What an amazing slice of nature. I love a water feature - always so calming and beautiful. The…read moretrials were pretty accessible and it was crowded with a diverse group of ages and physical abilities. Seriously a great park!

The falls at this park are beautiful!…read more It's a short hike from the parking area ($5 fee to park) to the falls. The trails aren't labeled, but I believe most of them lead to the falls. With the water so high this year, you can hear the falls from the parking lot, so you can literally follow the sound. The trails are unpaved, and not flat and easy. We didn't find many hiking trails other than what led to the falls, but we were on the south side, so perhaps there are more on the north side?

My wife and I camped here for a weekend in mid-July. Weather wasn't too hot or humid luckily. We…read morehad heavy rain Friday evening but were prepared so actually enjoyed drifting off to sleep with it. Woke up to all our belongings still dry and the sun drying things up. We ended up hiking around 6 miles of the park. Tried our hand at fishing off the fishing pier but no luck, lots of algae bloom. The lake was a lot clearer but we didn't have a boat or canoe. The bathrooms were super clean and updated. Showers are free and well lit. Will definitely be back!

This is a nice sized state park. The friendly lady at the gate suggested that if we wanted a harder…read moretrail, to go all the way to the end of the drive and take the beaver trail. We did. It was a beautiful trail, unpaved (my preference), but kept up. Not all the trails were marked, so either get a map at the front gate or take a picture of one you find. We also took a couple other trails - all enjoyable. The bathrooms are pit toilets in a decent setting (I've definitely experienced worse). Because of the size, beauty, and diverse offerings, it would be easy to spend a day at this park. Day parking fee is $11.

This is a beautiful location! Not far from Chippewa Falls, we thoroughly enjoyed this scenic drive…read more A few windy roads, some interesting homes on one side of the road & beautiful water on the other side. They do charge for parking passes. We were prepared to pay $16 for our non- resident vehicle ( they do have the prices on their website). To our delight, since we were attending a family reunion at the only covered pavilion on the island, our parking was just $5! Plenty of parking, bathrooms aren't a far walk fe the pavilion (& they're clean!). Playground is adequate. The water area for play seemed a lot bigger when I was younger & attended reunions here. Water was calm but gorgeous!

Such a cool state park! The campsites almost all have water access so you can canoe or kayak right…read moreto your site! If you don't bring canoes or kayaks, you can rent some from the park office for a minimal fee. Highly recommend exploring the island from the water. Way cool. The campsites are all pretty flat (perfect for pitching tents) and all have fire pits with good moveable cooking grates. Both nights we were there had a good breeze so the bugs were non-existent which was amazing considering we camped right next to the water. The park also has several short well-maintained trails to explore . Will definitely be returning.

Went here on Independence Day weekend due to recommendations I've received from locals. The actual…read moreviewing area for the animals is a little bit longer of a drive once you enter the park winding through the forest. Parking and admission is free but they do accept donations. They were a decent amount of animals to look at from birds to bears. The only downside is that the animal exhibits were only a few which isn't bad if you're three for picnics or exploring the forest/play on one of their various playgrounds. They do have a concession stand in their welcome center but doesn't look like much. All in all, a good place to spend a summer afternoon if you way to plan a picnic or do something outdoors as well as spend some time petting animals!

This is one of the best parks in the Midwest…read more The zoo is fun during the summer, with peacocks that are free to roam around the avian area. We spent a good couple of hours just watching them doing bird things, including ostentatious displays of power and mating ability. This year, we went in fall and the birds were away. We did see some bison behind a fence. It's quite amazing to be three feet away from them, something which you wouldn't be able to do safely in the wild. Further down the road, there are a couple of donated buildings: an early 20th century area school and a 19th century pioneer log home. The school is a particularly fine piece of architecture. Scattered through the park are many pavilions and covered picnic tables. It's a great park and zoo!

Decided to do a little road trip for explore this destination and so glad we did. They have a very…read moregreat information center with hands on experiences for kids. You do need your state park sticker or at least a day sticker to enjoy this otherwise it is free. Very affordable way to spend the day and take in nature. We decided to take a glorious walk on the trails. We encountered some wildlife and I almost had a heart attack when after navigating a big ass hill almost stepped on a garter snake when i was trying to cool down --that little sucker was slithering among the leaves. YIKES!!! It is a mostly wooded dirt trail that is surrounded by many smaller bodies of water on both sides. So cool....the sun shines down between the taller trees and you can hear nothing but the wind, the birds, and some bullfrogs. LOVED IT!

