Best trails for seeing wonders of Wisconsin’s Big Bay State Park

Boardwalk Trail

Among the best ways to see the top sights in Wisconsin’s Big Bay State Park is via a day hike. Just three short trails will allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – fantastic Lake Superior views, a romantic sunset, and a barrier beach pine forest.

Lake Superior views
Stretching for 31,700 square miles east and north of Madeline Island is Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake, at least by surface area. Point Trail and a portion of the Point Trail Loop skirt the shoreline with a beach area for a 1.7-mile hike.

Romantic sunset
On a clear evening, the sunset casts Lake Superior in a golden glow that darkens with the sky from orange to purple to midnight blue, a perfect hour to spend with your loved one. Though facing east, the 1.3-mile Bay View Trail marks a good location to cuddle and watch Mother Nature’s free light show.

Barrier beach pine forest
Barrier beaches are common along the Atlantic coastline, and a microcosm of one with its own forest of red and white pines sits on Madeline Island. The 0.5-mile Boardwalk Trail heads through the woodlands on Big Bay Sand Spit.

Find out about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

What are NW Wisconsin’s three best trails?

Summit Rock Trail vista, looking south

This article, by the author of the “Hikes with Tykes” series, originally appeared in the May 27, 2013, Seattle Backpackers Magazine.

Where can you walk across 1.1-billion year-old rock, see a waterfall as tall as Niagara, or stroll along a romantic beach…all within an hour or so drive of one another?

Try Northwest Wisconsin. Now before you dismiss Wisconsin as nothing but dairy farms and foam cheesehead factories, the state actually offers backpackers and day hikers alike a number of great trails to enjoy.

Two major national park units sit in Northwest Wisconsin. The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway follows more than 250 miles of the St. Croix River and a tributary, offering trails that trace historic portages, cross ancient river gorges, and parallel Class I trout streams. The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore boasts sea caves, primitive camping experiences on remote islands, and gorgeous sunsets over the world’s largest body of freshwater, Lake Superior.

Three must-do trails in Northwest Wisconsin include:
g Doughboys’ Nature Trail – The Copper Falls State Park trail features multiple waterfalls and rapids over lava rock at the confluence of two rivers. Granite boulders left here by ice age glaciers, after dragging them down from Canada, dot the 1.7-mile loop trail. A plethora of hardwoods – aspen, basswood, hemlock, ironwood, paper birch, red oak, red pine, sugar maple, white pine, and yellow birch – cover the park, making for impressive autumn walks.
g Morgan Falls-St. Peters Dome Trail – In the Chequamegon National Forest, this 3.6-mile round trip hike leads first to an 80-foot waterfall and then an impressive vista on St. Peters Dome with views 20 miles around. The dome is a massive hunk of red granite that began to form underground some 1.2 billion years ago and since has been exposed. A number of rare ferns also can be found along the trail.
g Summit Rock Trail – The short hike at Wisconsin Interstate State Park near St. Croix Falls offers fantastic views of the Dalles of the St. Croix gorge, carved by glacial floodwaters during the last ice age. The gorge consists of basalt laid there 500 million years before dinosaurs walked the planet and neat rock formations, including the Old Man of the Dalles. Adjoining short trails lead to deep potholes that the swirling floods literally drilled out of solid rock.

Honorable mention goes to two trails:
g Bay View Trail – Taking the trail along with a beach boardwalk and a self-guided interpretive trail afford hikers a 5-mile round trip on Madeline Island, providing great views of Lake Superior, which is blue during the day and fire red at sunset. A ferry boat runs from Bayfield to the island.
g Big Manitou Falls Overlooks Trail – While the trail in Pattison State Park is a standard walk through the woods, it helps set up the spectacular sight at the destination: a 168-foot waterfall. Though not as wide, it is as tall as Niagara Falls and the fourth highest east of the Rocky Mountains.

For those wishing to take backpacking excursions, look into these trails:
g Gandy Dancer Trail – Several old railroad beds have been converted to hiking trails in the state, including this 98-mile route running from the pristine St. Croix River to Lake Superior.
g Ice Age National Scenic Trail – The 1200-mile trail roughly parallels what once the southern edge of the glacier covering much of the state some eight millennia ago.
g North Country National Scenic Trail – The longest continuous section of the seven-state trail runs through northern Wisconsin, including over the remnants of an ancient mountain range that once stood as tall as the Alps.

Read more about family friendly day hiking trails in my Headin' to the Cabin guidebooks.

Great day trails of Bayfield, Wis. – Part I

Hiking trail near Bayfield, Wis. Photo courtesy of Bayfield County Tourism.

