Trip made in: August
STATE PARK RATING:
***
Topography and Geology of area-
North of
Outdoor activities:
Camping, walking, fishing, boating, and picnicking.
This park had a variety of blooming flowers that I haven’t seen before as I was able to get closer to the
Made trip in: June
STATE PARK RATING:
**
Topography and Geology of area-
South of the Wisconsin River and
Outdoor activities:
Walking, camping, fishing, picnicking, and boating.
On the way down here we missed the park completely and ended up heading towards
Trip made in: June
STATE PARK RATING:
***
Topography and Geology of area-
There are high bluffs with many vistas, the sandstone structures dot the cliffed environment as the
Common activities:
Hiking, fishing, boating, canoeing, camping, and picnicking.
I first discovered this park on accident almost a year ago through a canoeing trip. However, after further exploration I realized that the roads only got more curved as you traveled through the park area. This is a beautiful park with many things to do but hiking would be on the top of the list.
Made trip in: July
STATE PARK RATING:
***
Topography and Geology of area-
Multiple animal habitats including woods, lake, shoreland, marsh, and prairie.
Common activities:
Fishing, walking, hunting, boating, naturalist programs, volunteers, hiking, and picnicking.
Many of the parks that I have visited I loved seeing many trails and having these self guided trails with the assistance of a map gave me a better idea how the land was created and how it is used today. The biggest difference with this specific area is the fact that they allow hunting specific times of the year and yet its marketed specifically for that other than other state areas.
Trip made in: September
STATE PARK RATING:
****
Topography and Geology of area-
Land has extensive basin of clay that prevent many of the kettle’s water to seep into the ground, though there are number of kettles that are around only part of the year as they are reabsorbed.
Tall and short grass prairie, woods, kettles, and lakes.
Common activities:
Hiking, walking, fishing, picnicking, boating, and naturalist programs.
We walked on the Mammoth trail and discovered to our amazement that the trail brought us to many different locations that had a variety of kettles of different sizes and shapes. There was a lot of literature and explanations as to how many of them were formed by the glaciers and how fish populated some of them.
Here is my new car in action. A storm up ahead will we get wet?
Here is one of the large lakes and the surrounding short grass prairie.
Here we are prepared for the rain as it rained off and on during our trip to this park. Dale loves that umbrella! Tim was happy to be in Dale's arms under the umbrella.
Trip made in: September
STATE PARK RATING:
**
Topography and Geology of area-
Sandstone outcroppings into the surrounding waters of brunet island.
Woods, extensive shoreline, and wetland.
Common activities:
Walking, fishing, picnicking, and boating.
There was no additional information on the park as there was no accessible park map. However, this location is something that you would take the dogs to walk around and there wasn’t any interesting key features about this park other than it is an island.
Dale opening the gateway to hell.
Trip made in: September
STATE PARK RATING:
***
Topography and Geology of area-
Quartzite cliffs that are extremely steep, seemingly flat with evergreen trees.
Prairies, lake, woods, and extensive shoreline.
Common activities:
Hiking, picnicking, boating, and snowshoeing.
There were a lot of similarities with this park and others closer to the
You can see the other side of the lake and get a better idea of how big the lake is.
Here we are trying to figure out how to get out of this park.
***
Topography and Geology of area-
Layers of dolomite (limestone), shale, and sandstone that was revealed when many rivers assisted with clearing of these sediments.
Effigy mounds, lead deposits, bluffs, farmlands, and hardwood forests.
Common activities:
Fishing, boating, hiking, walking, camping, picnicking, and skiing.
This park has caves that are in the lower section of the park. They are hard to get to without the proper walking gear. You are able to actually walk into the caves as in one of them there are bats. The insects were plentiful and really more than any other park. This was a relaxing park to stroll through as it had a lot of amazing sites of the
Trip made in: August
STATE PARK RATING:
***
Topography and Geology of area-
Wetlands, oak woods, jack pine thickets, shoreline, and a small prairie.
We couldn’t find this park right away because we first had to drive through a series of small towns and with being on castle rock lake it does have a beach and pier that provides you with areas to rest. There is a dense forest in this part of the state that I didn’t venture too much into just because many things were overgrown.
Trip made in: August
STATE PARK RATING:
*
Topography and Geology of area-
Lake, rivers, and mixed woods.
Rock walls, gorges of late Cambrian sandstone.
This is one of the worst state parks I have been to as the park is not maintained well. The trails provided some interesting walking as they had tall grass with very low hanging branches. The water itself did not provide the same type of serenity I am used to seeing in
Trip made in August:
STATE PARK RATING:
***
Topography and Geology of area-
Quarry lake, pond, mixed wooded areas, and
Some proposed additions to this park.
I would like to make the comparison to
