Hiking Hungry

Next up in the mini-moon adventure tale is a day filled with waterfalls. If you like waterfalls, this region of Northern Wisconsin is for you.

Waking up at Brunet Island State Park we packed up the campsite, loaded the car, and said farewell to the campsite friends we made the night before. We were off on our 2 hour and 15 minute drive north to Pattison State Park. We did a pretty good job of trying to explore the state parks in sections to limit travel time but there was no avoiding having to lump this much driving together at once.

Driving up highway 53, we passed by a number of towns. One of these was the small town of Minong, WI. I’m sure they’re known for more but this town is home to beef jerky royalty, Jack Link’s. There’s an outlet store in town you can stop at. We didn’t stop there but did buy some jerky from the obscenely large selection at the gas station off the the highway. Highly recommend it.

Continuing the slow recap of the mini-honeymoon adventure…

This post is a little out of order but that’s okay. Back to day two! After leaving Lake Wissota State Park to drive to Brunet Island State Park, we stopped at the Chippewa Moraine State Recreation Area on the way.

This is near an area where I camped a lot with my family as a child and it brought back some extra special memories.

Links to follow along:
Park Website
Park Map
Trail Descriptions

This area isn’t like your typical contained state park. Since this is a “recreation area” it contains multiple trails, roads, and private property. With 23 miles of trail, including a segment of the Ice Age Trail, it can be hard to plan your hike. If you aren’t sure where to start, parking by the nature center is a great option.

Day 3 of the weeklong hiking and camping mini honeymoon (mini-moon) adventure brought us further north to Brunet Island State Park. If you missed the beginning of the trip, catchup on DAY 1 and DAY 2 if you want to see what brought us here.

Located outside the small town of Cornell, the island sits between the Chippewa River and Fisher River. Most of the park’s activities are found on the island, but the adventure continues on the mainland too with trails extending east of the island. The park has opportunities for hiking, biking, watersports, swimming, camping, and other activities.

Now to continue the saga of the mini honeymoon (mini-moon.) In case you missed day 1, we began the trip with some hiking at Hoffman Hills State Recreation Area. Checkout that post here. From Hoffman Hills, we drove to Lake Wissota State Park where we spent the rest of day 1 and all of day 2.

Lake Wissota State Park, outside of Chippewa Falls, sits on the 6,300 acre Lake Wissota. While the lake is the main feature of the park with fishing, boating, and swimming, the park also offers hiking through both woods and prairie.

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