Wyalusing Hardwood Forest features a mixture of southern forest types (wet-mesic, mesic, dry-mesic, and dry) near the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers in Wyalusing State Park. The closest parking area is a pull-off from the main park road near the Paul Lawrence Interpretive Center with room for 3-4 cars. From there, take the…
Tag: Wisconsin
Bass Hollow (198/675)
Bass Hollow encompasses a southern mesic forest amidst a cliff-lined coulee, or hollow, in southern Juneau County. It is found on both sides of Cowan Road east of CTH K. A parking area for the adjacent Bass Hollow County Park is found on the south side of Cowan Road. I have visited Bass Hollow twice…
Lemonweir Bottomland Hardwood Forest (197/675)
Lemonweir Bottomland Hardwood Forest encompasses a floodplain forest amidst a maze of river channels, slough, and oxbows. The site can be reached by parking on the side of Arens Road and walking east into the forest. Parking near the end of Arens Road will lead you to an access road/trail heading east/southeast into the site….
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…
Kurtz Woods (195/675)
Kurtz Woods features a southern mesic forest with a great variety of trees and nice displays of spring ephemeral wildflowers in an sububrban setting in Ozaukee County. Parking is on the roadside in a residential neighborhood. Two trailheads are are found on Dahlia Lane and West Acadia Drive. Each is between two houses and evident…
Milwaukee River Floodplain Forest (194/675)
Milwaukee River Floodplain Forest features floodplain and dry-mesic forests along a stretch of the East Branch of the Milwaukee River in Washington County. Parking is along the roadside on Oak Drive, just north of CTH H, where the gravel shoulder widens a bit near the Ice Age Trail. My first visit here was in too-early…
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…
Renak-Polak Maple-Beech Woods (192/675)
Renak-Polak Maple-Beech Woods features southern mesic and wet-mesic forests on level topography just east of the Root River in Racine County. There is no recommended parking and I would not suggest the roadside due to the lack of a shoulder and narrowness of the road. Linwood Park is located just southwest and would probably be…
Sander’s Park Hardwoods (191/675)
Sander’s Park Hardwoods features a southern dry-mesic forest on two swells flanking a swale. It is found in the center of Sander’s County Park on Wood Road in Racine County and is bounded by the main park loop, Exculpating Road. Two parking areas are found near the northwest corner of the site. A network of…
Chiwaukee Prairie (190/675)
Chiwaukee Prairie features a variety of prairie and wetland natural communities bordered by Lake Michigan on the east and Illinois on the west. Through the cooperative efforts of The Nature Conservancy, the Wisconsin DNR, and the Chiwaukee Prairie Preservation Fund, a large portion of this landscape has been preserved. What once was intended as a…
Beaver Creek (189/675)
Beaver Creek State Natural Area is the prototypical State Natural Area found in Northern Wisconsin. It contains northern wet forest, northern dry-mesic forest, open bog, and a creek located just northwest of Eagle River in Vilas County. The most direct access is via Forest Road 2178 along the northern boundary of the site, with additional…
Haymeadow Creek, SNA #479, (188/675)
Haymeadow Creek encompasses nearly 1000 acres within the Chequameon-Nicolet National Forest in eastern Vilas County. The creek courses through a meadow surrounded by northern wet and dry forested lands. Access is available from numerous roads including Blong Road, FS 2567, and CTH E. All except the later are gravel roads and all involve parking on…
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…
Mayville Ledge Beech-Maple Woods, SNA #143 (186/675)
Mayville Ledge Beech-Maple Woods features a half-mile long exposure of the Niagara Escarpment topped by a mixed forest consisting of primarily maple and beech, the latter of which is rare in the area. Previous posts on the Niagara Escarpment include: Bayshore Blufflands, Oakfield Ledge, Red Banks Alvar, Ellison Bluff, and High Cliff Escarpment. The only parking…
Oakfield Railroad Prairie, SNA #328 (185/675)
Oakfield Railroad Prairie features mesic and wet-mesic prairies along two portions of the Wild Goose State Trail, a 34-mile long trail with one terminus in Fond du Lac and the other in Clyman Junction. Park on the road near one of several trail intersections: CTH D, Lost Arrow Road, River Road, or Willow Lawn Road….
State Natural Areas of Wisconsin 