Kevin Revolinski - Best Tent Camping: Wisconsin: Your Car-Camping Guide to Scenic Beauty, the Sounds of Nature, and an Escape from Civilization

:: OTHER BOOKS BY KEVIN REVOLINSKI:

The Yogurt Man Cometh: Tales of an American Teacher in Turkey

Wisconsins Best Beer Guide

Michigans Best Beer Guide

Backroads & Byways of Wisconsin

60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Madison

Best Easy Day Hikes: Milwaukee

Best Easy Day Hikes: Grand Rapids

Insiders Guide Madison

Visit the authors website at TheMadTravelerOnline.com

:: OTHER BOOKS BY JOHNNY MOLLOY:

Backcountry Fishing: A Guide for Hikers, Paddlers, and Backpackers

Beach and Coastal Camping in Florida

Beach and Coastal Camping in the Southeast

The Best in Tent Camping: The Carolinas

The Best in Tent Camping: Florida

The Best in Tent Camping: Georgia

The Best in Tent Camping: Kentucky

The Best in Tent Camping: The Southern Appalachian and Smoky Mountains

The Best in Tent Camping: Tennessee

The Best in Tent Camping: West Virginia

Best Tent Camping: Colorado (with Kim Lipker)

Canoeing & Kayaking Florida (with Liz Carter)

Canoeing & Kayaking Guide to Kentucky (with Bob Sehlinger)

Day & Overnight Hikes: Kentuckys Sheltowee Trace

Day & Overnight Hikes: West Virginias Monongahela National Forest

Exploring Mammoth Cave National Park

50 Hikes in Alabama

50 Hikes in South Carolina

50 Hikes in the North Georgia Mountains

50 Hikes in the Ozarks

50 Hikes on Tennessees Cumberland Plateau

Five-Star Trails: Knoxville

From the Swamp to the Keys: A Paddle through Florida History

Hiking the Florida Trail: 1,100 Miles, 78 Days, and Two Pairs of Boots

The Hiking Trails of Floridas National Forests, Parks, and Preserves (with Sandra Friend)

Land Between the Lakes Outdoor Recreation Handbook

Long Trails of the Southeast

Mount Rogers Outdoor Recreation Handbook

A Paddlers Guide to Everglades National Park

60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Austin and San Antonio (with Tom Taylor)

60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Nashville

Top Trails: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Top Trails: Shenandoah National Park

Trial by Trail: Backpacking in the Smoky Mountains

Visit the authors website at JohnnyMolloy.com

This book is for Ellie Connolly,
who loves the Wisconsin outdoors .

JM

Best Tent Camping: Wisconsin

Copyright 2013 by Kevin Revolinski and Johnny Molloy

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Published by Menasha Ridge Press

Distributed by Publishers Group West

Third edition, first printing

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Revolinski, Kevin.

Best tent camping Wisconsin : your car-camping guide to scenic beauty, the sounds of nature, and an escape from civilization / Kevin Revolinski and Johnny Molloy. Third edition.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-89732-998-9 ISBN 0-89732-998-8

1. CampingWisconsinGuidebooks. 2. Camp sites, facilities, etc.WisconsinGuidebooks. 3. WisconsinGuidebooks. I. Molloy, Johnny, 1961 II. Title.

GV191.42.W6R486 2013

796.5409775--dc23

2013006396

Cover design by Scott McGrew

Text design by Annie Long

Cover photograph of Hartman Creek State Park Terry Donnelly/Alamy

Back cover photographs (left to right): Newport State Park RWP/Alamy, Stephens Falls at Governor Dodge State Park Clint Farlinger/Alamy, and Amnicon Falls State Park Joe

Mamer Photography/Alamy

Cartography by Steve Jones, Kevin Revolinski, and Johnny Molloy

Menasha Ridge Press

P.O. Box 43673

Birmingham, Alabama 35243

menasharidge.com

:: BEST FOR PRIVACY

:: BEST FOR SPACIOUSNESS

:: BEST FOR QUIET

:: BEST FOR SECURITY

:: BEST FOR BEAUTY

:: BEST FOR CLEANLINESS

:: BEST FOR WHEELCHAIRS

:: BEST FOR FISHING

:: BEST FOR HIKING

:: BEST FOR PADDLING

:: BEST FOR HISTORY

I would like to thank the following people for helping me in the research and writing of this book: all the land managers of Wisconsins state parks and forests, the folks at Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, and the people who administer the many county parks throughout the state. Specifically I would like to thank Ron Campbell, Niki Robinson, Melissa Parker, and B. J. Farra at Wildcat Mountain State Park; Pat and Cindy Hummer at Wildcat Mountain; Brian Hefty, Paul Ahlen, and Barry Fetting of Hartman Creek for their captivating commentary; Geoffrey Cooke and Garrett Meador at Rock Island State Park; Scott Johnson and Neal Kephart at Wyalusing State Park; and Jim and Paul Volz and their families at Starrett Lake. Thanks also to P. Lynn, Amp I. Tay, Bruce, and Melinda at White Deer Lake; and to Darin Williams and Allen Middendorp of Lake Wissota State Park.

Thanks to Ellie Connolly for canoeing with me on the St. Croix and for advising me on her favorite tent-camping destinations. Thanks to Jackie White for her help, too. Thanks to Linda Grebe at Eureka! for providing me with a great tent, the Mountain Pass 2X. Thanks to Silva for their compasses and to Camp Trails for their packs. Thanks to Jean Cobb and Brooke Wilson at Freebairn & Company for their help.

The biggest thanks of all go to the people of Wisconsin, who have a beautiful state in which to tent camp.

Johnny

W isconsinites need to know just how marvelous a park system we havenot just on the state level but also the national, county, and even city/village parks. I thank all the people who work each day to maintain these parks and serve and protect those of us who come to visit them. No one is getting rich out there, and for many it is a labor of love. Volunteers and Friends of the park groups are indispensable in keeping these places as they are. I am also grateful for all those who donated or sold land for the purposes of these wild natural places rather than development, and the activists who, out of love for the land, worked so hard to find the funding or legislation to make many of these places exist. Thanks above all to my father, for teaching me to love the outdoors.

Kevin

W elcome to the third edition of Best Tent Camping: Wisconsin . In seeking new tent-camping destinations, I teamed up with Madison resident Kevin Revolinski, who loves all things Wisconsin. And certainly the outdoors is one of the states finer things. Globe-trotting Kevin always returns from his travels more appreciative of the vast wildlands in his home state and eagerly added his knowledge and talent to this book. Plus hes a good guy and has an authentic Wisconsin accent.

Life is so interestingyou just never know where it will lead you. I certainly would not have known just how unique and beautiful Wisconsin is if it werent for serendipitous fortune. Way back when, I met Tom Rodgers, who was moving from Madison, Wisconsin, to Knoxville, Tennessee, to further the college teaching career of his wife, Kathleen. He waxed eloquent about the beauty of the Badger State. I had been stopping there some on trips, but I hadnt explored it fully. Tom introduced me to his friend Ellie Connolly, who talked up Wisconsin even more. Then the opportunity arose to write this book. I grabbed my tent and laptop and hopped in my Jeep, exploring the state by day and typing up literal onsite campground reports by night.