This is a really neat park on the Sugar River. It starts at the "head gates" for the once brodhead…read moremill and hydro project. The park is a trail along the raceway, or mill race. This is essentially a man made canal that provides water to the mill pond in Brodhead. It is a lovely walk, very scenic with numerous wetlands, woodland, farmland, ending with a lovely stroll along the canal into the village of Brodhead. Here, along one side of the canal are numerous fun homes reminiscent of the canals in Amsterdam. If you choose to walk or kayak, once in Brodhead, stroll downtown to a local cafe or restaurant. Hint: This is a GREAT trip for a fun outdoor date! Even if the date doesn't go well, the scenery is lovely and you can enjoy the walk back alone. It's a 4+ mile roundtrip. Easy hike with gravel two lane path. Hint: Hint: oooh...you discovered the super double secret hint! This is a great place to bring your dog. Lots of room to run big! Fetch, swimming, ducks, and the water is clean so, your dog can enjoy itself! Hint: Hint: Hint: A super triple secret hint? Say it isn't so! Kayakers - pay attention! Here is an INCREDIBLE opportunity for kayaking that requires no shuttling! Put your boat in here, paddle up river a short distance (no current here) to the decatur tap, portage the dam, paddle down the Sugar River to where the race rejoins the Sugar River. Then paddle up the race to Brodhead dam. Portage the dam and bing bang boom, you're back on the race! Now it's an easy paddle up the race back to the head gates where your car is parked, waiting for you, with a cooler of beer in trunk! Cheers, you earned it! Hint 4X: A quadruple hint-o-rama....be still my palpating heart....If you want to get into kayaking and kayak this in a group, check out the Mad City Paddlers website for group kayaking and canoe trips! Or, send me an email, I kayak this at least once a year :)

Can't believe I'm the first one to review this place! Beloit, you guys are slacking!…read more This is a pretty neat playground to take the kids to with an awesome view of the river. Not exactly sure what river it is, Illinois i think? The playground is well maintained, my 10 year old loved it. Not your traditional playground with swings and seesaws, but plenty of stuff to climb. There's also a walking trail along the river but I was sad that I couldn't go because we didn't take the baby stroller! We had our infant in the car seat and she was too heavy to lug that thing around in. Parent fail! Would love to come back and bring my walking shoes to get my steps in!

Muralt Bluff Prairie is a beautiful state natural area that features a native remnant of prairie…read morebluff land in southern Wisconsin. It's a short drive from Madison - see the website at the Department of Natural Resources for driving directions. Wear long pants, hiking shoes, bring water, a camera, picnic lunch, and plan on spending at least half a day to explore. Be brave, go off the main path but, don't trample all the lovely native wild flowers! Hint: It can be muddy after a rain. And, the hike starts with a steep climb to the top of the bluff. Once up there, it is a lovely rolling hike along crest lines and through the high prairie. On clear days, you can see north and west for miles. Stunning views of the ridges and farmland.

Maiden voyage at this location was quite the surprise. In the middle of rolling luscious green…read morehills. It felt pretty safe with the warden and Ranger making frequent passes. The host was very friendly and helpful with the 411. The sites are close enough together that it doesn't feel very remote though. Unfortunately, it was very extremely high temperatures so I didn't get to explore the hiking trails. But the beach and amphitheater were definitely worth checking out. Educational programs and food truck Saturdays. Wi-Fi is a little spotty so they recommend cash. The grounds are very clean as well as the restrooms and showers. Definitely feels like you're someplace else even if you're from the state of Wisconsin.

What a hidden gem of a state park. They have a beautiful beach with yellow sand. The lake was huge…read moreand looked perfect for skiing and fishing. There are tons of picnic tables and plenty of people had parties meeting up at the beach. The bathrooms by the beach were pits, but were well maintained. The pit toilets did have a good amount of coop flies. The campground had very nice bathrooms, and has showers for after your swim. Many of the campsites were further from the road which made it a bit more secluded and gave us a sense of privacy. Will definitely be back!

County Park, about 8 miles west of Beloit…read more Small, historical park, with playground, hiking paths, waterfall, dam, mill. Great place for romantic photos or introducing young kids to nature and hiking.

Very scenic park. During 2020 most of the facilities were closed because of the Covid pandemic…read more Very well kept grounds and buildings. Plenty of old agricultural equipment and milling gear around. The park looked GREAT during my October 2020 visit.