Certainly among the most trail-friendly areas in northwest Wisconsin is Bayfield. A number of great day hiking trails can be found in town and the wider Bayfield Peninsula. Among them:
g Bay View Trail, Boardwalk, nature trail – Incredible views of Lake Superior await hikers traveling to Big Bay State Park, on Madeline Island, the largest of the famous 22 Apostle Islands. Taking the Bay View Trail along with a boardwalk and a self-guided interpretive trail afford hikers a 5-mile round trip; this can be cut in half if turning around at the boardwalk.
g Big Ravine Trail – The in-city trail heads for a 2-mile round trip along a steep ravine lined with old-growth hemlocks. You’ll find the trailhead at the Sweeney Avenue baseball field behind the outfield fence.
g Big Sand Bay Walking trails – Paths cut across pine barrens on the Bayfield Peninsula northwest of town. The trails are on the west side of Old County Highway K Road, about 1.5 miles north of the Wis. Hwy. 13 junction.
g Brownstone Trail – South of town, an old railroad bed converted into a hiking trail makes for a scenic 5-mile round trip hike. The trail passes a marina and offers great views of Madeline Island and sailboats on Lake Superior.
g Pike's Creek Hiking Trail – The 2-mile round trip trail heads along Pike's Creek and past the state fish hatchery, which boasts two large ponds. Fish species native to Lake Superior are raised there.
g Iron Bridge Nature Hiking Trail – Also known as the Gil Larsen Trail, the 0.75-mile trail follows a ravine creek under an old iron bridge to an overlook. Pick up the trail in Bayfield on Washington Avenue uphill from the ferry boat landing.
g Jerry Jolly Hiking Trail – The trail winds through the Bayfield County Forest and Nourse Sugarbush State Natural Area. Follow County Highway J/Star Route to the trailhead.

Read Part II

Read more about day hiking Bayfield County, Wisconsin, in my Day Hiking Trails of Bayfield County guidebook.

Follow island shoreline with Lake Superior

Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island.

Incredible views of Lake Superior await hikers traveling to Big Bay State Park in northern Wisconsin.

The park sits on Madeline Island, the largest of the famous 22 Apostle Islands. Taking the Bay View Trail along with a border a self-guided interpretive trail is a 5-mile round trip, though this can be cut in half by turning around at the boardwalk.

To avoid the Northwoods cold, visit in June and July. You’ll have to first load your vehicle aboard the Madeline Island Ferry, which runs every half hour from Bayfield on the mainland to La Pointe on the island. After a 20-minute ride across the lake, take County Road H east for about four miles. Turn right/east on Hagen Road. The park entrance is in 2 miles; you’ll need to pay an entry fee.

Continue on the park entry road (aka Haines Road), then turning right onto Wilderness Road. Where the road loops is a parking lot. The trailhead is on the lot’s east side.

An easy, well-maintained trail, you’ll pass Point Picnic Area to the edge of Madeline Island. At one time, the island – as well as the other Apostle Islands – was part of the mainland. Four sets of glaciers during the past 100,000 years and the ensuing lakes have eroded the 600 million-year-old sedimentary rock and formed the islands.

Sunsets and glaciers
At the T-intersection with Lake Superior before you, go left onto Bay View Trail (to the right is Point Trail). The wooded trail hugs the shoreline. You’re certain to spot wildlife and likely will see some bluff caves. If staying overnight, do the trail at the sunset – you won’t be disappointed by the spectacular views over Lake Superior’s Big Bay.

The largest of the Great Lakes sits atop hard basalt that formed 1.1 billion years ago when the North American continent literally was splitting. Eventually this separation stopped, and the rift filled with sediment. Glaciers during the last Ice Age excavated these deposits and left the cold water that forms the lake.

As rounding the shoreline, Bay View Trail turns into Lagoon Ridge Trail; follow this for a few yards to the Boardwalk. If short on time or tired, you may want to turn back here. If the day is young and you’re full of energy, go right, continuing along the boardwalk, which cuts through a white and red pine forest sitting upon Big Bay Sand Spit. Bearberry and wintergreen grows beneath the pines.

Nicely flat, the half-mile boardwalk offers benches for resting, interpretive signs and more impressive lake views. A lagoon sits to the boardwalk’s left.

Barrier beach
Some 15,000 years ago when Madeline Island reappeared as the glaciers retreated and melted, the lagoon didn't exist and was part of Big Bay. Since then, wave action and lake currents built a pair of barrier beaches, creating the lagoon.

The boardwalk turns into the self-guided nature trail that runs up the spit. You may want to take a break along the beach for a swim.

The nature trail includes a couple of small loops in it. Watch for bald eagles that nest and raise their younglings in the park. Upon reaching the trail’s end, turn around and return the way you came.

Before coming to the island, make sure you bring insect repellent. Bugs can be bothersome in the trail’s forested sections, and repellent sometimes can be difficult to find on the island.

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