According to the tourist brochures, Door County in NE Wisconsin has more state parks - five - than any other county in the United States.  They are generally small in size, but quite large in terms of natural beauty.

Potawatomi State Park sits about half-way up the Door Peninsula on Lake Michigan’s Sturgeon Bay.  The “bay” is actually one section of a shipping channel that splits the peninsula in half.  Ships use the channel to save time and distance on routes to Green Bay.  So, the park allows for good freighter viewing.

The park also includes rocky hills and cliffs that are evidence of the peninsula’s limestone base.  Similar cliffs are visible across the bay from one of the park’s many scenic overlooks. 

Eight miles of hiking trails and nine miles of biking trails make parallel figure-eight-style paths across the park’s terrain.  These trails are never terribly far from the park’s circle road, but they allow for a good natural experience.  The Ice Age National Scenic Trail, a “national” trail found completely in the state of Wisconsin, actually begins within this park.

http://www.iceagetrail.org/PDF/4e1_DoorKewaunee250.pdf

There are no sand beaches along Potawatomi State Park’s rocky shore.  But there is a 75-foot-tall observation tower that allows a visitor to see above the trees.  This is THE highlight of the park for me.

The park is only about three miles away from the 16+ mile Ahnapee State rail-trail, so bikers and long-distance hikers can create a good adventure in this area.  It would be wonderful if an off-road trail could connect these two systems with an off-road path.

Click on the links below for more details:

http://tinyurl.com/yovc3v

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/specific/Potawatomi/#trails

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