Kohler Park Dunes features a stunning series of sand dunes and a mile of Lake Michigan shoreline within Kohler-Andrae State Park in Sheboygan County. Several access points can be used including parking areas on Beach Park Lane at the northern boundary, near the Sanderling Nature Center in the park, and on Old Park Road at the…
Tag: Lake
Tomahawk Lake Hemlocks, SNA #510 (223/675)
Tomahawk Lake Hemlocks features a northern mesic forest with hemlock and yellow birch on rolling topography betwen Tomahawk and Little Carr Lakes. Kettle depressions are found throughout the site. Park on Rainbow Road, near the intersection with Robin Road and beyond the entrance to the Macnaughton Correctional Center. Hemlock forests are one of my favorite…
Finnerud Pine Forest, SNA #31 (222/675)
Finnerud Pine Forest encompasses an old-growth red pine forest, bog, and lake shoreline. The site is owned by the University of Wisconsin System via the Board of Regents and is managed by the UW Arboretum. Visits require advanced permission. I am grateful to the UW Arboretum for allowing me to visit the several natural areas…
Black Tern Bog, SNA #49 (221/675)
Black Tern Bog features a quaking sphagnum bog mat surrounding two seepage lakes, just a stone’s throw from USH 51 in Vilas County. Park along, but well off of the highway, wand walk east toward the bog and lakes. This was another site in which I was uneasy about where I had to park. Traffic…
Allequash Lake & Pines, SNA #508 (219/675)
Allequash Lake & Pines encompassees a mostly second-growth northern dry mesic forest surrounding the southern basin of Allequash Lake in Vilas County. Part of the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest, this site can be reached by parking at the boat launch at the end of an access road heading east from CTH M. There are…
Woodman Lake Sand Prairie & Dead Lake (209/675)
Woodman Lake Sand Prairie & Dead Lake features a sand prairie and barrens complex and the very shallow Deep Lake, all part of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. Access is via Woodman Lake Road north of STH 133 and the town of Woodman. A parking area is located on th east side of Woodman Lake…
Cedarburg Bog (196/675)
Cedarburg Bog, a National Natural Landmark, features a variety of wetland natural communities surrounding several lakes. Public access is available from the north on STH 33 and from the south on Cedar Sauk Road. A trail leads from the former to one of the lakes. From the latter, a roadside pull-off, an unimproved trail leads…
Border Lakes (193/675)
Border Lakes, or the Catherine Wolter Wilderness Area as The Nature Conservancy calls it, encompasses 15 undeveloped lakes in northwestern Vilas County. A parking area is located on East Bay Road, southeast of Presque Isle. Numerous trails that are more like access roads, loop through the site. As my mother and I pulled into the…
Kentuck Lake, SNA #442 (187/675)
Kentuck Lake (note: that spelling is correct; there is no ‘y’ at the end of ‘Kentuck’) encompasses two long, sandy ridges and the swale in between them on the north shore of the lake. Found within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in far southeastern Vilas County, one can reach the site by heading north from STH…
Cave Point-Clay Banks, SNA #559 (184/675)
Cave Point-Clay Banks features a variety of wetland and forest natural communities spread across 3 named units consisting of 4 total parcels of land. The three units are known as the Sturgeon Bay unit, the Shivering Sands unit, and the Kellner Fen unit. All three are described on the DNR page, but there is no…
Little Lake, SNA #554 (183/675)
Little Lake is the only inland lake on Washington Island and is a literal stone’s throw away from Lake Michigan, with a 250-foot cobblestone ridge separating the two bodies of water. The DNR says that Little Lake requires permission to visit from the owner, the Door County Land Trust, but the DCLT’s own information makes…
Beulah Bog (171/675)
Beulah Bog encompasses two bog lakes surrounded by a northern wet forest in northeastern Walworth County. A parking area is located on Stringers Bridge Road, south of CTH J. From there, a trail leads east over undulating glacial terrain before turning south to reach a boardwalk, which in turn leads to one of the bog…
Aurora Lake, SNA #127 (163/675)
Aurora Lake features, well, Aurora Lake surrounded by a northern wet forest. The lake is known for its wild rice population. Access is via a boat launch at the end of Aurora Lake Road. This visit was a rather abbreviated one for a couple of reasons. One: no kayak with which to explore the lake. Two:…
Plum Lake Hemlock Forest, SNA #26 (162/675)
Plum Lake Hemlock Forest features an old-growth forest wedged between Plum, Star, and Razorback Lakes. A separate island parcel is found within Plum Lake. Accesss is either form the east via Hook Road or from the west via Rearing Pond Road. This is one of those sites that I don’t have a great recollection of…
Lake Laura Hardwoods, SNA #500 (161/675)
Lake Laura Hardwoods contains an old-growth northern mesic forest on the south shore of Lake Laura in central Vilas County within the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest. A boat launch that doubles as a parking area is found at the end of Deerfoot Road. As denoted by its number, Lake Laura Hardwoods was the 500th…
State Natural Areas of Wisconsin 