Kettle Moraine State Forest
The Kettle Moraine State Forest is a different set up than most. It actually is comprised of several different units that are spread out throughout Wisconsin: Lapham Peak Unit, Pike Lake Unit, Loew Lake Unit, and the two main ones being the Northern Unit and Southern Unit which have the camping. We decided to do an overland style weekend camping trip and camp the southern unit one night and the northern unit the next.
The Southern Unit has Ottawa Lake Campground, Pinewoods Campground (a 24 hour quiet zone), and Whitewater Lake Campground, as well as, a horseback riders’ campground. We decided to camp at Whitewater Lake and then work our way up the scenic Kettle Moraine Drive the next day to the Northern Unit. Whitewater is more of a primitive campground and has 63 campsites and pit toilets with no showers. We were fortunate enough to get campsite # 621 that was very private and set back from the road. We walked around the camp grounds and then set up our camp before having ham steak and fried potatoes for dinner and relaxing by the campfire. We were not in any sort of rush the next day because the furthest we had to drive was about 2 hours to the Northern Unit so we took our time packing up. The next morning we did a small hike on part of the Ice Age trail to check out a lookout that is probably very beautiful in the winter, but was so overgrown that it wasn’t much for us to see, on our way out of camp we decided to check out the lake and recreation area across the street before hitting the road for the days adventure. If you ever want to challenge yourself, the Ice Age trail is right off the trail that we did for the lookout and is said to be a great multi-day backpack-hiking trail. There is also the Scutternong trail system for hiking, the entire area has a ton of history and glacial formations from the ice age era.
We set a course for the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive up to the Northern unit. This drive can actually take you through all five of the units in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. Not too long after hitting the road, we saw another sign for a scenic overlook and thought we would check out and hopefully it would be better. It’s about a ½ mile hike that led to Bald Bluff, which is one of the highest points in Jefferson County. Bald Bluff is aptly named because it overlooks an area that lacked trees and was covered by prairie grass and flowers. Its prominence made it attractive to Native Americans, pioneers, and the U.S. military during the Black Hawk War. After the hike, we continued on up the road.
Soon, hunger set in and we decided to take a detour off the scenic drive for lunch to stop at Water Street Brewery for some good eats and a frosty one. After lunch, we got back on the road, and shortly after, we entered the Northern Unit. The Northern Unit consists of Mauthe Lake Campground and Long Lake Campground, with a group campground and also horseback riders’ campground. Since we had time we decided to drive around and check out all of the campgrounds before settling on our spot for the night. We ended up staying at Long Lake because Mauthe Lake had a North Face marathon/race taking place and was packed. But it looked like a great campground for future adventures, especially since it is open year round. There are tons of hiking and skiing trails in this section of the state park. Long Lake consists of 200 campsites with only 16 of those being electric. They had nice facilities including flush toilets, showers, and water fountains spread throughout the sections. This campground is seasonal though and only open until the end of October. We got site #944 that was right off of a main trail so there wasn’t much for privacy. A short hike up the trail leads to some awesome views and we took in a beautiful sunset up there. The park had the 800s loop closed, but for the most part it looked like the 600s loop and 900s were some of the best sites.
Before heading back home, we stopped at the Parnell Observation Tower right down the road from the park. It sits on top of a steep hill and is 60ft high, it is the highest point in the Kettle Moraine and has an awesome panoramic view and great spot for viewing the leaves changing for fall (although this was not the best year for that). There is a 3.4-mile loop that you can hike around or just a ¼ mile of stairs in and out to just see the tower.
