Dennis McCann: And in the category of Best State Park with a view of a crooked river...

Originally published Oct. 27, 2008

Maybe I had my eye on the wrong election, because this one slipped right by me like a ghost in the night. I didn’t even know it was time to vote before the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced state park users’ ratings of their favorites parks as part of the Gold Seal Awards program, conducted in cooperation with the Friends of Wisconsin State Parks.

The awards were presented in a variety of categories, including Best Groomed Ski Trail (Kettle Moraine State Forest, Lapham Peak Unit), Best Picnic Area (Devil’s Lake State Park), Best View of a Waterfall (Copper Falls State Park), Best Mountain Bike Trail (Blue Mound State Park), and so on. In something of a surprise, given that it is one of the state’s smallest state parks, New Glarus Woods State Park won awards for Best View of Moonrise, Best Playground and Best Prairie. Also likely for best ballot stuffing by park advocates, but that was not part of the announcement.

I don’t have a problem with most of those. Copper Falls is one of the most beautiful state parks, with trails that offer dramatic waterfall viewing, and while I can remember but one picnic at Devil’s Lake State Park it was a very good time. I’ve never seen the moon rise at New Glarus State Park but trust that it is quite lovely.

But, as one who has visited all but a small handful of state parks, many of them on multiple occasions, I could offer a few other award-caliber recommendations of my own. And why not? I’m a friend of state parks, too. So as they used to say on the Academy Awards show, may I have the envelopes, please?

Best park beach that will make you think you are in Jamaica: Big Bay State Park, Madeline Island. OK, not today, because we had snow on the shore of Lake Superior this morning, but on a warm summer day you can walk great distances on the barrier beach at Big Bay and swear you are in the Caribbean instead of on a northern great lake. Take a swim, paddle a kayak or just sit on the sand and ponder the meaning of life.

Best park with a view of history: Wyalusing State Park, on the Mississippi River. Stand on the bluff overlooking the meeting of our own Wisconsin River and the Mighty Mississippi and imagine what it must have been like when Marquette and Joliet paddled their canoe past that very spot on their first exploration of that part of the new land. It’s a humbling experience. But don’t stop there. In a bi-partisan recognition that not everything cool is in Wisconsin, cross the bridge at Prairie du Chien and, on the Iowa side, go a few miles south of McGregor to Pike’s Peak State Park (named for the same Zebulon Pike whose better known peak is in the west) and take in the same view from the opposite side. Look up river, look down river, look back through hundreds of years.

Best State Park Most Wisconsinites Don’t Know: Interstate State Park, which despite its name is not a super highway. In fact, Interstate was Wisconsin’s first state park, established near St. Croix Falls more than a century ago, but there is more there than just that distinction. The rock formations there are as old as any you’ll come across, which makes hiking the pot-holed trails along the St. Croix River a true pleasure. Time and the elements have carved rock formations like the Old Man of the Dalles, Elephant’s Head, the Maltese Cross and others, many visible from land as well as from boat tours on the river. Minnesota’s own Interstate State Park is just across the river, so you can get a two-fer if you plan properly.

Best State Park with a view of the World’s Crookedest River: Wildcat Mountain State Park in Ontario. Of course it is not really a mountain, but this park’s elevations offer unsurpassed views of the Kickapoo River and the driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin. As a bonus, the drives in that area pass through some wonderfully laid back places, including a large Amish community at Cashton and a host of small towns content to be just that.

At any rate, that’s my ballot. I hope next year to get it in before they announce the results.

For a full look at this year’s winners, see http://www.dnr.wi.gov/news/DNRNews_Article_Lookup.asp?id=533. Photo of Big Bay State Park by Dave Miess used courtesy of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.