UW Arboretum Big Spring Trail

It is filled with effigy mounds, thousands of plant and animal species, and unlimited places to explore.  You can run, hike, bike, and even drive through the Arboretum.  There is a visitor center and you can host an event here.  Trail info  One of my favorite trails is in the Grady Tract area near Greene Prairie.  There are two entrances:  The east entrance is located at: Wingra Drive and Haywo...

There’s plenty to do here: relax on the beach, walk the neighborhood, soak in the views of the Madison skyline, bring a kayak or SUP to get on the water, or go for a swim.     Always be sure to check the blue-green algae levels before swimming in a Madison lake. That can be done here.  Thankfully Madison invested in a system to help with this problem at Bernie’s Beach:  “the system uses an impe...

I like to put in at the Camp Randall Rowing Club Brittingham Boat House located at 617 N Shore Dr, Madison, WI 53703.  There’s a dock and free 3 hour parking.  Once in the water just paddle straight towards John Nolen Drive and go under the bridge and you’ll be in Lake Monona. Keep going and soak in the lovely city skyline of Madison with the Monona Terrace and the Capitol building.  If you don...

Being a native Wisconsinite, I think the most quintessential thing to do in Madison is beers and a sunset at Memorial Union Terrace on Lake Mendota. There’s plenty more to do right at the Union too, including world famous ice cream,  kayaking and other water sport rentals at Hoofer’s, live music, shopping, and even outdoor movies. The Union has it all!  The Lakeshore Path (biking or walkin...

There are no specific trails in this conservancy, so just choose the path that looks the best to you.  It would be hard to get lost here and all the trails put together are only about 3 miles.   There are some hills, but nothing too serious. bathrooms in the parking lotsmall parking lotfreecommonly will see turkeysoutstanding colors in the fallHere is a link to a map of the Conservatory (includ...

This is an excellent trail right in the city of Madison and doing this portion made me very excited to continue hiking more of the Ice Age Trail in this area.  The Ice Age Trail is more than 1,000 miles long and it follows the edge of the last continental glacier in Wisconsin.   - - - - - For this part of the trail I started at 220 McKee Rd. in Madison and needed to be done hiking within two ho...