8 top Wisconsin state parks to visit in winter
Winter brings a different kind of beauty to Wisconsin landscapes, including state parks. The popular swimming and sunbathing beaches at parks like Kohler-Andrae, Peninsula and Devil’s Lake turn into onramps for ice fishermen and winter walkers. Bike trails become cross-country ski routes. Bare trees and exposed rock formations get a coat of snow and ice formations.
Embrace the season and check out these eight state parks that are particularly great in winter.
Rib Mountain State Park, Wausau
Rib Mountain is home to Granite Peak, a ski area with the state’s biggest vertical drop — 700 feet. The mountain has 75 runs, four terrain parks and five chair lifts (including two high-speed lifts).
Elsewhere on the mountain, the state park offers a slower snow experience, with most of the more than 13 miles of trails open to hiking and snowshoeing. While the observation tower is closed, the trails still offer plenty of views.
Head to the mountain from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 3 for a candlelight hike or snowshoe, followed by warm refreshments and marshmallows around a campfire. Snowshoes will be available to borrow.
Whitefish Dunes State Park, Sturgeon Bay
Whitefish Dunes features 1.5 miles of sandy beach that’s hopping in the summer but much quieter when temperatures drop. The trail to the park’s largest sand dune, Old Baldy, is closed in the winter, but you can still hike along the beach or the 2.5-mile Black trail, which dips into Cave Point County Park. Leashed pets are allowed on both the beach and the Black trail in the winter. Three other trails are groomed for cross-country skiing.
Just north of Whitefish Dunes, the crashing waves of Lake Michigan create dazzling ice formations on the rocky cliffs of Cave Point County Park in the winter. Trails along the top of the cliffs don’t have railings — stay on the main trail to stay safe.
Amnicon Falls State Park, South Range
Winter turns the cascades at Amnicon Falls into frozen masterpieces, the tannin in the river water giving the ice a tan hue — if fresh snowfall isn’t covering it. Hike around the two main waterfalls, split by a beautiful covered bridge, then cross that bridge to hike around more icy cascades including Snake Pit Falls. The park also has a 1.5-mile designated snowshoe trail that provides a look at other areas of the park.
In the summer, you can climb on rocks around the river to get close to the cascades, but be careful in the winter — the red-brown rocks are a beautiful complement to the white snow and green pines, but they’re extra slick under a coat of snow and ice.
From Amnicon Falls, head about 20 miles southwest to explore Pattison State Park, home to Big Manitou Falls, the state’s largest waterfall, and Little Manitou Falls, a smaller, double cascade.
Blue Mound State Park, Blue Mounds
For silent winter sports, Blue Mound is one of the best parks in southern Wisconsin, with a trail for every outdoor enthusiast. More than 10 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails wind through the hilly landscape. Ten miles of trails are set aside for mountain biking and are open to fat-tire biking in the winter. The rest of the park’s trails are open to hiking and snowshoeing, including designated 0.75-mile and 3-mile snowshoe loops.
The park also has a sledding hill and two observation towers for taking in the frozen landscape.
Mirror Lake State Park, Baraboo
Nineteen miles of trails are groomed for crosscountry skiing at Mirror Lake outside the Dells. Snowshoers can take to ungroomed trails throughout the park, including the 2-mile Sandstone Trail, as well as the frozen surface of Mirror Lake when conditions allow.
Fern Dell Gorge is a prime spot for a winter hike, with an unofficial trail traveling through the narrow sandstone gorge that often features walls of frozen icicles in the winter. The best way to access the gorge is from a small parking lot off Fern Dell Road, about a mile west of the main park entrance.
Kettle Moraine State Forest, Washington and Waukesha counties
The forest — both the northern and southern units — is great in any season, but winter is perfect for seeing some of the area’s signature glacial formations without leaves and other foliage getting in the way.
The 13.9-mile Parnell segment of the Ice Age Trail through the forest is a hummocky hike through wooded terrain and along the 4-mile-long Parnell Esker. The sinewy hill and its glacial cousins — moraines, kettles and kames — make for a challenging winter hike, especially in deep snow.
The northern unit’s Greenbush trails are groomed for cross-country skiing, with a 1.2-mile loop lighted for early morning and evening skiing. The unit’s Zillmer trails are also groomed for skiing.
The southern unit offers trail systems for all winter explorers: the Scuppernong trails and 30 miles of the Ice Age Trail for hiking and snowshoeing, the John Muir and Emma Carlin trails for fat-tire biking, and the Nordic and McMiller trails for cross-country skiing.
Lapham Peak, Delafield
When Mother Nature lets us down in the snow department, Lapham Peak is there for us. The park’s man-made snow loop is sometimes the only spot for cross-country skiing in southeastern Wisconsin. Bonus: It’s lighted for skiing until 9 p.m. (except on Sundays, when the park closes at 5 p.m.). Seventeen total miles of trails are groomed when Mother Nature does cooperate.
The park’s ungroomed trails are open to hiking and snowshoeing, including the 1.8-mile paved Plantation Path, a 4-mile segment of the Ice Age Trail and the 4.8mile Prairie path.
Wheel & Sprocket offers onsite ski and snowshoe rentals from a hut near the Evergreen parking lot.
Point Beach State Forest, Two Rivers
Winter is a good time to take in the ridges and swales landscape of this 3,000-acre state forest along six miles of Lake Michigan shoreline.
Point Beach Ridges, a natural area within the forest, protects 11 ridges and swales created by the receding shoreline of glacial Lake Nippissing thousands of years ago.
A 5-mile stretch of the Ice Age Trail travels through the forest for hiking and snowshoeing the winter. Point Beach also has 11 miles of classic cross-country ski trails and 3.5 miles of skate ski trails.
The park’s campground stays open through the winter, with a small segment plowed.