in Door County, June 4 through June 9, 2023. Probably the most important feature of Newport State Park is its location. Since its northern end is only a couple of miles from the tip of the Door …

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Whitefish Dunes State Park sign

Whitefish Dunes State Park

This is the account of our third visit to a state park during our week-long stay in Door County, June 4 through June 9, 2023. Whitefish. What is whitefish? It’s what they use in a Door County fish boil. But what kind of fish is it exactly? And why is it included in the name …

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Peninsula State Park sign

Peninsula State Park

This is the account of our second visit to a state park during our week-long stay in Door County, June 4 through June 9, 2023. Peninsula State Park, along with Devil’s Lake and Willow River, is one of the most popular parks in Wisconsin. I think that being in northern Door County has a lot …

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Willow River State Park sign

Willow River State Park

Willow River State Park is one of the more popular among Wisconsin state parks, primarily because it has a large waterfall that isn’t likely to dry up as it’s so close to the river’s mouth which joins the St. Croix River about 5 miles downstream. Getting to and from the falls can be quite the …

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Potawatomi State Park sign

Potawatomi State Park

There are 5 state parks in Door County, Wisconsin. We had originally thought to visit all of them in one trip, but we decided to “knock off” the southernmost, Potawatomi State Park, with a separate trip of its own. (We still plan to hit the other 4 parks in one week in June of 2023.) …

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Devil's Lake State Park sign

Devil’s Lake State Park

Our visit to Wisconsin’s largest state park, Devil’s Lake State Park, included three other hikes as well – in Natural Bridge State Park, in Tower Hill State Park, and through Cave of the Mounds. The hike around Devil’s Lake was by far the most difficult of these and is probably the toughest hike we’ll take …

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Lake Wissota State Park

Lake Wissota State Park

If you live in Wisconsin or Minnesota (or possibly anywhere else), you likely realize where the name, Wissota, comes from. Wikipedia claims: “An engineer on the [Lake Wissota Hydroelectric Dam] project [that created the lake], Louis G. Arnold, named the lake by combining the beginning of “Wisconsin” and the ending of “Minnesota”.” And you would …

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Wyalusing State Park

Wyalusing State Park

This article is about our second visit to Wyalusing State Park. Sadly, I don’t have the pictures I took on our first visit. (Or, if I do still have them, I can’t find them.) Those pictures included a shot of the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. These do not. This second hike was …

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