Where Are the Wisconsin State Parks?

By my count, there are 48 Wisconsin State Parks. The status of a few of them has changed over the years. For example, Lizard Mound (near West Bend), though a state park from 1950 to 1986, was a lowly county park until 2022.

Lost Dauphin (just outside of De Pere) was a state park from 1947 until some time in the 1970s. It’s now no longer an official state park, but it’s still listed as such on the DNR site and is owned by the state. Also, Cadiz Springs was a state park until 1980 and is now a recreational area, but it feels like a state park. Originally, I counted both of these in the total, along with Heritage Hill, and you’ll see them marked on the maps below, but I no longer include them in the grand total.

In any case, whether you’re familiar with the state of Wisconsin or not, I thought it would be useful to show you where (approximately) each of these state parks is located, so you can get some idea of how far you’d have to drive and how long it might take for you to get there.

You’ll notice that the maps below are not clickable or resizable. They’re simply static images that show labeled pins for the location of each Wisconsin state park. There is some overlap from one section to the next.

We currently live in Waukesha, which, as you can see on the map just above, is near Milwaukee, the most populous area of the state. About half of the state parks are within a two-hour drive for us. So, you could argue that most people in Wisconsin could make a day trip to visit about 25 Wisconsin state parks.

To legally enter some of the parks, you need to purchase a state park sticker. Others are free to use and don’t require the sticker.

All the Wisconsin State Parks