Wow is the Yelp staff fast! The map is now correct. You guys at Yelp are great. So readers…read moreignore the rest of this paragraph. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE YELP MAP HAS THE CMIAU IN THE WRONG LOCATION. IT IS ON HWY. M BUT TO THE EAST OF HWY 53. IT'S IN THE CHIPPEWA MORAINE STATE RECREATION AREA ABOUT 2 MILES EAST OF THE INTERSECTION OF HWY M AND HWY 40. The Chippewa Moraine Ice Age Unit, aka Chippewa Moraine State Recreation Area, has an excellent interpretive center on a beautiful hillside. My wife and I walked one of the trails on a beautiful, crisp fall day in September. Some of the trees have started to change. There are 3 trails that start on the north side of the David R. Obey Ice Age Interpretive Center. Rolling terrain, the breeze rustling the tree leaves, splashes of sun on the forest floor, little kettle lakes: awesome northern forest beauty! Now a little history lesson. From what I know the trail started in the mid 1900's thanks to a guy named Zillmer. A variety of people pursued the idea: they are called the Ice Age Trail Alliance. There is now over a 1000 miles of trail in Wisconsin. Kudos to them! The Interpretive Center is extremely well done. It has quite a bit of hands on things to do that would be great for elementary school kids. (This includes holding a garter snake.) Junior high and high school kids who enjoy geology and animals would like it too. The interp. center is a couple of miles east of the intersection of Highways 40 and M near New Auburn. The staff member on duty was Jeanette: knowledgeable, friendly and helpful Free; no trail fees. It's so beautiful it deserved a donation.

Really nice (I believe pretty new) park with a great location along the Eau Claire River…read more While parts are still under construction such as the splash pad, this park really brings a lot of free entertainment.... walking trails, some outdoor art (which includes this weird sculpture that plays sound when you touch it), and nights of concerts in summer. The best part is the restaurants, food trucks and other retail that surrounds the park. It's a great destination for food and entertainment in the Eau Claire Area. Although there is a lot of parking, spots can be tough to find during evening dining hours. There is overflow parking not too far away however.

Nice park to walk on and see the animals. The interstate noise is close. You can get pretty close…read moreto some of the animals. There are paved paths to walk on. It's on the north end of Wakanda park. It's free.

The lower park area and the boat launch area are both really nice, but the actual trail is…read moreseemingly nonexistent guesswork and really dangerous - typically being an inch or two from a near-sheer cliff into the water. Worse, the path isn't cleared by anyone (i.e. forestry or park services) and so you can't actually see the path and it's complete guess work on extremely slippery leaves before it just disappears entirely and you're left with no idea where is safe to go. Pretty disappointed after looking forward to trying to go to the peak of this big hill for a romantic little hike. Also kind of gross and weird you have to pass through a toilet paper factory to get here? There is such a dissonance between a factory and hiking up a woody hill that it just makes it feel weird. The two stars are because I'd love to give 5 stars to both the boat launch and the park areas if they were listed by themselves. Without those included this is just a 0 for me.

The base of Mt. Simon is a blast! I always came here to go frolfing and they have a nice, medium…read moredifficulty range, with 9 holes in total. There's usually a decent amount of people playing, but the park itself is really well kept. There are several volleyball nets, a boat landing, and even a few pavilions set up for patrons. Some of my best summer days were spent here frolfing and just meeting new people who all share a love of the sport.

This place was a great little hike. The forest is beautiful! Its a great place to hike with dogs…read moreand catch a good family photo. The prarie has a good loop i would say snowshoeing would be great for .

We were looking for a place to walk after supper and someone had told us about this park. It has a…read morelovely lake around it, some baseball fields, tennis courts, a great playground area for kids, a museum, picnic areas, fishing spots, etc. We had a nice walk, caught part of a jazz concert, and watched an inning of a baseball game. Lovely area full of green! Coming from the desert, the green was a treat!

Love this place and the surrounding park areas that I assume are part of Carson Park as well. I…read morelove being near the water and to be able to just sit on a quiet bench right at the edge is really nice, and to walk around the rest of the place is nice and peaceful too. Amazing it's in the middle of a big downtown, especially how quiet it is.