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60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison: Including Dane and Surrounding Counties
![60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison: Including Dane and Surrounding Counties](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.9.4)
60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison: Including Dane and Surrounding Counties
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Overview
It’s Time to Take a Hike in Madison, Wisconsin!
The best way to experience Madison is by hiking it. Get outdoors with local author and hiking expert Kevin Revolinski, with the full-color edition of 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison. A perfect blend of popular trails and hidden gems, the selected trails transport you to scenic overlooks, wildlife hot spots, and historical settings that renew your spirit and recharge your body.
Take in the migrating birds and wetlands in Horicon Marsh. See the beautiful deer and prairie flowers in New Glarus Woods. Find peace along Rowan Creek, and glimpse trout flitting in the shadows. Mark the last advance of the glaciers in Kettle Moraine State Forest. Enjoy an easy stroll close to home, such as Picnic Point along Lake Mendota. Or challenge yourself on the 18-mile hike of the Ice Age Trail segment that climbs both 500-foot bluffs at Devil’s Lake State Park. With Kevin as your guide, you’ll learn about the area and experience nature through 60 of Mad City’s best hikes!
Each hike description features key at-a-glance information on distance, difficulty, scenery, traffic, hiking time, and more, so you can quickly and easily learn about each trail. Detailed directions, GPS-based trail maps, and elevation profiles help to ensure that you know where you are and where you’re going. Tips on nearby activities further enhance your enjoyment of every outing. Whether you’re a local looking for new places to explore or a visitor to the area, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison provides plenty of options for a couple hours or a full day of adventure, all within about an hour from Madison and the surrounding communities.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781634041218 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Menasha Ridge Press |
Publication date: | 06/09/2020 |
Series: | 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles |
Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
Format: | eBook |
File size: | 44 MB |
Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Arboretum: Greene Prairie
- Length&Configuration: 2.6-mile loop
- Difficulty: Easy, some moderate
- Scenery: Mixed woods, prairie
- Exposure: Partly shaded, partly sun
- Traffic: Light
- Trail Surface: Packed dirt, crushed stone, exposed rocks and roots, a few narrow boardwalks, potential wet areas
- Hiking Time: 1 hour
- Driving Distance: At the southeast corner of the intersection of Seminole Highway and the Beltline (US 12/18)
- Access: Trails are open 7 a.m.–10 p.m., and parking is from sunrise to sunset
- Maps: USGS Madison West; maps in wooden box at the parking lot or at the visitor center across the highway
- Wheelchair Accessibility: None
- Facilities: None
- Contact: arboretum.wisc.edu, 608-263-7888
- Comments: No pets allowed. Check park schedule for free guided tours on weekends. This portion of the park has many trail combinations. Plus, the Arboretum section on the north side of the lake and the central section of the park are listed herein as separate hikes (Arboretum: Wingra Marsh and Arboretum: Wingra Woods).
Hike this southernmost portion of the Arboretum and explore oak savanna, pine forest, and one of the finest prairie restorations there is to see.
Description
The centerpiece of this portion of the 1,260-acre University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum is Greene Prairie, named for Henry Greene, a UW botanist who, during the 1940s and 1950s, did almost all of the restoration himself, returning what was once farmland to its original role in the landscape. But the towering pines and oak savanna are no less impressive, and this hike offers a nice mix of all of them.
Take a map from the wooden box at the gate in the parking lot, and then take the packed dirt trail to the left straight into the trees. This first segment takes you through Evjue Pine Forest, parallel to the Beltline Highway, down a lane carpeted with pine needles. The hum of tires will annoy some hikers, but the pine forest has a pleasant airiness to it and should not be missed. The rest of this hike is plotted to avoid the nearby urban world.
At 200 feet, you will pass the T2 trail marker, and another 450 feet later, the T3 juncture. Both of these trails break to the right, heading deeper into the pines. Continue straight along here until you arrive at a clearing and trail junction T5, a total of a quarter mile from the trail entrance. Straight across is the trail that will take you about 600 feet to T6 and T7 and a trail that goes left under the Beltline Highway through a tunnel. This is a good way to connect with other great hikes in the Arboretum, in particular Arboretum: Wingra Woods and the visitor center, which is found in the central portion of the Arboretum.
By going right (south) at T5, you start to distance yourself from the traffic and avoid the trail along the edge of the Arboretum, which borders a residential neighborhood. Continue through mixed forest; on your right, the pines will eventually give way to oak and other deciduous trees after about 400 feet.
The trail here is a dirt access road. Another 700 feet brings you to the U4 juncture on your right and its trail all the way back to T3. To the left (east) is a trail back to that perimeter path and back to the highway underpass tunnel. Continue straight and you will arrive at a crossroads outside the tree cover 300 feet later at U3. Go left on the crushed stone path and pass scattered trees in savanna as you cross West Grady Knoll. Three hundred feet on, there is a fork in the road. Take the trail that branches to the right at Y1, and to your right you will see prairie grass.
Less than 200 feet in, turn right at the Y2 juncture and, just beyond that at Y3, go right again. The two trails after Y3 are hiking only (no skiing) and run parallel to where they connect a short distance later at Y4. These footpaths are just wide enough for your feet and run through the tall grass and fragile vegetation. You are at the very center of the park, and this little patch of sunlight is a great place to find pasqueflowers and bird’s-foot violets in the spring. No matter how tempting, do not pick the flowers.
