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Hike these 5 great Wisconsin trails
By
WisconsinGuide Magazine
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A good hike can be great
exercise, a ritual to calm the spirit, a chance to connect
with the earth. It is a way to get to know nature by its
species, and your soul by its moods. It is an opportunity
to build a friendship, acknowledge your heritage or
confront your personal limits. Wisconsin has many great
hiking trails. Here are five to soothe your psyche and
stretch your tendons.
As a kid, the farm dogs and I would set foot onto a gravel
road, which led us to the hilly driveway of an abandoned
farm. Then we’d follow a tractor-flattened swath of
field that eventually linked up with the woods.
We’d disappear onto a path that had been cleared of
roots and limbs many years earlier, swat at a few deer
flies and end up in a small cornfield that was surrounded
by towering trees – cedars, tamaracks, maples – their
rustling a splendid accompaniment on a breezy day. This
was the Sheboygan County Marsh, and my father owned 30
acres of it during most of his adult life.
Today this wildlife area is 13,000 acres. Most still is
wilderness and low-profile. There’s a push to designate
it as an archaeological site on the National Register of
Historic Places. For more, call 920-876-2535.
Want to climb as high as you can? Then go to Price County
and Timm’s Hill, which at 1,952 feet above sea level is
the highest summit in the state. Find it on County Trunk
C, off Highway 86, not far from Rib Lake.
The hiking trail, which can be picked up on C, is 6 miles,
roundtrip.
Climb the observation tower and get an overview of the
area’s topography. People who want to avoid hilly hiking
can walk shorter loops on level ground and approach
Timm’s and Pearson lakes. For details, call
800-269-4505.
Point Beach State Forest, Manitowoc County, has 10 miles
of wooded trails that lead to Lake Michigan, plus 6 miles
of sandy beach for walking (easy trekking, and a
particularly nice setting for romantic interludes).
It is possible to walk on the beach to Two Rivers, which
would take a couple of hours. You also can walk up to, but
not into, Rawley Point Lighthouse, whose beacon can be
seen almost 20 miles from shore. The structure has been
around since 1894. For more, call 920-794-7480.
Big Manitou Falls, south of Superior, is the state’s
highest waterfall. It is 165 feet, a part of the Black
River and the highlight of Pattison State Park, which is
on Highway 35.
A 1.5-mile hiking trail takes visitors into the gorge
behind the falls; it is a one-way path, not a loop, so
prepare to do an about-face after your descent. There also
are scenic overlooks, and a cousin – Little Manitou
Falls – can be seen by following the river about 4.5
miles. Interfalls Lake separates the two waterfalls. For
more, call 715-399-8073.
Perrot State Park, just west of Trempealeau, would be a
great place to hike when the Grand Excursion 2004 flotilla
of steamboats and other watercraft fills the neighboring
Mississippi River shortly before Independence Day. (For
more about that event, go to www.grandexcursion.com.)
There are 12 miles of hiking trails that follow the river
or rise above it to provide panoramic views. Visitors can
meander atop bluffs or disappear into wooded areas. There
are both steep upgrades and easy places to stroll. For
more, call 608-534-6409.
I’ll remember Perrot for a long time, not just for the
gorgeous scenery, but because of the park ranger who
roused us from our tent on a summer night after a tornado
watch was issued. While being pelted with rain, most of
our group hoofed it to an indoor shelter and laid in wait.
Others refused to budge, optimistic that a shield of mere
canvas or nylon would be enough to weather the storm.
It was a little test of will, yet another thing that
hikers can assess, if and whenever they choose.
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More Info
Here are resources for Wisconsin hikers, both the casual
and the hard-core varieties:
> The state Department of Natural Resources has 37
state trails (many multi-purpose) that total 1,607 miles.
There are 2,730 miles of hiking trails on state-owned
property, which includes parks and wildlife areas. To
learn more, go to www.dnr.wi.gov
and select ”outdoor recreation.”
> Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail is one of the nation’s
eight national scenic trails. About 600 of its intended
1,000 miles are ready to use. A project goal is to help
hikers experience and understand the effect that glaciers
have had on the state.
Call 800-227-5712 or go to www.iceagetrail.org
for more about this massive undertaking and trail
location.
> The Wisconsin Go Hiking Club has been around for 80
years, with about 400 members ranging in age from 25 to
more than 80. Most hiking is done in the Milwaukee area,
but there also are hiking events and camping weekends
farther away.
Hike length ranges from 4 miles to more than 20; hiking
routes are described as “leisurely” to
“bushwhacking.” Club membership is $15 per year, or
$20 per couple; call 414-299-9285 or go to www.homestead.com/wisconsingohiking
for details.
> Helpful guidebooks for hikers include Great Wisconsin
Walks by William Chad McGrath ($16.95, Trails Books),
Madison Walks by Harriet Brown and Jamie Young ($15.95,
Jones Books) and Wisconsin’s Outdoor Treasures by Tim
Bewer ($18.95, Trails Books).
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