5346. Go to Potawatomi State Park in Sturgeon Bay

 One of the other things I wanted to do while in Door County was visit the Eastern Terminus of the Ice Age Trail which was in Potawatomi State Park. I figured we had the daily park pass, we might as knock this off my Door County Bucket List. 

Potawatomi State Park is the first of the four state parks as you are driving up the door. It is by Cherryland Airport at the southern end of Sturgeon Bay. I have never been to Potawatomi State Park but it was pretty easy to find even without GPS. This was the first park of the day that actually had some at the entrance station so we just showed our park pass. 

The store at the entrance station is small. If you are looking for Ice Age items or Potawatomi State Park items, you are better off going to the camp store in the middle of the park. It has a much better selection. Even the ranger told us to go there. 

The Eastern Terminus of the Ice Age Trail is located at the northern end of the park. It is a beautiful drive along the lake to get there. There are plenty of pull outs to hike any trail you want. Due to the fact we were extremely short on time, I only hopped out to grab a few pictures.

There is a small parking lot at the Eastern Terminus. Thru-hikers will either start or end their journey here. The Ice Age trail is over 1,000 miles and follows the edge of the last continental glacier in Wisconsin. It is also the only National Park Service Trail to be in only one state. I have hiked bits and pieces of it. While I would love to hike all 1,000+ miles that will probably not happen. 

We snapped a few pictures..

Walked a few feet of the trail...

Admired the view...

And called it a day. We didn't have time for much else.

One day I will come back and explore more of the park. There is plenty more to see.

Potawatomi State Park is definitely worth checking out. There's plenty of camping and water activities along with hiking. It is perfect for a day trip and you can even say you hiked part of the Ice Age Trail. 

Hiking the Kettle Moraine State Forest

 Last year Heather sends me a message that we can get our Ice Age Trail stamp for National Parks Passport at the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest Visitor Center. Well because of COVID, the visitor centers were closed until summer this year. We picked a date that fit in both of our busy schedules took a road trip down to Campbellsport.

After stopping at the visitor center to get our stamps and a map, we drove over to Butler Lake and Flynn's Springs State Natural Area which included a section of the Ice Age trail. We actually ended up hiking the Butler Lake Trail. It was fairly easy to follow between the yellow Ice Age markers and purple Butler Trail markers.

I forgot when we decided to do this hike we were in the Kettle Moraine -- where there was a lot of glacial activity. It is name this because of the kettles or ponds that were filled in from melting glaciers. Because you have a kettles, you also have hills. We climbed a lot of hills. Up one hill, down the other side, repeat for three miles. At one point I thought of rolling down a grassy hill because it looked like fun until I realized I'd probably roll into the woods.

The first half of the trail is on the Ice Age Trail so it is wooden, rugged terrain. We had to climb over a lot of trees. It is not always very well maintained. 

The second half of the Butler Lake Trail is more open and you are walking on grass. The path is a lot wider here too. And the colors were just beginning to turn. It was a gorgeous day for a hike.

There was only one point we were unsure which way to go but using my trusty (rusty??) map reading skills, I figured out we went straight because the path across the trail was the horse route. Sure enough we saw the Ice Age and Butler Trail markers just into the woods again.

It was definitely a hilly challenge but it was a great day for a hike. I would love to hike more of the Ice Age trail or even more trails in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. Too bad the hubby isn't much of a hiker. Sometimes I just want to get out and explore nature.