At the southern end of this segment at Z1, the path rejoins the ski trail. Turn right here (passing what will be your return trail just a few steps from where you just joined this path) and follow the gently curving trail through the southern edge of Grady Oak Savanna. At the next juncture 500 feet later, pass the trail at Z2, which connects back up the hill to Y2 where you left it. Continue straight across, pass a connecting trail into the prairie at Z3, and hike 0.2 mile along the bottom of the slope of the savanna and just south of East Knoll, bringing you to the Z4 juncture. Go right and you will come to a path just 200 feet farther on that enters into the heart of Greene Prairie. (A spur trail on the left leads into nearby Knollwood Conservation Park.)
Held up as one of the finest examples of prairie restoration in the world, the prairie receives periodic controlled burns in spring, which park administrators hope will protect that restoration. Urban development to the south has affected water runoff, and, unfortunately, the park is now faced with losing the prairie to reed canary grass, an invasive species. This is best to visit in spring, when a wide variety of wildflowers bloom. But also during this time and in rainy periods, the trail can get soggy here and you might get your feet wet.
The trail does a 0.4-mile half loop through this southeastern corner of the park. When you come to Z6 at 0.3 mile, take the two-plank boardwalk to your left. This takes you back across the prairie and leaves you at the packed-earth trail that re-enters the oak savanna through pussy willows. Go left here at Z1. To your left are quaking aspens. You pass through 750 feet of younger trees before arriving at X3, heading left, and crossing 500 feet of the northernmost finger of Greene Prairie to arrive at the X5 juncture. If you continue straight, you can hike all the way to the southernmost edge of the park, follow the trail west around Southwest Grady Oak Savanna, and then head north through the forest along Seminole Highway. This adds only about a quarter mile to the hike, but this area is also prone to sogginess. Going right takes you through the woods on a very rudimentary and sometimes muddy trail. Make no mistake: This is not oak savanna but mixed forest.
When you arrive at X6, go right and follow the trail through the woods all the way back to the trailhead and parking lot. Along the way, you will pass the V1 and X1 trail outlets and finally the U1 outlet just 500 feet from the end.
Nearby Activities
Just 1 mile south of here on the right on Seminole Highway is a nicely paved bike trail at Dunn’s Marsh. Continue south to the next traffic light intersection to find McKee Road/County Road PD.
GPS Trailhead Coordinates N43° 02' 2.99" W89° 26' 36.24"
Directions Follow the Beltline (US 12/18) west to the Seminole Highway exit. Go left on the overpass and through the four-way stop on the other side. The small gravel parking lot is immediately on your left at the corner. There is no exit from the Beltline here if you are going east. In this case, take the Todd Drive exit and take your first right to go back the opposite direction to the same Seminole Highway four-way stop. Turn left and immediately left again into the lot at the corner.
Table of Contents
Overview Map
Overview-Map Key
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
60 Hikes by Category
Introduction
Madison Metro
- Arboretum: Greene Prairie
- Arboretum: Wingra Marsh
- Arboretum: Wingra Woods
- Cherokee Marsh North
- Cherokee Marsh South
- Edna Taylor Conservation Park (with Aldo Leopold Nature Center and Woodland Park)
- Elver Park
- Lagoons Trail
- Lewis Nine Springs E-Way Trail
- Olin Park and Turville Point Conservation Park
- Owen Conservation Park
- Pheasant Branch Conservancy (with Pheasant Branch Creek Trail)
- Picnic Point
- Pope Farm Park
- Tenney Park to Schenk’s Corners
- Token Creek
- Tom George Greenway
Northwest
- Black Hawk Unit: Lower Wisconsin State Riverway
- Devil’s Lake State Park: East Bluff
- Devil’s Lake State Park: West Bluff
- Ferry Bluff
- Gibraltar Rock State Natural Area
- Governor Nelson State Park
- Ice Age Trail: Cross Plains Segment
- Ice Age Trail: Devil’s Lake Segment
- Ice Age Trail: Fern Glen Segment
- Ice Age Trail: Gibraltar Rock Segment
- Ice Age Trail: Lodi Marsh Segment
- Ice Age Trail: Table Bluff Segment
- Indian Lake County Park
- Mirror Lake State Park
- Natural Bridge State Park
- Rocky Arbor State Park
- Rowan Creek Trail
- Swan Lake State Wildlife Area
Southwest
- Blue Mound State Park
- Donald County Park
- Governor Dodge State Park: Lost Canyon Trail
- Governor Dodge State Park: White Oak Trail
- Ice Age Trail: Brooklyn Wildlife Segment
- Ice Age Trail: Montrose Segment
- Ice Age Trail: Verona Segment
- Magnolia Bluff Park
- New Glarus Woods State Park
- Stewart County Park
- Yellowstone Lake State Park
Northeast
- Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area
- Horicon National Wildlife Refuge
Southeast
- Aztalan State Park
- Badfish Creek Trail
- CamRock Park: Area 2
- Glacial Drumlin State Trail
- Ice Age Trail: Devil’s Staircase Segment
- Ice Age Trail: Whitewater Lake Segment
- Kettle Moraine State Forest: John Muir Trail
- Kettle Moraine State Forest: Lapham Peak Unit
- Kettle Moraine State Forest: Nordic Trails
- Kettle Moraine State Forest: Scuppernong Trail
- Lake Kegonsa State Park
- Lower Yahara River Trail
Appendixes and Index
- Appendix A: Hiking Stores
- Appendix B: Map Stores
- Appendix C: Hiking Clubs
- Index
About the Author
Map Legend
Acknowledgments