Cornucopia-Red Cliff WI day hiking trails include famous Lake Superior sea caves

Mawikwe Bay Sea Caves. Photo courtesy of Apostle Islands National
Lakeshore NPS.

Imagine a place where you can hike sandy beaches and enjoy fantastic vistas of the world’s largest freshwater lake, a place of towering pines that bald eagles fly over and black bears scamper beneath, a place where you can explore sea caves or hike across billion-year-old red rock. The place is real – it’s called Bayfield County, Wisconsin.

If Wisconsin were a mitten, Bayfield County would be the peak of the four fingers. With much of it a peninsula, it boasts more shoreline on Lake Superior than any other Wisconsin county. It also offers dozens of miles of trails for those who love hiking.

Though the county villages of Cornucopia and Red Cliff are at the far northern end of Bayfield Peninsula, there are a few good day hiking trails. The major trail is in the mainland unit of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, where the Mawikwe Bay Sea Caves can be accessed.

Popular day hiking trails in the Cornucopia-Red Cliff area include:
g Mawikwe Bay sea caves
g Roundup of trails near Red Cliff

Read more about day hiking Bayfield County in my Hittin’ the Trail: Day Bayfield County, Wisconsin guidebook.

Great day hiking trails surround Wisconsin’s Cornucopia-Red Cliff area

View of the Mawikwe Sea Caves from the Mainland Trail.
Photo courtesy of Apostle Islands NPS.

Famed sea caves visible from
Apostle Islands mainland unit

Bayfield County ranks among Wisconsin’s most popular tourism destinations, attracting skiers, boaters, campers and sightseers. It also offers dozens of miles of trails for those who love hiking.

Consisting mainly of forestland and lakeshore, each Bayfield County village feels like a quaint throwback to years past. Only one of them boasts a population close to 3000 people.

Ten villages can be found there, with the majority of them hugging the lakeshore or a county line. Among them is Cornucopia and Red Cliff.

On Bayfield Peninsula’s western shoreline is the unincorporated community of Cornucopia. It is near a mainland portion of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, which features the Mawikwe Bay Sea Caves.

Circling around the top of the Bayfield Peninsula is the mainland portion of the national lakeshore. On the peninsula’s western shore is the village of Red Cliff, which serves as the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s administrative center. Fewer than a thousand people live on the Red Cliff reservation.

Popular day hiking trails in the Cornucopia-Red Cliff area include:
>>Mawikwe Bay sea caves
>>Roundup of trails near Red Cliff

Read more about day hiking Bayfield County in my Hittin’ the Trail: Day Bayfield County, Wisconsin guidebook.