One of the things I love about camping it is usually means I’m far away from the glow of city lights. Last Monday night, when I was at Peninsula State Park, I was treated to a spectacular view of the night sky. The realization that I am away from from city lights really hits me when I can see that ribbon of stars across the sky, the Milky Way.
Yesterday I returned from a camping trip to Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. One of the reasons I like to go there is the park has 20 miles of the best biking trails in Wisconsin. When you bike along the lakeshore and through the woods on those trails you can understand why Peninsula is one of the most popular parks in the midwest. I was fortunate to have excellent weather while I was there and was able to hit the bike trails every day.
Last week I went to my favorite place to camp in Wisconsin, the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest. For me, there is nothing like getting away from it all and camping in the north woods. There you’ve got fresh air, beautiful scenery and wildlife (like bald eagles and loons). Below is my favorite picture from this camping trip. It was taken at a lagoon along one of the best nature trails in the forest, the Star Lake Nature trail. This spot is one of my favorite scenic places in the State of Wisconsin. Can’t you just smell the fresh, pine scented air?
I just got back from a week camping in Northern Wisconsin. One of my favorite things about that area are the bald eagles living there. While camping this year I saw the most bald eagles I ever saw in a week’s stay. On one occasion I saw a congregation of four eagles soaring over the same lake looking for food and twice I witnessed eagles diving down and snagging a fish out of a lake! I had never seen an eagle do that in person before so I felt quite fortunate to have it happen before my eyes twice in one week.
Yesterday I returned home from a camping trip to Wildcat Mountain State Park. Because I was so involved with moving to my condo last fall, I haven’t been camping since last August. It was great to finally spend some time in out in nature recharging my batteries.
I ended up doing a lot of hiking. Saw quite a few animals (including deer, wild turkeys, hawks and a lot of migrating songbirds) and some pretty nice scenic vistas.
One interesting thing I discovered is there are a lot of Amish people living in the area surrounding the park. After I saw a number of their horse and buggies driving along the rural highway, I really started to think about modern life. Here I am going to the country to recharge my batteries and get away from it all, while they’re living the simple life there all the time. Oh, I’m sure the Amish have their difficult and stressful times, but I doubt any of them are complaining about not having enough time for things.
One of the best things about being in this area of Wisconsin are hearing the loons calling at night. There’s nothing like falling asleep while listening to that haunting wail they make. One night I woke up about 3am (my bladder was calling me). After I finished my urgent business I must have stayed awake 20 minutes or so listening to the loons. No, they weren’t keeping me awake, I wanted to just lay in my sleeping bag and listen.
I just returned from a camping vacation at the Northern Highland/American Legion State Forest in northern Wisconsin. Below is a picture from the Plum Lake Hemlock Forest State Natural Area. It’s a nice hike from where I was camping at Star Lake.