Get motivated by coming to Congdan Park!…read more I like to do some running as part of my physical fitness routine. Delavan streets (like any streets and sidewalks) are brutal on the knees and difficult to enjoy when having to keep a watch out for passing traffic. Congdan Park has become a savior to my fitness. The park is mostly comprised of a pond for fishing with a surrounding .9 mile trail. There are gardens with picnic tables and a water fountain on the west side, which is beautiful in the summer. The trail is relatively quiet, so I haven't had trouble taking laps around the pond, and it's really quite lovely to rest up afterwards in the gardens. One drawback is that the park is right next to highway 43, but if you're going to try and make an area more beautiful why green around the pavement? It's a lovely area that wont be lost on its visitors.

We had a family reunion here on one of the hottest, stickiest days of the summer. It was one of…read morethose days when an afternoon picnic outside doesn't sound the most appealing and you ask yourself what your family would think of you if you show up in a swimming suit, carrying a bucket of ice water. The shelter we reserved is on the northeast side of the lake (though I question how this qualifies as a lake - more like a pond in my mind) and with a hillside just to the east of it, the shelter was as good as air-conditioned! Hallelujah! There was a cool breeze thanks to the lake and since the shelter was shaded for half of the day, it wasn't until 3pm when the space finally started feeling too warm. The proximity of the shelter was also great as the Monticello Public Pool is right across the road and the kids were able to go enjoy a pool day once they were finished chasing toads around the pond (sorry Freddie the Toady Toad. Also, sorry the kids couldn't decide on a better name).

This place is great for a hike. Winding trails that cut through lush woods and alongside the river…read more Highly recommend to take a relaxing hike.

Absolutely beautiful great hiking, great camping, we went for years and the people were kind and…read morefriendly.

Very nice short paved hike and unique historic site. Paradise Springs is a natural spring, with 500…read moregallon per hour output. There's a nice interpretive booklet that helps explain numbered highlights. There's a cool decaying building over the springs, which was purely ornamental, the springs works whether its covered or not. The Petit (Pabst) family owned the property and put in a lot of features like a circular wading pool, a gazebo. The springs were bottled and sold until the 1960s, and another owner ran water powered electric in the early 1900s; the first house with electricity in the area. The pond is stocked w/Brook Trout for catch and release only. And across the way there's an old homestead from the 1860s which is in great condition. This is a nice short hike with lots to learn about.

Short and quick hike with my toddlers this morning. They liked picking up pine cones, exploring…read morethe old stone building and looking into the clear water. Saw a few trout swimming too!

Yes indeed a true natural treasure. This segment is not hard, so even someone like me can walk or…read morebike it.

Some of the best glacier evidence is found along the Ice Age National Scenic Trail that spans about…read more1200 miles through the state of Wisconsin. This review covers Janesville segment of trail beginning at the Rotamar Trail Head to the Mercy Hospital Trail Head. When I first heard of this trail I was real excited. It sounded like there would be many things to see and discover. I was disappointed to find it was paved. Not the entire segment, not yet anyway but most of it was. I felt that took away from the experience but did not deter me from continuing on the adventure. Even for this segment, we've never covered the whole of it. We usually start at Randolph Rd as that's where we were staying at the time and ended up at Palmer Park. It's about 5 miles one way. I first walked the trail from Randolph Rd. to about Brunswick Lane. This was during the spring when things were starting to pop up. All kinds of plants were coming out of the long winter hibernation trying to stretch as high as they can to reach the sun. I wasn't too impressed at the point. It just look like weeds. When spring was about to roll into summer, weather wise, about the end of May or early June, we decided to ride our bikes all the way to Palmer Park and picnic there. We packed up our food and a few snacks with a few water bottles. I wasn't sure if my little guy G would make it all the way but would play it by ear and make decisions accordingly along the way. By this time, the plants, trees and everything else was buzzing with life. Wish I knew what they were. There were so many things to see, smell, explore it was all captivating, including for G. The trail exist within the green belts thats cut through the residential housing allowing for wildlife to co-exist with the community. I admire that. We have seen deer and other animals I don't know bc I couldn't get a good look at them. Also along the trail is a spray of colors, beautiful flowers fighting for the attention of the bees and others, spring out at you letting you know summer is here. Part of the trail follows along side a river that you could take a break by. It was nice to cool off a bit there and take pictures. By the time we reached Palmer Park we were famished for food. We sat down to eat in the park. We allowed G to have time to play in the park. This is his favorite park and we have fun playing with him. I wasn't sure if he would be able to bike back but he did with no problem. I believe the Ice Age Trail kept teasing him and he wanted to see what was around the next bend. Although the Ice Trail is under National Park Service and there is good information there, you can also get additional information from the Ice Age Trail Alliance... http://www.iceagetrail.org/ice-age-trail/ ...who has done much of the maintenance work and providing informative material to the awareness, education and maintenance of the trail to the benefit of all. They also offer several awards programs, one for completing the entire 1200 miles for those of you wanting elitist.