Great hiking trails for kids near Hudson, Wis.

Willow Falls on the Burkhardt Trail.

If traveling to northwestern Wisconsin this summer or living in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, consider hiking these trails, located near the border town of Hudson, Wis.:
g Burkhardt Trail – Three miles of connecting trails in Willow River State Park take hikers to an impressive multi-level waterfall. The rocks forming the gorge walls about the falls are 600 million years old.
g Kinnickinnic County Forest trails – A series of unnamed trails run across 80 acres of pines planted by grade school children during the 1960s. Most of the trails run north-south.
g Purple Trail – Traveling south to Kinnickinnic State Park, this 1-mile trail offers great views of the delta where the park’s namesake flows into the blue St. Croix River. You’ll pass through an old-growth oak forest on the way.
g Siem Trail – Located in the Homestead Parklands on Perch Lake, the 1-mile trail starts at a beach and runs along the western side of a kettle – a lake formed several thousand years ago when a retreating glacier left a chunk of ice that depressed the land with the meltwater that filled the hole.
g Trout Brook Trail – Another impressive trail at Willow River State Park is this 1.4-mile loop that takes hikers through red pine stands and open prairie. You’ll be able to spot great blue heron, ducks and snapping turtles.

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.